Hamhuis played a role in helping each of his first two NHL teams achieve significant franchise firsts. On both occasions he did so while in his first year with those teams.

As a rookie with the Nashville Predators in 2003-04, Hamhuis helped the team reach the playoffs for the first time. Seven years later, during the 2010-11 season, he helped the Vancouver Canucks win its first Presidents' Trophy.

Those achievements are two of the highlights in a career in which Hamhuis has established himself as one of the game's best all-around defensemen.

Selected by the Predators with the No. 12 pick in the 2001 NHL Draft, Hamhuis has been one of his team's highest-scoring defensemen throughout his career. He also ranked first on the Canucks in 2011-12 with a plus-29 rating and in 2013-14 with a plus-13 rating.

Hamhuis made his NHL debut on Oct. 9, 2003 in a 3-1 victory against the Anaheim Ducks and finished 11th in the voting for the Calder Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year.

Hamhuis tied for third among NHL rookie defensemen in scoring with 26 points (seven goals) and was second among first-year defensemen in average ice time (22:08 per game) during the 2003-04 season.

A native of Smithers, British Columbia, Hamhuis played his junior hockey for Prince George in the Western Hockey League. In 2014, he was part of an ownership group that bought the Prince George franchise.

The purchase extended Hamhuis' legacy in Prince George, where he developed into the second-ranked North American draft prospect behind Jason Spezza ahead of the 2001 NHL Draft.

Following his selection by the Predators, Hamhuis won the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as the WHL's Best Defenseman, and Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the WHL's Player of the Year.

He was also named the top defenseman in the Canadian Hockey League for the 2001-02 season, one in which he established himself as an offensive force by scoring 60 points (50 assists) in 58 games for Prince George.

Hamhuis made his pro debut in 2002-03 with Milwaukee of the American Hockey League, made the jump to the NHL with Nashville a season later, and signed with the Canucks as a free agent on July 1, 2010.

On July 1, 2016, Hamhuis signed a two-year contract with the Dallas Stars.

Playing for Canada, Hamhuis won gold medals at the 2007 and 2015 World Championship and the 2014 Winter Olympics, won silver medals at the 2008 and 2009 World Championship, and a bronze medal at the 2001 World Junior Championship.