Opening statement
Well, here is this first-round draft pick again in the minors, much the same way Van Wilder returns to Coolidge College a few more times than customarily slated.
For better or worse, Hamill has a few milestones ahead of him. Within two games, he will reach the top 10 list of career appearances with the Spoked-Ps. And should he miss no more than a dozen of the 76 regular-season contests, he will leap-frog Jay Henderson for the franchise’s all-time lead in that category.
2010-11 Highlights
· Scored a team-leading and career-high 34 assists.
· Converted four out of eight shootout attempts.
· Had four assists in a road win over Albany Nov. 7. That started a six-game point-getting streak that saw him log nine assists and 10 points.
· Scored goals in three consecutive games (March 6, March 11, March 12).
2010-11 Lowlights
· Finished with a career-low nine goals on the year.
· Took a total of 66 penalty minutes, two more than in his first two AHL seasons combined.
· Ejected from a March 6, 6-0 win over Bridgeport for spearing in the final minute of the game.
· Took three of the team’s six minor penalties versus Connecticut on March 27.
· Had a seven-game pointless skid, during which his plus/minus rating steadily dropped five points.
2011-12 Outlook
To employ an appropriate adage, Hamill has snoozed long enough that he has all but lost his tenure in Boston. With so much seasoned congestion at the center position, there is just too much for him to realistically surmount.
Accordingly, this is most likely his final year in the Black and Gold family. But for the sake of the farm club, he can make the most of it by continuing to make plays and resisting the temptation to pass when shooting is a better bet. It will ultimately benefit both parties if Hamill can pilot the P-Bruins back into the playoff picture and woo other NHL organizations that could acquire him and integrate him into The Show as early as 2012-13.
