Claimed: Jeff Hamilton, one of the leagues most Underrated Dmen

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

Couple of weeks ago, I looked at the career of one Zach Parechkin. Now we will look at the career of 2nd overall pick, defenseman Jeff Hamilton.

 

Awards

S49 Victory Cup Winner
S50 Alexander Beketov Trophy Winner
S50 Sterling Labatte Trophy Winner
S51 Continental Cup Winner
S51 Terence Fong Trophy Winner
S53 Victory Cup Winner

 

Season 45 - Bern Royals

Regular Season:
S45 (BER) - 72 GP | 34 G | 92 A | 126 P | +70 | 60 PIM | 110 H | 321 SH | 67 SB

Playoffs:
S45 (BER) - 10 GP | 5 G | 6 A | 11 P | -5 | 20 PIM | 30 H | 34 SH | 8 SB

I can't quite remember how Jeff Hamilton arrived in Bern, because it wasn't via draft. I think it was probably by signing via the waiver system. Anyway, he played out S45 with Bern scoring 34 goals and assisted on 92 goals for 126 points. He formed a pretty strong duo with Zach Parechkin during the season. The Bern Royals finished 2nd in the European Conference though with 117 points which was 7 points behind the 1st place Moscow Red Wolves. 

 

In the playoffs, the Bern Royals faced off against the Oslo Storm who quietly had a very solid season themselves as they had 96 points on the season which was good enough for 1st in the North American Conference if they were in it. After 6 games, the Bern Royals moved on to face the Moscow Red Wolves. After being touted as a heavyweight matchup, the Red Wolves surprisingly swept the Royals and just like that Hamilton's VHLM career was done. In the 10 playoff games, Hamilton scored 5 goals and assisted on 6 goals for 11 points.

 

Season 46 - Seattle Bears

Regular Season:
S46 (SEA) - 72 GP | 16 G | 24 A | 40 P | -79 | 10 PIM | 24 H | 233 SH | 126 SB

Jeff decided the VHLM wasn't for him anymore after being drafted 2nd overall by the Seattle Bears in the Season 46 VHL Entry Draft. He stayed with the big club despite the club not ready yet for contention. He had a trying rookie season with 16 goals and 24 assists for 40 points. He was a very ugly -79 as well but he did block 126 shots. The Seattle Bears finished last in the NA Conference with just 15 points. Very poor showing from Seattle this season.

 

Season 47 - Seattle Bears

Regular Season
S47 (SEA) - 72 GP | 28 G | 53 A | 81 P | +8 | 10 PIM | 38 H | 230 SH | 150 SB | 4 GWG

Playoffs
S47 (SEA) - 5 GP | 1 G | 4 A | 5 P | -2 | 0 PIM | 3 H | 17 SH | 9 SB | 0 GWG

After a dead last finish in Season 46, the Seattle Bears youngsters came up from the VHLM plus a couple of key free agent signings, the Bears jumped up to 2nd in the conference with 80 points, Jeff Hamilton led the way for the Bears with 28 goals and 53 assists for 81 points. He improved all around in all stats but the most amazing stat improvement in my eyes was going from -79 to +8 in just one season. The 2nd place finish meant a date with the Calgary Wranglers in the playoffs.

 

The Bears ended up losing in 5 games but they were 5 close games. In each of the 4 losses to the Wranglers, it was only by 1 or two goals each game. So the series was much closer than everyone thought. Jeff Hamilton led the team in scoring again with 1 goal and 4 assists for 5 points. It was an unfortunate end for the Seattle Bears because they had a very good season and didn't deserve to go out in 5 games.

 

Season 48 - Seattle Bears

Regular Season
S48 (SEA) - 72 GP | 14 G | 56 A | 70 P | +2 | 28 PIM | 62 H | 262 SH | 156 SB | 4 GWG

Playoffs
S48 (SEA) - 13 GP | 3 G | 5 A | 8 P | -12 | 8 PIM | 14 H | 34 SH | 34 SB | 1 GWG

After leading the team in scoring the season before, Hamilton fell of that same pace this season. He scored 14 goals and assisted on 56 goals for 70 points which is still a good amount of points but not what we would expect from someone of Jeff's ability. The Bears finished 3rd in the North American Conference in Season 48 despite improving to 96 points. Both New York and Toronto were better. This meant a first round match-up with the New York Americans.

 

In the 1st round, after a hard fought 7 game series the Bears prevailed over the Americans. The Bears and Legion met for the first time in the playoff since they owned the Season 46 Draft. After 6 games, the Legion moved on to the finals. In the 13 games, Jeff Hamilton scored 3 goals and assisted on 5 for 8 points. Little did we know that this was the furthest this Seattle core would make it in the playoffs.

 

Season 49 - Seattle Bears/Quebec City Meute

Regular Season
S49 (SEA/QUE) - 72 GP | 20 G | 64 A | 84 P | +65 | 51 PIM | 88 H | 215 SH | 108 SB | 4 GWG

Playoffs
S49 (QUE) - 5 GP | 0 G | 5 A | 5 P | -1 | 2 PIM | 9 H | 12 SH | 11 SB | 0 GWG

In Season 49, the Bears were in a pretty sad predicament. The North American Conference was stacked this season with the top 3 playoff teams hitting over 112 points. The Bears finished with 82 points still despite trading off most of their team and that 82 points was still good enough to finish 1st in the European Conference by 7 points. Jeff was traded halfway through the season to the Quebec City Meute for defenseman Pablo Escobar, defenseman Jon Panik, Season 50 Quebec 1st Round Draft Pick (Izidors Balders) and a Season 51 Stockholm 3rd Round Draft Pick (N/A Draft only lasted 12 picks or 1 round and 2 picks into the 2nd). Jeff had his best season to date with 20 goals and 64 assists for 84 points. The Meute finished 1st in the NA Conference 2 points ahead of the Toronto Legion so they received a bye into the 2nd round of the playoffs.

 

The Legion beat out the Americans which meant a clash of the titans were supposed to happen in the 2nd round. However, the Legion surprised everyone by defeating the Meute in just 5 games. In these 5 games, Hamilton had 5 assists. Another disappointing end in the playoffs for Jeff Hamilton.

 

Season 50 - Quebec City Meute

Regular Season
S50 (QUE) - 72 GP | 21 G | 66 A | 87 P | +58 | 44 PIM | 108 H | 213 SH | 131 SB | 9 GWG

Playoffs
S50 (QUE) - 10 GP | 1 G | 6 A | 7 P | -6 | 9 PIM | 10 H | 28 SH | 15 SB | 0 GWG

Jeff tested the free agent waters after Season 49 and decided that Quebec was still the place to be and headed back for a 2nd season. He had the best season of his career with 21 goals and 66 assists for 87 points. The Meute finished 2nd in the NA behind the Toronto Legion by 9 points.

 

The Meute would go on to face the Calgary Wranglers in the 1st round. It would be a first round sweep by the Meute, the Wranglers really didn't even stand a chance. This meant for the 2nd straight year we would have a Quebec / Toronto Conference finals. Instead of a 5 game semi upset by the Legion we got a 6 game series win for the Legion which meant for the 2nd straight year for QC the dream of lifting the Cup was over at the hands of the Toronto Legion. For Hamilton it was his 3rd straight lose to the Legion in the Conference Final.

 

Season 51 - Riga Reign

Regular Season
S51 (RIG) - 72 GP | 27 G | 81 A | 108 P | +42 | 98 PIM | 217 H | 298 SH | 111 SB | 12 GWG

Playoffs
S51 (RIG) - 14 GP | 5 G | 8 A | 13 P | -1 | 36 PIM | 37 H | 29 SH | 33 SB | 2 GWG

After Season 50, most of the Quebec City Meute players left via free agency. Some went to Calgary while Jeff Hamilton went to Riga, Latvia. He scored over 100 points for the first time in his career with 27 goals and 81 assists. It was a very successful first season in Europe for Hamilton who has spent his career in North America. The Riga Reign finished 1st in the European Conference with 113 points which was 9 points ahead of the 2nd place Cologne Express.

 

The Express swept away HC Davos Dynamo in the first round which meant they moved on to play the Reign. After 7 games, the Reign would move on to the finals. This would be the first time in Jeff Hamilton's career he made it out of the Conference Final stage. After 7 games the Reign would prevail over the Toronto Legion on a goal from Jeff Hamilton. Jeff worked hard for his Cup victory after being bounced by the Legion 3 seasons in a row he wouldn't be denied a 4th time. In the 14 playoff games, Jeff scored 5 goals and assisted on 8 goals for 13 points.

 

Season 52 - Toronto Legion

Regular Season
S52 (TOR) - 72 GP | 27 G | 61 A | 88 P | +27 | 36 PIM | 63 H | 203 SH | 103 SB | 7 GWG

After winning the Cup in Season 51, Hamilton expressed a lot of interest in playing with his brother Phil Hamilton before Phil was forced to retire from the VHL. They both signed in Toronto for one last hurrah along with Greg Clegane. It was all for not though as the North American Conference was picking up steam again and it was a very tough top 3 to break. The Legion missed the playoffs and Jeff said he had no regret in signing with the Legion. He regressed a little bit points wise to 27 goals and 61 assists for 88 points. He had one more season left in his VHL career and he wanted to go back in time for his last season.

 

Season 53 - Seattle Bears

Regular Season
S53 (SEA) - 72 GP | 28 G | 73 A | 101 P | +71 | 56 PIM | 87 H | 234 SH | 103 SB | 8 GWG

Playoffs
S53 (SEA) - 7 GP | 0 G | 2 A | 2 P | -1 | 2 PIM | 11 H | 19 SH | 15 SB | 0 GWG

In his final season, Jeff Hamilton wanted to end his career where it started and signed as a free agent with the Seattle Bears. It all played out like everyone planned with Hamilton breaking the 100 point barrier for the 2nd time in his career and the Seattle Bears won the Victory Cup as the league's top Regular Season Team. He scored 28 goals and assisted on 73 goals for 101 points. The Bears would go straight into the Conference Finals as the bye team.

 

The New York Americans beat the Bears in 7 games to go to the finals and for the last time Jeff Hamilton skated off a VHL rink. He only assisted on 2 goals for 2 points in the 7 game series which ended in bitter disappointment for Jeff once again. He had a very nice career though. It must be noted the only time Jeff won a Continental Cup was the only time he played in the European Conference after skating for most of the North American Powerhouses for most of his career.

 

Career

Regular Season
S45 VHLM (BER) -    72 GP | 34 G | 92 A | 126 P | +70 | 60 PIM | 110 H | 321 SH |  67 SB |  0 GWG
S46 VHL  (SEA) -    72 GP | 16 G | 24 A |  40 P | -79 | 10 PIM |  24 H | 233 SH | 126 SB |  0 GWG
S47 VHL  (SEA) -    72 GP | 28 G | 53 A |  81 P |  +8 | 10 PIM |  38 H | 230 SH | 150 SB |  4 GWG
S48 VHL  (SEA) -    72 GP | 14 G | 56 A |  70 P |  +2 | 28 PIM |  62 H | 262 SH | 156 SB |  4 GWG
S49 VHL (SEA/QUE) - 72 GP | 20 G | 64 A |  84 P | +65 | 51 PIM |  88 H | 215 SH | 108 SB |  4 GWG
S50 VHL  (QUE) -    72 GP | 21 G | 66 A |  87 P | +58 | 44 PIM | 108 H | 213 SH | 131 SB |  9 GWG
S51 VHL  (RIG) -    72 GP | 27 G | 81 A | 108 P | +42 | 98 PIM | 217 H | 298 SH | 111 SB | 12 GWG
S52 VHL  (TOR) -    72 GP | 27 G | 61 A |  88 P | +27 | 36 PIM |  63 H | 203 SH | 103 SB |  7 GWG
S53 VHL  (SEA) -    72 GP | 28 G | 73 A | 101 P | +71 | 56 PIM |  87 H | 234 SH | 103 SB |  8 GWG

TOTAL VHLM - 72 GP |  34 G |  92 A | 126 P |  +70 |  60 PIM | 110 H |  321 SH |  67 SB |  0 GWG
TOTAL VHL - 576 GP | 181 G | 478 A | 659 P | +194 | 333 PIM | 687 H | 1888 SH | 988 SB | 48 GWG

Playoffs:
S45 VHLM (BER) - 10 GP | 5 G | 6 A | 11 P |  -5 | 20 PIM | 30 H | 34 SH |  8 SB | 0 GWG
S47 VHL  (SEA) -  5 GP | 1 G | 4 A |  5 P |  -2 |  0 PIM |  3 H | 17 SH |  9 SB | 0 GWG
S48 VHL  (SEA) - 13 GP | 3 G | 5 A |  8 P | -12 |  8 PIM | 14 H | 34 SH | 34 SB | 1 GWG
S49 VHL  (QUE) -  5 GP | 0 G | 5 A |  5 P |  -1 |  2 PIM |  9 H | 12 SH | 11 SB | 0 GWG
S50 VHL  (QUE) - 10 GP | 1 G | 6 A |  7 P |  -6 |  9 PIM | 10 H | 28 SH | 15 SB | 0 GWG
S51 VHL  (RIG) - 14 GP | 5 G | 8 A | 13 P |  -1 | 36 PIM | 37 H | 29 SH | 33 SB | 2 GWG
S53 VHL  (SEA) -  7 GP | 0 G | 2 A |  2 P |  -1 |  2 PIM | 11 H | 19 SH | 15 SB | 0 GWG

TOTAL VHLM - 10 GP |  5 G |  6 A | 11 P |  -5 | 20 PIM | 30 H |  34 SH |   8 SB | 0 GWG
TOTAL  VHL - 54 GP | 10 G | 30 A | 40 P | -23 | 57 PIM | 84 H | 139 SH | 117 SB | 3 GWG

As you can see points wise, Jeff Hamilton is one of the best defenders of his era, with 659 points he sits 67th all time with Peyton Nydroj which might be one of the least hyped breakign the top 100 in VHL All-Time scoring of all time. Especially once you consider that this is the 9th most all time in defenseman ever. He finished 6 points ahead of Elijah Incognito. Overall, it was a very underrated career for one Jeff Hamilton his team didn't really make it past the Conference finals despite being one of the best in the VHL. 

[STZ 5,360]

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