It's hard to find comp's for Dougie, but here's what I've come up with. I only have the counting stats for now, but I will try and dig deeper into TOI and usage.veritas said:
Think about it this way, would you give up 4 first rounders to pay a Dougie clone 9.1 mil for the next 5 years? The answer should be hell no, and that's why you'd let him walk if someone did something dumb like that. And that's the sort of offer sheet that is terrifying, some small market team with tons of cap space trying to make a splash. Or, Philly pulling $9.1m in cap space out of their ass like they always seem to do.
It's going to be fascinating if it gets to that point what sort of offer sheets he'll actually get. I don't really think any of the comps floated around are great examples. Subban never was an RFA and got 8/72 but he was a superior player at that point, three years older, and was in a very unique situation with that arbitration and impending UFA status. Pietrangelo is the closest comp but didn't have the upside Hamilton has, IMO.
PK Subban- Drafted in 08, debuted in 10. Played ELC for age 21-23 seasons. ELC numbers; 160 games, 74 points. Signed the 2/$5.5 bridge deal before the monster 8/$72 he is currently on.
Tyler Myers: Drafted in 08, debuted in 09. ELC was age 19,20, 21 seasons. 108 points in 217 ELC games. 2nd contract was 7/$38.5.
Alex Pietrangelo: Also drafted in 08. Spent 2 more seasons in juniors before settling in with the Blues. ELC ran from ages 20-22. 207 games, 118 points. Second deal was the aforementioned 7/$45.
Drew Doughty: 08 draft (boy was that one loaded for D). Made the leap straight to the NHL. ELC was 18-20, 239 games, 135 points. Won a Cup in there. 8/$56 was deal #2.
Victor Hedman: drafted in 09, jumped straight to the NHL. 214 games, 69 points. Signed RFA deal of 5/$20.
Zach Bogosian: Drafted in 08, made the leap. 199 games, 59 points. His second deal was 2/$5.
Justin Faulk- 2nd round pick in 10. He's the best I could do post-lockout. No elite defenseman from the 10-12 drafts have come up yet as RFA's like Dougie. Faulk played a year of junior and 2 in the AHL before breaking in full time. His second contract is 6/$29.
These aren't perfect comps, but Dougie is unique. He's really the first elite defenseman to reach RFA status since the lockout.
Edit: Oops, forgot to include Dougie- ELC was age 19-21, 178 games, 83 points.