from Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald,

One of the knocks on former Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli was that he overpaid for too many of his players.

But what’s the first order of personnel business for successor Don Sweeney? Well, it just might be to overpay someone.

Defenseman Dougie Hamilton is a restricted free agent with no arbitration rights. He can field offer sheets, however. Those, of course, are a rarity in the NHL. But in an informal survey of a handful of hockey insiders last week — ones with no direct connection to the situation — opinions were mixed as to whether Hamilton would receive an offer sheet. Noting how few and far between offer sheets have been, two of the people we polled believed that history would hold and no GM would stick his neck out and make a blood enemy of a rival team. But others believed that, considering the very thin UFA market for defensemen (see: Mike Green and Cody Franson), the 21-year-old Hamilton could very well garner an offer. Brent Seabrook, should the cash-strapped Blackhawks decide to move him, would be the best get of the summer. But after him, it would be Hamilton.

Whether or not an offer sheet materializes, the threat is very real. That could be enough to make the Bruins pay more than they’d like and more than the player deserves despite being up against the cap.

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