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Neely says Bruins presented 3 offers to Hamilton prior to trade: 'We wanted Dougie'

Dave Sandford / National Hockey League / Getty

The Boston Bruins did their part.

That's the assertion of president Cam Neely, at least, who revealed Wednesday that the club presented three separate offers of four-, five-, and six-year terms to defenseman Dougie Hamilton prior to dealing him to Calgary, with a salary not far off the $34.5 million he was awarded by the Flames.

"We wanted Dougie," Neely told the Boston Globe, adding he was surprised a deal was not signed despite general manager Don Sweeney's best efforts.

"I thought Don did some really good work on comps around the league," Neely said. "He put a lot of time and effort into making fair offers and (showing) them we were serious about trying to sign him. We didn’t want him to get to July 1.

"We certainly didn’t want to make that move," Neely said of trading Hamilton. "It was apparent that we had to do it."

The Bruins ultimately pulled the trigger on a deal that brought them the 15th overall pick at the 2015 NHL Draft (used to select Zachary Senyshyn), and two second-round picks next year.

Still, Hamilton was a building block for the future, but one the Bruins certainly appear to have believed wasn't interested in sticking around.

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