His ice time is important because adding 200-300 minutes is an easy way to add a half-dozen points. Obviously that's important for fantasy. If he doesn't get those extra minutes, maybe he doesn't rack up more than 45 points next year. That's still a very good mark but maybe he doesn't take that 50+ point leap next year that may have been available to him if he stayed in Boston.

Another reason I worry about Calgary is that they had the second-highest shooting percentage at five-on-five in the NHL last year. In the recent past, we've seen teams like Toronto, and even good teams like Pittsburgh, take a dive in the shooting department. It's not unlikely that Calgary stays in the top-5 (Colorado has, Toronto was close before caving this year), but I'm not convinced they're an elite scoring team. Boston wasn't good in this regard either, but I don't think he's going to a team that will clearly have better scoring totals next year.

All in all, I would see the status quo in fantasy for Hamilton unless he gets a bump in ice time. If he can post 45 points, 200 shots, and 50 penalty minutes, he's about a top-20 defenceman. For right now, I'm not going much higher than that.

As a side note: this is terrible for Tuukka Rask's fantasy value. I doubt Chara returns to form, and Hamilton was Boston's best defenceman. I'm not sure Rask is a top-5 goalie in drafts this year anymore. Boston will not be as good defensively as they were even last year (for now, at least).