With fewer than 160 games played at the NHL level, Hamonic is eligible to spend the lockout in the AHL without having to pass through waivers. He's one of many young NHL players who have been assigned to their AHL affilites, a list that also includes the likes of Edmonton's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Philly's Sean Couturier and Carolina's Jeff Skinner. Hamonic was paired with Matt Donovan on the top defensive pair today, the first full day of camp, and is looking to help lead the team until the NHL is ready to go.

"[The AHL is] the second best league to the NHL and there's a lot of good young players, a lot of guys working hard just to get that one opportunity to get to the NHL level," Hamonic said at Iceworks in Syosset earlier today. "I was grateful to get that opportunity early on in my AHL debut, and hopefully I can come back and give these guys some leadership and be a mentor for the first and second year guys for the time being. Hopefully things will get resolved at the NHL level pretty soon."