Dougie isn't getting $8.8 million from anyone. $8 million is the absolute max and even that on anything beyond 4 or 5 years is a bit nuts given how he has been playing this year.
Saying that though, yes, he hasn't been great this year. I'm not a analytics numbers guy, so I don't know how those look this season so far but in the past those have made Dougie look like one of the best Dmen in the league.
I do know that just his counting numbers:
22 Games 1 Goal 13 Assists +8
Might not look as spectacular as last season, especially that goal number. However, those numbers look like this averaged out for a full 82 game season:
82 Games 4 Goals 48 Assists +30
48 assists would beat Dougie's best assist season by 11. 52 points would be a career high. +30 is, well, awesome (if you believe at all in that stat).
Certainly we should expect that Dougie's goals number should return to something close to his average and his assists numbers will come down when his own shots start going in more.
Any chance that a deal gets done is going to require some reality on both sides:
* Dougie Hamilton is not as valuable or as good as Alex Pietrangelo is
* Dougie Hamilton is a bit more valuable and better than Torey Krug is (at least in my opinion)
That puts the number at $7-7.5 million. One thing I think we can say we know about the Canes is that they are not going to be willing to overpay Dougie Hamilton and will have absolutely no hesitation to walk away from him if his contract demands are too far above what they are willing to pay. What Dougie's priorities are will be a factor here. If he has instructed his agent to get top dollar first and foremost, well, then he is likely going to end up a UFA for a period of time (which solves one concern for the Canes, they will be able to protect Slavin, Pesce and Bean in the expansion draft). If he has prioritized staying in Carolina, he's going to likely have to take a bit less money to make that happen because the Canes are perfectly willing to walk away from anyone.
I fully expect Dougie to remain unsigned until at least UFA day. IF/when that happens, that does not mean he will not re-sign with the Canes. And as we have discussed, that actually might benefit the Canes in the long run as far as having to expose Jake Bean or not.