Sometimes you have to wait a little longer for greatness.

The Boston Bruins are hoping Dougie Hamilton fits that description. The big defenseman is in his third year with the Bruins, but he turned 21 just months ago.

Greatness is expected of a high draft pick. Hamilton was chosen ninth overall in the 2011 draft, his name being called in the heady days after the Bruins’ first Stanley Cup title in 39 years.

He waited a year before making the big club, and then had to wait five extra months for the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season to begin. That wait was met with mixed results as Hamilton – just 19 at the time – showed glimpses of the player he could be while also showing the inexperience that comes with being a rookie.

Now, with Zdeno Chara sidelined for more than a month, the Bruins are leaning on Hamilton more than ever before. The team’s belief in the 6-foot-5 defenseman paid off Saturday night when he netted his first two goals of the season in his hometown of Toronto as the Bruins beat the Maple Leafs, 4-1.

“It’s a good feeling,” the understated Hamilton told reporters afterward.

Seventeen years ago the Bruins chose Joe Thornton with the first pick in the 1997 draft, just the second time the B’s had ever chosen first overall. It took time for Thornton to blossom against the world’s greatest players. As a rookie Thornton played under the late Pat Burns, a taskmaster who demanded excellence from all his players.

Thornton was back in Boston with the San Jose Sharks last week and sat down with me for a NESN interview. He remembered those early days as he tried to get up to NHL speed.

“(Burns) was so hard core,” said Thornton. “I didn’t know how I was gonna survive this guy. He was really, really hard on me but he was very fair. I think he thought if I could make it past him I could play for anyone.”

Thornton made it through that season and would eventually win the Hart Trophy as the league’s Most Valuable Player. It just took him a while to get where he wanted to be.

No one is asking Hamilton to win the MVP award. In fact, no one’s asking him to replace Chara. Chara is a behemoth (at 6-foot-9, the tallest player in league history) who has led the Bruins in ice time every year he’s worn the black and gold.

“As a unit we wanted to step up together,” Hamilton told reporters after the win in Toronto. “That’s how you have to do it. I don’t think one player can fill his shoes. That’s impossible. I thought we did well.”

This is Hamilton’s time to do well. Four games into the season he was averaging just 19:38 a game with a minus rating and inconsistent results. Over the past six games he’s averaging more than 23 minutes a game, and is a plus-2 in that stretch.

The Bruins traded Johnny Boychuk to the New York Islanders because they believed they had the defensive depth to carry them through the season. With Chara and Kevan Miller injured, that depth will be put to the test. More than ever before Hamilton will need to step up and deliver.

For Hamilton, it hasn’t been that long a wait. He’s only played 116 NHL games. But the Bruins can’t wait any longer for Hamilton to live up to the expectations of a first-round pick. They need Saturday’s effort to be the start of a run of success on the Boston blue line.

Tom Caron is the studio host for Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.