About Last Season: Calvin de Haan

Calvin de Haan: 2022-23 By the Numbers

• Age: 32
• NHL Seasons: 10
• Scoring: 2 goals, 10 assists, 12 points in 53 games played
• Playoff Scoring: Did Not Play
• Average TOI: 13:32 ES, 0:01 PP, 0:31 SH
• Contract Status: UFA

Throughout last off-season the Carolina Hurricanes expected to enter this year with a plethora of defensemen which included the return of Jake Gardiner. So on September 9th when the team announced they had signed Calvin de Haan to a PTO it left many scratching their head as to why. Not only did the team not need another defenseman, but de Haan wasn’t thrilled when he was traded by Carolina to Chicago during the summer of 2019 one season in to a four-year deal he had signed.

But a just about two weeks after he signed his PTO it was revealed that Gardiner would not be returning to this team this year and would in fact miss the entire season. It seems likely the team knew that was going to be the case which is why they signed de Haan to begin with. Combine that with the terrible start to the year Ethan Bear had that saw him traded to Vancouver and de Haan found himself as a regular in the Hurricanes’ lineup all the way until the trade deadline when the team acquired Shayne Gostisbehere.

Combine the acquisition with the fact that de Haan had just had a really rough stretch of games and he was relegated to the press box for the rest of the season after March 12th. Come playoff time de Haan had clearly been bumped down the depth chart to the 8th defenseman as Dylan Coghlan was on the ice for warmups most nights as the extra player should someone get hurt and no de Haan.

You could argue that up until that stretch of games in late February and early March, de Haan wasn’t having a terrible year. He finished with a +7 rating and had 84 hits in just 53 games played. His pairing with Jalen Chatfield went unnoticed on most nights and that was a good thing. But there was also a definite uptick in play on the third defensive pairing once Gostisbehere joined the team.

One thing that has stood out about de Haan is he certainly seems to think his play is better than what he has shown on the ice. Last year in Chicago he publicly stated he was surprised he wasn’t traded. Then when he signed his PTO he was surprised nobody wanted to give him a regular contract. Combine that with his words out the door the first time he left Carolina and it does seem like he could use mute button when talking to the media. His play was terrible in Chicago and this year that same style of play crept in which is what caused him to go to the press box.

At this point in his career you have to think de Haan’s days in the NHL may be over. Sure some team may offer him a PTO in the fall but it most certainly won’t be Carolina and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him land overseas if he wasn't to keep playing. It also wouldn’t be surprising to see him hang up the skates and focus on his brewery Ridge Rock Brewing which gets great reviews.