It was a successful tryout for defenseman Calvin de Haan as the Hurricanes announced that they’ve signed the veteran to a one-year contract. The deal is worth $850K. GM Don Waddell released the following statement on the move:
We obviously knew Calvin from his previous time in Carolina. We like what we’ve seen from him in camp and saw this as an opportunity to increase our depth on the back end.
That time that Waddell speaks of is from the 2018-19 season when he played in 74 games for Carolina, primarily in a shutdown role. It’s a role that the 32-year-old is quite familiar with as it’s the one that he has had for most of his 10-year NHL career which also featured time with the Islanders and Blackhawks. Last season, de Haan played in 69 games for Chicago, picking up four goals and four assists while logging just shy of 19 minutes a game. He also led the Blackhawks in blocked shots (172) and placed second in hits with 146.
With Jake Gardiner not being able to return this season, it opens up a spot for de Haan on the roster although it seems quite likely that he will have a smaller role than he’s accustomed to. Carolina’s top four is fully established with all four of those players being fully capable of logging over 20 minutes a night. That will leave de Haan fighting for ice time on the third pairing and perhaps even being in a seventh defenseman role at times. Even so, he extends his NHL career with this deal and becomes the second defender in as many days to convert a PTO agreement into a full contract.