Carolina Hurricanes: The Role of Defenseman Calvin de Haan

Calvin de Haan has settled in nicely since joining the Carolina Hurricanes this previous offseason on a four-year contract. We evaluate what de Haan’s role has been for the Hurricanes and what he does to succeed in that role.

Calvin de Haan’s role has been to solidify the Carolina Hurricanes defense. He wasn’t signed to be an offensive threat yet to be a solid defender. In today’s game player’s like this don’t get the credit they really deserve. Defense can change games and can help bail out goaltender’s at times. He has been everything the Hurricanes have asked for defensively.

One of de Haan’s biggest assets to his game that allows him to defend at such a high level is his skating. His ability to skate allows him to get into proper position as well as bail out teammates that may have pinched up offensively.

He can match the speed with forward in order to check or knock the puck off the stick of the attacking forward. You normally hear the goaltender matching the speed of the forward, but a defenseman can do the same to deny the scoring chance from even occurring and that is where de Haan’s skating ability helps. He also can keep his gaps consistently, to where the gap between him and the forward doesn’t increase.

De Haan hasn’t really been known in his NHL career for his ability to be physical, but in his first season with the Hurricanes he had a career high 187 hits, which is first for all Hurricane defenseman. This could be credited to Rod Brind’Amour’s style of play when he was playing, which he instilled into his players as a coach.

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He had the fourth most block shots among Hurricanes defenseman with 106. De Haan, like most players on the Canes, aren’t afraid to put their body on the line to block a shot. That is a key to success as a team. Blocking shots can help goalies that are screened and could potentially lead to getting the puck out of the zone.

De Haan also set a career high in takeaways this year with 59. That broke his previous high by 29, which means de Haan was more aggressive in taking away the puck by reading passes and poke-checking pucks off of opponents’ sticks.

All of these strengths in de Haan’s game attributes to his role for the Carolina Hurricanes. He wasn’t brought to Carolina to be an offensive presence, like Dougie Hamilton, but rather to play solid, structured defense.

That shouldn’t take away from his ability to move the puck as a passer, as he finished with 13 assists, but offense is not why is here. He only scored one goal this season and had a shooting percentage of just one percent, but the Hurricanes will take that considering the abundance of offensive talent on the blue line.

The credit needs to be given to de Haan for what he does for this team. He doesn’t do anything flashy or spectacular, but he gets his job done. He may not be a factor on the score sheet, but what he does impacts the game whether you see it or not.

Question for CC Readers: How do you feel Calvin he Haan has fit into his role with the Hurricanes?