As has started to become commonplace, just when things seem really quiet and the news week or at least day is over, the Carolina Hurricanes drop something. Ron Francis was let go when the majority of the local media was off at the ACC basketball tourney in New York. The trade for Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferland was announced just when it seemed like everyone was packing up their tents from the draft.
And today, after hours on the Fourth of July eve, the Carolina Hurricanes announced that the team had signed defenseman Calvin de Haan to a four-year deal for $4.05 million per year.
I have been chirping about de Haan as a logical target and priority since before the start of free agency, so much of what I have to say about the deal will be a repeat of what I have written in the last week.
Why Calvin de Haan? How we arrived here
The history of recent struggles building out a solid top 4
Last summer when many were enthralled with the high end ‘potential’ of the Hurricanes young blue line, I suggested that the team could use a bit more proven help short-term in the form of a player who could help solidify the second defense pairing. In 2016-17, the roar of how good the young Hurricanes blue line was going to be someday mostly drowned out the reality of a team that struggled to find top 4 balance on the road. At home, the Hurricanes played strength on strength with an emerging first pairing of Slavin/Pesce, but especially on the road, the second pairing of Hainsey/Faulk struggled mightily. A post trade deadline run of decent play with Hanifin/Faulk as a second pairing offered hope for the next year, but also put management in a tough spot to decide whether to bet on the youth taking the next step in 2017-18 or whether to add short-term help to solidify the top 4.
I voted for adding proven help to solidify the blue line, but instead, the team opted to bet heavily on a rebound from Justin Faulk or significant growth from Noah Hanifin. When neither materialized in 2017-18 and the potential of the youth was still not realized, the team struggled to build out a sound top 4. Justin Faulk again struggled defensively without an equal partner to help him. Noah Hanifin never really grew past being a decent but still inconsistent on defense third pairing defenseman. Coach Bill Peters had some ability to manage match ups to get by at home, but the he was forced to juggle things on the road and split Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce to try to plug holes were telling. The set of four just was not good enough with Faulk being ‘meh’ at best defensively and Haydn Fleury in a little bit over his head in that role as a rookie.
We will never know for certain, but is it possible that a sounder defense could have provided a better situation for Scott Darling and the goaltending in total that helped them reach a higher level in 2017-18?
Solidifying the top 4 defenseman as a priority…Again
Regardless, we again entered the summer with a promising young blue line but also one that needed to be upgraded to compete now. In my article on June 11 that detailed offseason priorities, I actually left two blanks for the second defense pairing listing Faulk and Hanifin only as maybes. In so doing, I went again the party line that again bet on the young blue line maturing when I placed adding a steady top 4 defenseman as my second priority (only to goalie) this summer.
The first domino – The Dougie Hamilton trade
Then kaboom. The Hurricanes parted ways with young regulars in Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin to add a proven top 4 defenseman in Dougie Hamilton (and also Micheal Ferland). But the move very clearly put the team in an interim position with three higher-cost right shot defensemen who were all theoretically top 4s but only a single left shot top 4 defenseman to balance the lineup.
In an article two days after the trade for Dougie Hamilton entitled, “What’s next?” I discussed the need to solidify and balance the top 4 and identified Calvin de Haan as a target when I said:
On defense, I am on record as believing that Justin Faulk is likely to be traded before July when a no-trade clause kicks in on his contract. And I think the Hurricanes will need to add a left shot top 4-capable defenseman to pair with Hamilton and finally solidify the defense going into the season instead of betting big on players improving or stepping into bigger roles.
From the free agent list Calvin de Haan is the player who jumps out at me. The Islander defenseman has had injury issues, but when healthy he is a solid and steady even if maybe unspectacular top 4 defenseman and quite possibly a perfect fit for the more Pitkanen-ish Hamilton. The challenge is winning his attention in what is always an overbid market for free agent defensemen and probably having to overpay a bit to get him. But as I said on Twitter today, overpaying modestly in the free agent market might not be the worst thing. I think of it as a combination of transactions through which the Hurricanes part ways with Faulk (possibly for a good collection of futures and/or a forward) and also obtain de Haan. The haul is significantly more than just trading Faulk to add a defenseman.
Regardless of how many steps it takes or how it comes about, I think ideally the Hurricanes will part ways with Faulk and will along the way add a left shot defenseman to replace him.
I followed up in my free agency preview by identifying de Haan as a target just before free agency opened when I said:
Though I actually figured that something would happen before Sunday when a partial no-trade clause would kick in for Justin Faulk. But even with that not happening yet, I still believe the Hurricanes could be in the market for a top 4 left shot defenseman.
As I said on Twitter earlier this week, the player that jumps out to me is Calvin de Haan from the Islanders. He has had some injury issues over the past few years, but when in the lineup he has been a steady top 4 defenseman. As an efficient, defense-leaning defenseman, his skill set could be a good fit for Dougie Hamilton and in the process leave Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce together.
There are a few other options, but I am not really high on any other blue line free agents for a top 4 role. Tobias Enstrom is one left shot possibility if he is ready to take a shorter-term deal. If de Haan is not a viable option, I think it is more likely that the team balances the blue line via a trade or two.
What I would do: Yes, he will cost a bit too much because higher-end free agents almost always do. And yes the term will be uncomfortably long. But if I was going to go out on a limb in free agency, I think it would be to add de Haan. I think he combined with re-signing Trevor van Riemsdyk balances out a pretty good, experienced blue line without any reaches in the lineup. That could be significant in terms of stabilizing things and creating a good environment for a goalie rebound regardless of who is in net. If de Haan is not obtainable, I would not reach for other options.
I mentioned de Haan again in follow up after the first day of free agency, and undeterred by the lack of movement thus far, de Haan was again at the top of my list in Tuesday’s well-timed Daily Cup of Joe entitled, “Is the other shoe about to drop? If so, what does it entail?”
Justin Faulk is still in tow, so the order is a bit off, but I think that the signing of Calvin de Haan shows the Hurricanes management as being on pretty much the same page.
As of right now, I see the lineup as such:
Jaccob Slavin / Brett Pesce
Calvin de Haan / Dougie Hamilton
Haydn Fleury / Trevor van Riemsdy
…with Faulk as an extra whose price is too high to just slot down into the bottom pairing especially if he can garner a return via trade.
What does Calvin de Haan bring to the lineup?
De Haan has had some injury issues over recent years, but when in the lineup he had grown to become an efficient even if maybe unspectacular top 4 defenseman. As a steady type who leans defense and simple over offense and flashy, I view de Haan as a perfect complementary partner to Dougie Hamilton who is a bit more of an offensive freelancer with more than his fair share of Joni Pitkanen in him.
One could debate which of Slavin/Pesce or de Haan/Hamilton is the top pairing, and though I lean toward those pairs there is also a chance that the partners swap, but the biggest thing is that I think the Hurricanes are now legitimately 4 deep with top 4 defenseman.
De Haan does not project to be a high point producer or so much of an offensive catalyst, but that is exactly what Hamilton brings. At 27 years old, de Haan has been logging at or near 20 minutes per game for five years in a pretty similar role. He is not a player that the Hurricanes hope can grow into a top 4 role. He is a player who has been decent or better in that role for multiple years already.
What’s next?
Though I was incorrect on the order, I am still sticking to my guns on how this all plays out. (Reference my article from Tuesday morning.) I think Justin Faulk is even more certain to be traded now that de Haan is aboard and the fact that I see Faulk as an expensive duplicate for the third pairing slot on the right side that should be filled by Trevor van Riemsdyk.
With de Haan aboard, there is a chance that management has to be flexible with what the return is for Faulk since he is a duplicate now anyway. But ideal is to trade Faulk to add another scoring-leaning forward. Such a move would boost the offense and also make it possible to consider also parting ways with Jeff Skinner.
There are any number of options to trade Faulk. Coming off of a mixed bag for his 2017-18 (and also 2016-17 performance) the potential range of values for Faulk is wide, but as a right shot defenseman who has produced offensively and played in a top 4 role, there should be a market.
Options that I tossed out this morning considered the Maple Leafs bypassing the impossible dream in Nylander and also not settling for just Kapanen who I think is an underpayment and instead going after a less-mentioned name in Nazem Kadri.
The never-dying rumors of Faulk to Edmonton possibly in a bigger deal for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is another possibility.
But more broadly, I think the goal at this point would be to use Faulk to land scoring help for the top half of the forward roster.
What say you Canes fans?
1) Honest answer, did anyone else see this as a likely possibility?
2) Do you agree that it is nearly a foregone conclusion that the next domino to fall is a Justin Faulk trade?
3) If yes, what trade would you hope to and/or expect to do for Faulk?
4) Before we see them on the ice, how would you arrange the top 4 on the blue line?
Go Canes!
I’m ecstatic right now. The next move, to me, is Faulk and Skinner plus a 2nd or maybe even next year’s first for William Nylander. I know that seems like a haul, but hear me out:
Nylander is currently an RFA, and with Marner and Matthews set for big paydays next offseason and Tavares just getting his, someone is likely to be the odd man out. Toronto should be in “win-now” mode and also have a subpar defense right now behind Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, and maybe Nikita Zaitsev. Skinner on a one year deal is a luxury in that they take advantage of Marner and Matthews’ rookie deals for one more year then he comes off the books in 2019 and opens up some space for the Matthews/Marner signings. I do not see it as logical that they can keep all those guys, with around 16 M from what I gather in cap space. Matthews alone will get about 10, Marner probably at least 5.5. Nylander will not be singable for less than that, and it doesn’t take a math whiz to see that space is sewn up in that scenario. So that leaves Faulk, who will have one additional year remaining on his salary, but I think they take that value to have him as a player they can put next to Rielly and probably form a solid top pairing. He’s better than any other option they have now at the very least, and Rielly is very good. At least comparable and probably significantly better than Andrej Sekera who Faulk thrived next to. But with all the salary cap questions and essentially a rental on Jeff Skinner, I think the high draft pick is a necessary addition. I think the Leafs have to be cognizant of that cap situation and that not everyone is going to be affordable, opening the door for another cap casualty steal the Hurricanes could take advantage of. Hey, y’all wanted Tavares, you got him, but you can’t keep everyone! I know it’s still likely a long shot, but because of all this i do see it as a possibility… and would be through the roof in excitement about the offseason DW and Dundon have put together. I’m already firmly into the “very happy” category, but adding Nylander too… we’d really have something special here.
I am so excited about what TD, DW, Dudley, and Brindamoor have done with the moves so far it is hard to get back into “what next.” Bwstanley got things off to a good start. I agree with him that Toronto looks like a good trading partner if we want to move Faulk. What is a fair return? Well, Nylander would be my first pick even up. But, hey, I’m out of my league when it comes to dreaming up trades (alright, so all of the contributors to this site already know that). I’m just going to sit back and revel in and enjoy what the other contributors have to say on this topic. Hey, because of this signing I’ve already experienced new first for me…I’ve beat ctcaniac to the punch. It took staying up until 1:00 AM to do. But now I can’t wait to see his post later today along with dmilleravid, powerless, live_free…, ralreightj, breezy, lessthan…, jm97, and all of the rest of the contributors to this site. They all make this site the best for Canes hockey IMO.
Let the good times roll! Let’s play some hockey!
What about an trade with Philly for Simmonds? One year left on a deal in which he is underpaid and will probably be do for a significant bump in pay…. coming off an injury filled season, and they need a top 4 defensemen. Faulk and a high draft pick. I realize its a stretch but theres not a team in the league that wouldn’t want a Simmonds on there team.
I love Wayne Simmonds and voted aggressively to try to add him two years back when the Flyers floundered early in the season, and anything that was not bolted down seemed to be available. And if I had to win 1 hockey game tomorrow, I still love what Simmonds brings.
But bigger picture I am not as high on Simmonds. He will have turned 30 when the 2018-19 season starts. His style of play results in a lot of wear and tear. So as much as I would be happy to take Simmonds for 1 year, I am not fond of such a deal because I think the trade value would reflect the expectation of re-signing him. And at 30 years old, I would begrudgingly pass on Simmonds next deal because of the risk.
I agree, Matt. Simmonds plays a hard game, which I love. Simmonds is also listed at 185lbs which means he really isn’t a big man. He’s going into his 30s and has had all kinds of injuries. One of two things are likely to happen with Simmonds; he keeps getting injured, or he changes his style of play. Think of Ruutu his last few years. I would avoid Simmonds.
This is a really good deal for the Carolina Hurricanes. I think it impacts the team on the ice, the perception of the team in the community and the goodwill of fans toward organizational leadership.
1. The team got a legitimate top 4 dman who is 27. He is signed to a fair contract for both sides. He can play with Hamilton or Pesce depending on how things shake out. His defense first attitude will help the team goal tending. If rumors are to be believed, he had interest from big market teams like Toronto and New York. He chose to come to Raleigh.
2. I think this helps the perception in the hockey community both local and national. The team is making an effort to get better. They are adding players to be serious contenders for playoff hockey. This is no longer a team hoping that things work out. It is a team on the rise that is adding appropriate players to get stronger. Future free agents may give a second look to what’s going on in Raleigh.
3. The new leadership team has earned some goodwill in this signing. Many have wondered if TD would spend money to get better. I must admit, I was hoping for adding reasonable salary in trades to demonstrate full commitment by the leadership. This FA signing does that. DeHaan is the right age, skill set and hebmeets a need for the team. Leadership said they wanted to get better but not spend for the sake of spending. This deal confirms that notion. I have also learned that if GMDW says that we don’t need to do something- watch out. A deal is on the way.
As to the next steps- it seems inevitable that Faulk is going to be traded. He will have value to teams in win now mode who want a RD. Perhaps a forward from TB or San Jose. I have no idea but I hope it is a player for player trade that helps the Canes this year.
One final musing. I have given the TVR negotiations some thought. Perhaps TVR is balking at term instead of money. He is 27 if I remember correctly. He may want a 3 or 4 year deal. Carolina wants to have a spot for Fox in the next few years. I am just guessing but that could be a consideration.
Happy 4th of July everyone. Be safe.
Not cheap in my opinion for a shutdown defenseman with limited offensive upside and injury risks. He has played a full 82 games once in 4 full seasons while missing more than 10 games in the other 3 seasons. I’m a little worried that the team just paid 4.5 million to get a guy that Haydn Fleury could turn into for a lot cheaper in not too long.
What i do like about the deal is of course the fact it opens up the team to move Faulk without really hurting the d-corps (aside from offensively) but hopefully his return will be a scoring forward.
Also I personally think that De Haan – Hamilton is a big waste of Hamilton’s talent on a pairing mainly due to how the minutes would be split between this pair and Slavin – Pesce. My idea is:
Slavin – Hamilton – which becomes just a studly #1 pairing with a perfect blend of offense and defense. It can be a unit utilized in ANY scenario (to produce offense and to hold a lead). They can play HUGE minutes as they are the two best dmen on our roster.
De Haan – Pesce – this now becomes your #1 shutdown pairing. You can save Hamilton and Slavin from slogging the absolute hardest minutes and you can throw these two under the bus and allow them to eat up minutes against other teams top lines. They won’t produce much offense on their own anyway so I’d rather see them pushed into doing what they do best – defending. They don’t need to play huge minutes really just PK minutes and shutdown minutes.
This is an excellent signing. Really excited to see the management take some chances and attempt to make the team better rather than just hope for player growth.
Given the Canes lineup now, I wonder what Skinner+Faulk could return in a mega-trade…
When the notification came through on my phone last night I was thrilled and a bit shocked. This is a big FA signing for the Canes!
I believe that the Canes truly have a top 3 defensive corp in the NHL now. A top 4 of Slavin, Pesce, Hamilton, and de Haan with a combination of Fleury, TVR, Bean, Fox, and McKeown making up the 3rd pairing over the next several years is incredible.
I’ve thought since the Hamilton trade that Faulk was on the way out and this move solidifies that for me. We also just limited the market by taking the last big FA.
Two trades I would love to see but don’t seem likely to me are:
1. Faulk + for Nylander
2. Faulk for RNH
Trades I would be happy with that I think are more likely to happen:
1. Faulk for Nino or Zucker
2. Faulk for Tyler Johnson +
Any of the above trades also opens the possibility for trading Skinner for a more futures based return or extra goaltending insurance without hurting too much.
Dundon and company have gotten a lot of criticism about being cheap since the Lindholm/Hanifin contract discussions and Mrazek signing but I’ve got to say I’m thrilled with what we’ve accomplished so far and I am excited to see what this team looks like come September.
I was completely wrong about our ability to land de Haan yesterday, but … I am thrilled that we plugged the hole on the left-side. It now seems that we will enter the season properly slotted on defense for the first time in a long time.
Further, this opens up more opportunities in the trade market. We don’t need a LHD first (or at all) and since we didn’t create a new hole because it was addition through a UFA signing and not a trade we can go after the best deal instead of having to focus on a specific positional need. (The same can now be said for the return in a Skinner trade.)
I do believe this increases the odds that Faulk is going to be traded; also don’t discount the possibility of bundling Rask in any deal for Faulk.
The trade partners probably haven’t changed: TOR, EDM, CHI, TBY, BOS. Don’t discount a 3-way deal. I would be happy with a solid offensive player or a top prospect or futures or some combination.
1) I was wrong about this signing–thought it would be too expensive. I like the deal and what it adds.
2) A right D will get moved. I am still concerned it might be Pesce because I don’t see Toronto (in particular) moving Nylander for Faulk. With the Tavares signing, Toronto is going to have to manage the cap. While it is only 800K for the next two years, Pesce is signed at 4M for 6 more years. He is a shut-down, right-shot D. Pesce is what other teams, especially Toronto, will require to trade.
3) The one option I could live with is Skinner and Faulk for RNH and a pick/prospect. However, as dmiller mention a 3-way trade might come into play. Vegas might be open to taking Lucic’s contract and Puljujarvi–the Canes would get RNH and a pick from Vegas–Edmonton would get Skinner and Faulk.
4) I see both configurations. Keeping Slavin/Pesce or fifty’s configuration of Slavin/Hamilton. Both could work, my guess is both get tried in preseason.
I am also ‘concerned’ it will be Pesce. I agree if you are another team moving a great forward why are you asking for Faulk and not Pesce? And if I am Carolina you have to give to get – and if it is an ELITE forward with potential coming back I’d be just barely OK to part with Pesce.
I’d prefer it was Faulk but i’m not sure if another team will give a good roster forward for Faulk.
I like the signing – both money and term. We have a legitimate top-4 D now with each component signed out for 3-5 years. It is hard not to like that.
Sure, CDH has a history of injuries, but we have quality young depth on the left side ti fill in if necessary.
The downside – but we had this anyway – a logjam of youth developing on the left side. There is only room for one of Fleury, Bean, Fox(??).
I think either permutations of the top-4 would be solid (and offer something different).
And I continue to think Faulk will not be on the team by the time training camp comes around – just a question of timing (and the right partner). If I was to speculate, I imagine other teams know we want to move him so are upping their ask beyond what out O&M want to relinguish in addition to JF.
Great move by the Canes to solidify the back end. Under $5M for a legit top 4 defenseman is a good deal. Surprised no one else offered these kind of numbers to him. Says one of two things to me, teams like Toronto and Montreal are too tied up with money to offer 4 years, or there are legitimate concerns about his shoulder. (Sorry to be the negative Nelly here.) I believe it is the former reason.
Pretty sure Faulk will go, but you never know. The Canes now have two pieces they can trade for a decent return. More important than a scoring forward would be a true centerman, IMO. The Canes should score and defend better than last year with the crew they have now. They are much weaker down the middle on draws at this point. Kadri would be perfect, but I have seen zero information that would suggest Toronto would part with him. To the contrary Kadri seems to be one of Babcock’s favorites.
You’re surprised nobody else shelled out a 4 year contract to a UFA dman whose played 1/4 full seasons in the league while missing significant injury time? PLus – when I look at De Haan’s stats I don’t see a CLEAR cut top 4 dman – I see a passable 2nd pairing dman that can move up and down a pair. The AAV is not that surprising but to me a 4 year contract was a bit surprising. I think De Haan certainly got the bigger value in this deal compared to Carolina – at his price tag and his top 4 slotting I now have PRETTY high expectations for De Haan and I wonder if he can meet them.
Let’s not deny that a worst case scenario for this signing is that he is Karl Alzner who is just two years older and whose offensive statistics rate out scarily similar to De Haan.
1) Great call Matt, I did not see this coming. I was hopeful, but after years of disappointment in free agency did not get my hopes up. I stopped speculating on free agency to avoid frustration.
I really like this deal. Perhaps oddly, I think our goaltending just got much better. Well, the goaltending statistics just got better anyway.
2).we have an extra on the right side, and a change of scenery for Faulk would be good for him and his new team. He will likely be traded but the order doesn’t seem as important.
3) As with free agency speculation, I will leave trade speculation to the rest of the community. I like all of the options laid out in other posts though.
4) I would experiment with the combinations a bit, probably pairing Slavin-Hamilton when Canes get last substitution (using Pesce -de Haan as shutdown) and Slavin-Pesce when opponents get last substitution. The combination of an offensive defenseman with a shutdown guy gives the most flexibility when the other team controls matchups.
More on pairings: I wouldn’t hesitate to mix TVR in the top 4 either. He led the team in +/- at +9 even though he spent much of the season paired with Hanifin (who was minus 20 something). Fleury was over slotted in the second pairing last year but I think Fleury -TVR need to step it up on the PK for us to come off the kill with our most potent combinations.
I too have wondered if TVR could at least fill in in the top 4. I advocated last March (once season was over) for giving him a run of games in that role just to see how he looked.
His history suggests that he is just a solid #5. When elevated into the top 4 because of injuries in Chicago, he struggled per reports from people who track the Blackhawks closely. But might that just have been situation? The majority of those games were playing on his off side and with Brent Seabrook who despite being paid for it is probably overslotted as a top 4 himself.
Regardless, I like the idea of having a steady veteran like van Riemsdyk sitting in a #5 slot.
Injuries happen (hopefully not to the Canes) and those will be the moments you see TVRs value shine through. No need to slot him into the top 4 but he will probably end up playing plenty there if people get hurt. At one point last year he played on the first pairing with Slavin and did just fine.
When the guy that moves up in the lineup from the 3rd pairing is TVR and not Michal Jordan/Klas Dahlbeck/MAtt Tennyson you truly have a chance to continue winning even after losing players to injury 😛