On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced they signed 32-year-old free agent defenseman Calvin de Haan to a one year deal worth $775,000. Tampa Bay now has nine defenseman under contract and de Haan is able to provide a solid depth option on the left side of their blue line.
We have signed free agent defenseman Calvin de Haan to a one-year contract worth $775,000.
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) July 2, 2023
📝: https://t.co/BBGqMCXbC6 pic.twitter.com/4C8jpzT256
De Haan has played in almost 600 career NHL games, most recently with the Carolina Hurricanes. This past season, de Haan recorded 12 points in 53 games with Carolina. In the playoffs, de Haan found himself as the odd-man out on what is always a very strong Carolina defense core.
On Saturday, Lightning General Manager Julien BriseBois explained that the Lightning would likely be rolling with the group of defensemen they currently had on the roster. That would have meant not having a single new face on defense which was arguably Tampa Bay’s greatest weakness last season.
BriseBois says that he expects Hedman, Cernak, Sergachev, Perbix, Fleury, Raddysh and Bogosian to be the seven defensemen on the roster for Opening Night. Said that could change, but that's what they are expecting right now.
— Chris Krenn (@Chris_Krenn) July 1, 2023
In Julien BriseBois’ time as Lightning General Manager, we have learned to be skeptical of him when he says not to expect any changes. 24 hours after saying that rolling with these seven defenseman would be the expectation for now, he brings in de Haan on a very friendly number.
Sticking with the seven defenseman on hand previously would only leave three on the left side. After the obvious horses in Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev, Hayden Fleury was the only lefty remaining after Ian Cole departed in free agency. Bringing in de Haan to play third pair minutes on the left side at $775,000 is a low risk price.
The blue line group is probably still not good enough to win the Stanley Cup as it is currently. Tampa Bay currently has about $3 million in cap space with only Tanner Jeannot left to sign. If they want to move out a defenseman or two, they could potentially free up another $1-2 million which could leave them with some space to potentially make another move down the road at the trade deadline. For the time being, the defense core is probably set for now and de Haan should provide a very decent value in bottom pair minutes.