Calvin De Haan has signed a new contract with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Why would he sign with a team who has a dedicated top four?

It’s because he’s a #5....

Because someone is getting traded

He'd better not be, at that price tag. Faulk is as good as gone.

Why would De-Haan want to play with the Hurricanes? He may or may not get a spot in the lineup there. And he won't get much ice time. And why would they sign him? 4 years X 4.55M? That's way too much for De-Haan.

Well teams are going to be making terrible offers for Faulk. He's a very underrated player.

Maybe because he wants to play with good defensmen and in a pressure-less market with a ton of cap space to work with.

He probably used the Habs contract they gave to Alzner last year as a reference.

I don't get why everyone is surprised by some of these contract offers. De Haan is descent d man and in the prime years of his career. He's that last quality young dman available on UFA. With that being the case, I'm sure more than one team was making a pitch. For a free player that costs nothing to acquire, sometimes you pay them more to choose you. De Haan may have chose Carolina cuz the $$ were there. He doesnt care where he plays, he just maximized his salary return to the most peak point of his prime he will get. Now in regards to Carolina, cap space is something they have. You never know, Dundon could have said to make this deal. You can't factor that out. Also, as stated, they maybe looking to move someone like Faulk out. Either way, I don't see why he would take less when he was the last avail young quality D left in UFA.

i mean a team just signed Ian cole for 4.25. not really outta the question.

He is a good player. I just think 4.55M on a team who doesn't need defence at all is a lot.

I didn't notice that's what he got. That's probably too much too. But either way, the Avalanche maybe could have used some help on D. The Hurricanes didn't need defence at all.

but they might, just have to wait ! could be a deal in the works pending the UFA signing.

Id bet Faulk is on the way out. I don't know if you have seen their goaltending.... Darling and Mrazek aren't going to help their D. They need as many as they can get.

It's probably because they will trade Faulk at some moment. I can see Carolina using Faulk to get a top 6 center or a top young talent center. The first trade partner that comes to my mind is the Leafs. They need a quality top 4 two-way d-man like Faulk and after get Tavares, it's pretty obvious that they'll trade Nylander or Marner at some point. And my bet is William. A great fit for Hurricanes. He surely would be their top 6 center and a potential franchise player in Carolina. So, his role would deeply improve.

Not sure what Carolina is doing at all.

Congratulations Calvin De Haan you are going to be drafted by Seattle enjoy your short time in Carolina.

I don't have a problem with this one. A shade pricey but quality UFAs are. He's relatively young and the term isn't bad either.

I understand if a team needs defense to sign him for that price but Carolina?? They don't need defense at all. 4.5 million to play bottom pairing minutes.

Assuming De Haan plays on the middle pairing, this is a good deal. He's much better than people give him credit for.

I would think that Carolina had bigger priorities, but they wanted to replace Hanifan at LHD. Very good LHD with Slavin, Fleury and DeHaan,,,maybe Bean. I wouldn't worry about minutes, and the silly ranking of players. Even if doesn't play the PP he will play 18 minutes a game. Faulk might be traded but still the Canes have no need to trade him either and to with Pesce, Hamilton on the right side. It's the promotion of McKoewn? to Canes RHD that makes Faulk tradable not the signing of DeHaan.

Why are people surprised Carolina made this move? De Haan is a very good second pairing defenseman. This solidifies their blue line and makes it even better. Slavin, Hamilton, De Haan, and Pesce is an excellent top 4. Faulk is not nearly as good as he used to be, and if he isn't traded he'll probably play third pairing minutes and get some decent PP time since he's their only other puck-moving defenseman besides Hamilton. The only other LHD they had after the Hanifin trade besides Slavin was Fleury, and they likely don't want to thrust him into top 4 minutes in only his second season. Plus when your goaltender duo is Mrazek and Darling you probably want a stout defense in front of them.

Slavin - Hamilton
De Haan - Pesce
Fleury - Faulk/van Riemsdyk

is a way better top 6 than

Slavin - Pesce
Fleury - Hamilton
Bean (?) - Faulk/van Riemsdyk

They are going to unload a top-4 RD for some young forwards & then unload a top LD prospect for some young forwards & then unload a top RD prospect for some young forwards....and they'll still an above average defense + above average defensive prospects.....makes sense to me.

Probably the toughest signing to evaluate. Price and term for the player are great, he is a legitimate top 4 D, and his injury last year really showed how valuable he was to the Islanders D. He ticks a lot of boxes. Analytics show he is very good at suppressing shots, but he also gets a decent amount of appreciation from the more traditional "eye test" crowd. His only real knocks were that he was injured last year, and he was drafted high and was billed as a more offensive threat, which he never really panned out to be. This lead him to be a little underrated. I thought of all the D signed this year to multi-year deals, he or Pateryn, might prove to be the best value and actually live up to their contracts.

The puzzling part is whether or not it's a good investment for Carolina. They are a team that needed to add offense and so far they added a top pairing D, and another 2nd pairing D, and traded away a 23 year old winger, and seem intent on trading away their best goal scorer.

Maybe they get a good player for Faulk, but it's not like he brings back a #1C, elite young winger, or top tier forward prospect. Offense is hard to add, and so far they haven't really added any.