The “salary dumps” continue as Calvin de Haan was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night. Chicago traded Anton Forsberg and Gustav Forsling while Carolina also sent Aleksi Saarela to the Blackhawks.
Let’s quickly dig into the trade impacts for both teams and what repercussions may come.
What the Calvin de Haan trade means for the Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina arguably had an excess of defensemen and a bit of a cap bind when it came to the CBA. With a presumed impending buyout of Scott Darling, a signed goaltender was needed temporarily. This trade serves that purpose. Also, the Carolina Hurricanes gain $4.55 million in cap space.
Keep in mind that Forsberg and Forsling are both restricted, free agents.
So, Carolina took a $6.25 million cap hit from the Patrick Marleau deal but needed a little space to make other moves. This is part of how business work in this salary cap era. Don Waddell posturing to sign Sebastian Aho and patch up holes in their special teams is a priority.
This move helps in that regard. Likely, Forsberg gets buried in the AHL to bring up Alex Nedeljkovic from the Carolina Checkers. He led the Checkers to the Calder Cup earlier in the month. Arguably, he is the goalie of the future and maybe near-future.
Will something else happen is anyone’s guess. On the surface, it looks like an odd sort of trade for Carolina but the wait begins for that “other move(s)”. Even the signing last year made little sense for a “third pairing defenseman”. A trade felt rumored for some time honestly.
What the Calvin de Haan trade means for the Chicago Blackhawks
Again, Chicago featured one of the worst team defenses in the NHL’s salary-cap era over the first half of the season. It was historically bad to the point where bettors had a field day betting the over. They allowed goals in bunches and though the second half was improved, it was still not very good. Chicago needed help desperately.
First, they acquired Olli Maatta earlier in the month and now the Blackhawks snagged Calvin de Haan. Now, while de Haan moves the needle very little offensively, defensively he is more accomplished. Possession wise Carolina was even better when de Haan was on the ice. Also, shots and chances seemed to go up as de Haan suppressed shots quite well.
Bill Comeau once again provides us with his Skatr Solo Chart.
Some counter with a few concerns as de Haan has not seen the tougher minutes in a while. How would he handle them? Alas, Chicago seems to have faith that this will work just fine.
With the trade, the Blackhawks have $11.94 million in cap space with just 17 players signed. de Haan expects to miss the start of the season due to off-season surgery that will keep him out several more months at least. That does not include saving money for the contracts of Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome starting in 2020-21.
Right now, Chicago acted to plug more holes in their defense and so far they have patched two of them. On the other hand, there are more to go. Stan Bowman appears far from done though the trade route looks more appealing. The unrestricted free agent market feels like it is far too full of traps for the general manager.