By his own admission, Calvin de Haan is both outspoken and sarcastic to a degree. Both of those qualities were on display when the veteran defenseman discussed his brief and rocky tenure with the New York Rangers during his appearance on the Cam and Strick podcast.
Acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in the Ryan Lindgren trade March 1, de Haan played well in three straight games for the Rangers , who were 2-0-1 with him in the lineup while trying to earn a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 34-year-old played his typical steady game, chipping in with an assist and posting a plus-4 rating as he averaged better than 15 minutes TOI.
The Rangers had an expected goals share of 60.17 percent with de Haan on the ice 5v5, per Natural Stat Trick .
So, in line with this trainwreck of a season for the Rangers, Peter Laviolette scratched de Haan in every game the rest of the season — 20 straight. Carson Soucy was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks ahead of the trade deadline to eat into de Haan's opportunities, and everyone from Urho Vaakanainen to Zac Jones to rookie Matthew Robertson the last two games of the season played ahead of de Haan.
"Was it frustrating? Of course. But the checks weren't bouncing at the end of the day, so it could've been a lot worse. It didn't suck," de Haan said on the podcast .
The veteran of 679 NHL games and another 38 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, did say, "The Rangers were good to me, aside from not playing."
That "not playing" part still sticks in de Haan's craw, as they say. He firmly believes that he could've helped the Rangers win more and find a way into the postseason. Instead, he sat, watched and stewed as the Rangers missed the playoffs for the first time in four seasons.
"There was a rotation at some point of some d-men coming in and out of the lineup and I was like 'F— yeah! Here we go! Here we go!' And my name never fell into it, and then I kind of knew my season was cooked at that point," de Haan explained.
"It was frustrating because I know my analytics were good. Every team in the NHL uses Sportslogiq, and my Sportslogiq numbers in the things we struggled in, I could've helped. Especially on the defensive side of things, giving up chances, rebound chances, Grade A chances. A lot of my numbers were strong in those categories and I'm like 'F—, I could probably help the team.'"
Related: Peter Laviolette seeks NHL job, wants 'opportunity to show people last year wasn't on him'
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De Haan's frustrations did bubble over in what he believed to be an informal private back and forth with some reporters in South Florida after the Rangers were officially eliminated from playoff contention in mid-April. The reporters tweeted his off-the-cuff remarks and unwittingly de Haan was trending on social media.
"To be honest I was going on to the ice (for practice) and there was no scrum or microphone. I thought I was having a conversation like we are right now," de Haan explained. "I said a lot of it with a smile, too. If you guys get to know me down the line, you'll know I'm sarcastic and I wear my heart on my sleeve.
"Next thing I know I've got a ton of text messages, people are like "Hey, well done, sticking up for yourself.' I had no idea what was going on, so I pulled up my Twitter (X) and said, 'Shit!'"
In that exchange with Rangers beat reporters, de Haan expressed he was "wasting time" at practice and that his Rangers tenure was "f—ed."
He explained on the podcast that he immediately called general manager Chris Drury to explain.
"[Drury] was great. I thought it was the honorable thing to do to hear it from the horse's mouth, so that's why I called him," de Haan said. "I just wanted to put the fire out. He's a good guy, he was good to me. No issues."
Despite all of the drama and frustration over not playing, de Haan is not ruling out a return to the Rangers. The defenseman is an unrestricted free agent and open to conversations with the Rangers, though that would appear to be a long shot.
"I'm still an employee of the Rangers," de Haan noted. Well, at least until July 1.
