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Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Calvin de Haan's cheeky take on brief, rocky Rangers tenure: ‘checks weren't bouncing at end of day'
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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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.'' Advertisement Related: Peter Laviolette seeks NHL job, wants 'opportunity to show people last year wasn't on him' Calvin de Haan surprisingly says Rangers GM Chris Drury 'was good to me' despite frustrations Brad Penner-Imagn Images 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. Advertisement '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. Advertisement 'I'm still an employee of the Rangers,' de Haan noted. Well, at least until July 1. Related Headlines
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jaccob Slavin Heralded For Dominant Team USA Performance
Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin has arguably been the best defensive defenseman in hockey for a while now. But thanks to a little bit more exposure on one of the biggest stages for the sport in years, it seems like the rest of the hockey world is finally starting to catch up to that fact. "A little? That's all they were talking about," joked Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "It's great. Great for him because he goes under the radar maybe. Not here, but just in general. It was good observations by everyone and he obviously played well. It was warranted." Sullivan: "Jaccob Slavin might be one of the best defending defensemen in the league, bar none." — Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 21, 2025 Slavin averaged 23:16 across four games for the USA and was only on the ice for two goals against all tournament. Those goals both came against Team Sweden in a game in which the Americans were resting players and more so, both goals were scored on the opposite side of the ice from him. So Slavin was perfect in two games against Team Canada and one against Team Finland. He put EVERYONE on notice 😤How good was Jaccob Slavin last night? — B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 21, 2025 There were countless times were Slavin saved a goal or killed a play before it could even materialize. The veteran defenseman is one of the best players in the world with his defensive anticipation and elite stick work (per Sportslogiq, Slavin leads the league in blocked passes) and it was on full display. He was a massive wall in front of his own net and one of the reasons why the USA was able to have such a good tournament. Even his teammates who had to face off against him agreed. Jaccob Slavin is an ELITE defenseman 😮💨 — B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 21, 2025 "Probably one of the best defensive defensemen in the league but he can also play with the puck," said Mikko Rantanen. "Sometimes people forget. I watched the game last night and he was the best d-man out there for both teams. Just tells you how good and smart of a player he is." "It was the first or second shift and he stood me up on the blueline," said Sebastian Aho. "Everyone here knows how good he is. Obviously now with a little bit of a bigger platform, everyone sees him. Best-on-best and he did a pretty damn good job shutting those guys down. He's an unbelievable d-man and we're so lucky to have him." Jaccob Slavin 🇺🇸 is the poster child for why a second NHL Award should be created for defensive — Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 21, 2025 The entire hockey world couldn't stop talking about Slavin last night, and even the ESPN broadcast was heaping praise upon him. Everyone in Carolina has known just how good Slavin is, but it's nice to see him get the recognition he rightly deserves. Created a player archetype a couple of years ago to measure how disruptive a player is defensively. Breaking up plays etc. Here's how it grades out over the last 3 seasons for defencemen...1. Slavin🇺🇸2. Heiskanen🇫🇮3. Toews🇨🇦4. A. Vlasic🇺🇸5. M. Anderson🇺🇸6. Brodin🇸🇪7.… — Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyNHL) February 21, 2025 Stay updated with the most interesting Carolina Hurricanes stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News to never miss a story.
