The Colorado Avalanche signed veteran defenseman Calvin de Haan in the offseason and he has been adjusting to his new team for the first few days of training camp.
“It’s hard to find a bad guy in hockey and everyone’s been very welcoming to me. The staff’s great,” de Haan said after the first day of training camp. “These first days are always a bit of a whirlwind just trying to get back into the swing of things, especially on a new team. But everyone’s been pretty helpful with the questions I’ve been asking. So it’s been a pretty easy transition so far.”
With the departure of Sean Walker and Jack Johnson in the offseason, the Avs had some holes to fill in their D-core. In his 12th NHL season, de Haan brings experience and knowledge to a young group.
“Just trying to be a team guy and do what the team needs me to do. I’ve always tried to put my body on the line by, you know, put my body in front of pucks and stuff like that …,” the 33-year-old said. “Just trying to bring experience and a calming presence maybe on the blue line. Just trying to play responsible hockey at the end of the day.”
Coach Jared Bednar has not determined the 6-foot-1 blueliner’s role yet, but he may alternate ice time with other defenseman depending on the matchups.
“Even though Calvin (de Haan) has a different skill set than, say, (Erik) Brannstrom or (Sam) Malinski, you put one guy in, you might be missing something else, and if you put the other guy in, you could be missing something different,” Bednar said. “He’s a great penalty kill, shot blocker. He has strengths that I don’t know if some of these other guys have yet, but we’ll work with them on all the same stuff. And yeah, see who sort of excels.”
With only one day of training camp left before the first preseason game, no major decisions have been made yet. The next couple of weeks will determine who will be on the opening night roster.
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