With the New York Rangers starting a full rebuild toward the end of the 2017-18 season, the organization has a lot of work to do. In addition to worrying about the long term, they still need a team next year.
Some of this help will come in the form of the their three first round draft picks this year. However, it is unrealistic to expect any of the team’s draft picks to make an impact in year one. Take Filip Chytil, for example. As good as Chytil was in the preseason, he obviously needed seasoning before becoming a full time NHL player.
To fill out the roster, the Rangers will need to explore the unrestricted free agent market. One of the teams biggest areas of need comes on the defensive end.
Only three of the defensemen the Rangers have under team control have more than a year’s experience in the league. In addition, the impact of these young players games comes more in their ability to skate and play the puck in transition than it does on the defensive end.
This means that the Rangers desperately need to look to add depth as these players continue to develop.
Right now the Rangers have Kevin Shattenkirk, Brady Skjei and Marc Staal as their established veterans.
Adding an experienced player to the mix could help the Rangers round out the top four. It could also give them an opportunity to shelter Staal, whose game has been slowly diminishing over time. A player like the New York Islanders’ Calvin de Haan could be a great fit.
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A look at de Haan
de Haan was drafted 12th overall in the 2009 Entry Draft, and has spent the last five seasons with the Islanders. At just 27-years-old, he still has some prime years of hockey left to play. His statistics may not be eye-popping, but he is a solid shutdown player in the defensive end.
In the 2016-17 season, de Haan played all 82 games with the Islanders and recorded five goals and 20 assists for 25 points. His advanced statistics are even more impressive. In the past five seasons, deHaan has a Corsi-For average of 50.4%. In 2016-17, he also recorded above average shot suppression numbers and was just above average when it came to generating shots. This means that when de Haan was on the ice, the Islanders generated 50.4% of the shots. The logic being that the more shots a team creates, the more likely they are to score. Meaning that the more likely the team is to score, the more likely they are to win.
The Rangers desperately need a defenseman like deHaan. Shot suppression was one of the Rangers biggest areas of weakness last season.
It should be mentioned that the 27-year-old missed over half of the season with a shoulder injury which required surgery last year. Though there is some risk with him coming back after missing so much time, this could mean less of a hit cap-wise.
de Haan signed a one year deal with the Islanders last offseason — narrowly avoiding arbitration. The $3.3 million deal is reasonable, and with the space the Rangers have, they could make a competitive offer.
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The Rangers should to be willing to take a chance on a defenseman like de Haan. This is the type of low risk signing the organization has found a way to generate value out of. In recent years budget free agent signings have given the Rangers significant contributions. Michael Grabner, David Desharnais, Domonic Moore, Benoit Pouliot and others have found homes in New York. de Haan could easily be the newest member of this list.