Calvin de Haan Close to Surprising Free Agency Decision

According to a report in Expressen, veteran NHL defenseman Calvin de Haan "is not interested in playing in the AHL", which is where things seemed to be heading for the 13-year veteran. The 34-year-old unrestricted free agent has instead turned his attention overseas.

de Haan's agent says he's been peddling the blueliner's services in Europe, and an apparent deal is close with Brynäs of the Swedish SHL.

de Haan's NHL journey ended on a sour note, with the New York Rangers, where he got into only three games with the club, and had no hesitation to voice his displeasure with the Blueshirts.

#NYR Calvin de Haan walked past us as he was about to get on the ice and commented on how it’s all finally over.

He said something to the effect of, ‘How about the way I’ve been treated here? It’s fucked.’

We asked if he wanted to talk, he said yes and that he would be “very…
— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) April 13, 2025

"How about the way I’ve been treated here? It’s f**ked," he was quoted as saying. Then he posted a lengthy dissertation on social media about how he felt about his treatment by the Rangers.

Going to get ahead of this now…

I was hoping that I would have been able to express in a scrum setting versus a quote as I was going onto the ice and having it on the Internet 30 seconds later. I said what I said because I am frustrated , and any competitor who says that they…
— Calvin de Haan (@cal_dehaan) April 13, 2025

Calvin de Haan blasted the Rangers for his treatment by the team

"I said what I said because I am frustrated, and any competitor who says that they would be happy in this position would be lying to you. After playing 3 games for the team and going 2-0-1, I thought I maybe would have got an opportunity to jump into the lineup and help win some games."

de Haan was a first-round pick (12th overall) in the 2009 NHL Draft and began his career with the NY Islanders, where he was essentially a 20-minute per game defenseman for five seasons, through 2018. From there, he played for the Carolina Hurricanes (twice), the Chicago Blackhawks, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and finally last season split between the Colorado Avalanche and the Rangers.

He will apparently wrap up the NHL portion of his career with 679 games played, 1,344 hits and 1,317 blocked shots, in 18:27 average ice time.