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Florida Panthers: Four Defensemen the Cats Should Look to Acquire

By Cal Friedman

TORONTO, ON - MARCH 28: James van Riemsdyk #25 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his 200th career goal with teammates Tyler Bozak #42, Connor Brown #28, and Travis Dermott #23 against Roberto Luongo #1, Jared McCann #90, Mark Pysyk #13, Mike Matheson #19, Maxim Mamin #78, and Denis Malgin #62 of the Florida Panthers during the third period at the Air Canada Centre on March 28, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - MARCH 28: James van Riemsdyk #25 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his 200th career goal with teammates Tyler Bozak #42, Connor Brown #28, and Travis Dermott #23 against Roberto Luongo #1, Jared McCann #90, Mark Pysyk #13, Mike Matheson #19, Maxim Mamin #78, and Denis Malgin #62 of the Florida Panthers during the third period at the Air Canada Centre on March 28, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Option #1: Calvin De Haan, New York Islanders (UFA)

NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 23: Calvin de Haan #44 of the New York Islanders celebrates his goal at 12:34 of the third period against the Buffalo Sabres at the Barclays Center on December 23, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 23: Calvin de Haan #44 of the New York Islanders celebrates his goal at 12:34 of the third period against the Buffalo Sabres at the Barclays Center on December 23, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Calvin de Haan has been a ‘Mr. Reliable’ kind of player for the New York Islanders since his start with the franchise. Calvin led the Isles in blocked shots for 2 of the last 3 seasons, as well as being one of their most disciplined players, averaging just 21 minutes in the box over the last 3 years. The 12th overall pick in 2009 has had his struggles with injuries throughout his career, missing the entire 2012-13 season due to injury, and only playing one 82 game season, in 2016-17.

de Haan’s most previous season (2017-18) saw him only take part in 33 games, but some pretty good ones too. He tallied 11 points and a +11 rating, which is good when almost 55% of his zone starts were in the Islanders’ defensive zone. He also took just four penalties in his shortened season. de Haan’s biggest issues are his injury woes and his giveaways, which has been dangerously near the top of New York’s top five, which is what a lot of Panthers fans had to deal with when Keith Yandle signed.

Calvin is coming off a $3.3 million cap hit and is only 27-years-old, so the question of the length and amount of money are total wild cards for what he wants and what the Panthers would be willing to give. With the cap going up, if the Panthers could ink de Haan for around a $4.4 million annually over four seasons, the deal would really allow the Cats to give Michael Matheson or Aaron Ekblad a solid defensive partner.

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