BLOG: de Haan Expected to Return from Injury When Play Resumes

When the Blackhawks resume play at in the coming weeks, the prolonged NHL pause will have provided at least one big boost to the roster.

Calvin de Haan underwent shoulder surgery on Dec. 27 and was expected to miss the remainder of the 2019-20 season with a 4-6 month recovery timeline. Now, with a projected July 10 start to team training camps for the 24 squads returning to play -- six and a half months after his operation -- the blueliner is expected to be fully back in the mix, according to Senior Vice President/General Manager Stan Bowman.

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The 29-year-old played in 29 games in his first season with Chicago before being sidelined, emerging as a steady top-four presence on defense and a member of the resurgent Blackhawks penalty kill.

"It will be great," head coach Jeremy Colliton said of de Haan's re-addition. "Obviously we've got to get him on the ice and go through camp and hopefully everything continues to progress as far as his health. I thought the games he did play, he's steady back there. He plays, I think, a hard game. He's not overly physical but he makes contact and he can get a stop in D-zone and very direct, makes simple plays with the puck, underhandles it, and he can make plays on the offensive blue line as well."

While the timeline isn't as certain for veterans Brent Seabrook (both hips, right shoulder) and Zack Smith (back) -- both also previously expected to miss the rest of the season -- they as well are possibilities to return to the lineup when play resumes. The team, Bowman said, will assess their individual situations when training camp beings.

"They're still progressing through their recovery and we should know more in the coming weeks on both of them," he added.

"It's so exciting," defenseman Connor Murphy said of the injury updates. "To see what guys go through during the season with injuries and how much hard work they put in to trying to get back -- even when they knew at the time that they weren't going to have much of a chance to come back during the standard regular season if it would've ended at the start of April, how much work they still put in even ... with this opportunity to get playing again and have those guys back in the mix is just so fun and I'm sure they're really excited and we're excited for them."

It remains to be seen if Andrew Shaw, who has been in concussion protocol since early December, will be able to re-join the team this season with Bowman explaining, "his injury's a little tougher to pin point with a concussion as far as the healing time on that."