De Haan skates for first time with Blackhawks since shoulder surgery

Calvin de Haan joined the Chicago Blackhawks for Phase 2 voluntary workouts for the first time Thursday, six months after shoulder surgery.

The defenseman missed the first two games of the season after having surgery on his right shoulder May 21, 2019, while with the Carolina Hurricanes. He had surgery on the same shoulder Dec. 27 after injuring it in a 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 10. De Haan was expected to miss the rest of the NHL season before it was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said June 11 that he expected de Haan to be ready for training camp, part of Phase 3 of the NHL Return to Play Plan, which is expected to begin July 10.

The Blackhawks (32-30-8, .514 points percentage), the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference, will play the No. 5 seed, the Edmonton Oilers (37-25-9, .585) in one of eight best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers when Phase 4 begins at a date and hub city to be determined.

Coach Jeremy Colliton said June 11 it would be great to get the 29-year-old back.

"Hopefully everything continues to progress as far as his health," Colliton said. "The games he did play, he was steady back there. He plays a hard game. He's not overly physical but he makes contact, he's very direct, makes simple plays with the puck and can make plays off the blue line as well. He's a bit of a bridge between the young group and the group that's been here, and that's good. He can help new guys to fit in because he's a new guy too. We'd love to get him back."

Defenseman Connor Murphy, who paired with de Haan early in the season, said, "You see what guys go through during the season with injuries and how much hard work they put into trying to get back, even when they knew at the time 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. To have a chance to play with 'Haaner' and know the impact he made at the start of the year was so big. I'm just really happy for him."

Defensemen Adam Boqvist, Olli Maatta and forward David Kampf also joined the Blackhawks for voluntary workouts this week.

De Haan scored six points (one goal, five assists) and averaged 19:55 of ice time in 29 games this season for the Blackhawks, who acquired him in a trade with the Hurricanes on June 24, 2019.

Photo courtesy: Taylor Wilder/Chicago Blackhawks