Blackhawks: Will Calvin de Haan return for the 2019-2020 season?

On December 10, 2019, the Blackhawks squared off against the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Chicago lost the game 5-1 and lost defenseman Calvin de Haan to injury.

When it was announced in December that Calvin de Haan would miss 4-6 months, the assumption was that it would be for the remainder of the season. However, maybe not.

With the league having been shut down for so long, de Haan has been able to rehab from his injury. This presents the possibility that he could realistically return in time to help the Blackhawks push for a playoff spot.

When he was injured, he was arguably Chicago’s best d-man. Having him back would help the team as they push for a playoff spot.

The other side of it is, that the Blackhawks wouldn’t necessarily hurt their draft position even if de Haan comes back to help the team push for the postseason.

Now, it might be reasonable to ask if de Haan would ready to make that kind of effort since he’d be coming back from injury. Maybe, maybe not.

The thing is, since the league shut down temporarily back in March, no one has been playing.

All of the players are rusty and will need some time to get back into shape.  Since that’s the case if the shutdown drags on much longer than de Haan might not be at much of a disadvantage.

Would this be in his best interest? Maybe de Haan would benefit from an extended period of rehab, rather than racing back out onto the ice at the first possible opportunity.

Then again, he’ll have sat out for the expected amount of time. He may be ready to go when the league returns. As long as he’s healthy, it’ll be good to see him suit up again.