The Five Most Intriguing Trade Candidates For The Blackhawks

3. Calvin de Haan

There are three defensemen on the Blackhawks blue line on expiring deals: Erik Gustafsson, Caleb Jones, and Calvin de Haan. De Haan is 30 years old, and still has a lot of hockey left in him. He is arguably the best defensemen on an expiring deal, and probably would be able to bring in a second or third round draft pick in a trade.

The only main issue in trading de Haan is how much time he has spent playing with Seth Jones. At five on five, no defenseman has spent more time with Jones than de Haan. Moving him would be a definite sign that the future is what is on everyone's mind in Chicago.

Moving de Haan makes sense for both sides. It gives him a chance to play in meaningful playoff hockey games, and it gives the Hawks an opportunity to bring back up one of their young guys on the blue line like Ian Mitchell, or give Caleb Jones more ice time.

The Hawks certainly do have a lot of options on their blue line, but don't let that take away from the fact that de Haan is a good defenseman that could work in a lot of different teams' top fours. It will be interesting to see what happens later in the year on the blue line.