UPDATED: Avalanche Sign Veteran Defenseman To One-Year Deal; Additional Depth Signings

Is Jack Johnson’s time with the Colorado Avalanche over? Their newest signing would seem to indicate there’s a chance that is the case.

On Monday, the Avalanche signed 33 year old defenseman Calvin de Haan to a one year, $800,000 contract, according to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. The veteran has played 632 career games and spent last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, averaging a little over 16 minutes a night for them.

de Haan has long been a steady defenseman in the NHL, but there’s one major problem with him – he’s injury prone. He has surpassed the 70 game mark just once since 2017, and spends a lot of time on injury reserve. He won’t provide a ton offense, but that’s not why teams bring him in.

This would seem to indicate that Jack Johnson’s time in Colorado has come to an end, but we’ll see if that is the case. de Haan is also a left shot defenseman who plays on the penalty kill (averaged 1:56 a game there last season), but his underlying numbers are significantly better. Tampa Bay had some defensemen really struggle last year, but de Haan still finished with positive possession numbers. The Lightning were outscored with him on the ice, but a lot of that is due to poor goaltending, as the team save percentage with him on the ice with just a little over 89%. He’s not a big guy, coming in at just 6’1″, so it would make sense if the Avalanche went out and got another defenseman who has a bit more snarl to their game.

In addition to de Haan, the Avalanche announced that Joel Kiviranta will come back for one more season. That is expected to be a two-way deal, meaning he would make less if he was sent to the AHL. Jacob MacDonald also is returning to the organization on a two-year, two-way deal.

Late in the day, the Avalanche signed forward Parker Kelly to a two-year deal at $825,000. He’s a physical winger who kills penalties. And just when I thought they were done, they went and signed defenseman Calle Rosen to a one-year deal. He previously played for the team a few years back and was acquired in the Nazem Kadri trade with Toronto.

Chris MacFarland is expected to meet with the media later today to discuss Colorado’s moves.

UPDATE: The Avalanche have now confirmed a one-year contract for de Haan.