New York Islanders Calvin de Haan Arbitration: Big Difference

The New York Islanders arbitration offer and player Calvin de Haan’s ask have been revealed. And the divide between the two is a lot greater than it should be thanks to cap worries. Meaning this thing goes the full distance.

A week ago I stated that New York Islanders fans had to pay attention to a single detail in the Calvin de Haan arbitration situation. They should look at the spread between what the team was offering and what the player was asking.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the difference between the two is $3.05 million. With the New York Islanders offering $1.95 million, while de Haan is asking for $5 million.

That’s a big difference. Much larger than I had thought it would be. In that “watch the spread” piece, I figured that de Haan would ask for somewhere around $5 million and the team would come in north of $2.5 million. That’s a $2.5 million difference between the two sides at its greatest.

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Split the difference and de Haan is sitting with a $3.75 million deal. That’s Travis Hamonic money. And in today’s NHL market, that’s a great price. Both for the team and for the player.

With the team coming under the $2 million mark I wonder just how they feel about their former first round pick (12th overall) from 2009. I assumed that they saw de Haan as the replacement for Travis Hamonic. A player that would step into the Isles second defensive pairing, play a solid defensive game, and chip in with 25-30 points a season.

Now. Now I’m Not Sure

But now I’m not sure. It seems that de Haan sees himself as a top four defenseman but the team doesn’t. That $3.05 million spread could simply be the team trying hard to drag that price down. It might not be an honest reflection of their thoughts on the player, but just how seriously they value the cap space.

Looking at the number, I’m convinced of the later. That Garth Snow and the New York Islanders are trying to drag that cap number down as much as possible. They see de Haan as a top four D, they just don’t want to pay him as one.

What I’m not convinced of is that a deal gets made before the arbitrator rules. That wide spread proves that the two camps are still far apart on a number. And with the arbitrator set to review the case on August 2nd, I don’t have faith that the two can reconcile in less than 48 hours.

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Maybe they have a few all nighters on the phone trying to get a deal done, and we see an Arthur Staple tweet late Tuesday night saying a deal’s been made. But my gut feeling is that the arbitrator rules on this, giving de Haan a $2.75 million deal.