The Carolina Hurricanes have had one of the most valuable defensive contracts in the league this season with Tony DeAngelo, signing him to a one-year, $1MM deal after his public exit from the New York Rangers. DeAngelo has been brilliant for the Hurricanes, racking up 40 points in 43 games while averaging close to 20 minutes a night. One of the most effective powerplay quarterbacks in the league, 15 of his 31 assists have come with the man advantage. Carolina will have to find a new player to run PP1, though, as DeAngelo will miss about a month with an injury according to head coach Rod Brind’Amour, who spoke with reporters including Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer.
For now, DeAngelo’s regular partner Jaccob Slavin has taken over the quarterback duties on the top unit, with Ethan Bear joining the second group. Slavin is a capable player but there should be at least some concern about him taking over the majority of the powerplay time, given how important he is in other areas. There’s no one in the league that has logged more short-handed ice time than Slavin, who has close to 170 minutes on the penalty kill through 48 games this season. Teams have scored just seven goals against the Hurricanes during that time, showing just how effective he is at it.
With that in mind, losing DeAngelo could have a sort of cascade effect on the Carolina blue line, putting players in spots that they aren’t perfectly suited for, or taxing the best defensive players even further. Brett Pesce has joined Slavin on the first pair, while Jalen Chatfield slides in beside Brady Skjei on the second. That’s certainly not a perfect situation, and one that will likely lead to more speculation as the trade deadline approaches. If DeAngelo is out for a month he might miss up to 14 of the team’s remaining 32 games, meaning a defensive addition may be necessary just to shore up the depth.
Of course, Carolina is one of many teams operating in long-term injured reserve relief space–this time afforded by Jake Gardiner’s chronic back issues–meaning any addition would have to be carefully determined.
Might have been the best bargain signing of the season.
BUT HE LIKES THE BAD MAN!!!!
So do I. ;)
Had not nticed haha
He’ll probably be recovering at Mar-a-Lago
Better than recovering in some fools basement in Deleware
He rather be in Mar-a-Lago than shipped to Ukraine to save the Bidens’ billions from the big, bad Ruskies!
Coherent…
People in the Ukraine are dying right now because they rejected Russia and aligned themselves with western and American values and half of the self proclaimed “patriots” laugh nonchalantly at their deaths while the other half actively cheers it.
True WTF stuff.
Josh having another bout with incoherence. The fool that you helped install into the Whitehouse got checkmated by Putin (this didn’t happen between 2017 and 2020, did it?) and YOU are lecturing people about their ethics?
Nice try.
Canes window to win is this year.
They have Trocheck and DeAngelo on bargain deals and are unlikely to be able to keep either going forward.
TDA is an RFA after this season, they’ll be able to keep him