Sep. 23: DeAngelo is indeed heading to SKA on a one-year contract, the team announced Monday on Instagram.
Aug. 14: Tony DeAngelo seems likely to head overseas with SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League after a tough year with the Hurricanes, Anton Panchenko of Championat reported Monday. DeAngelo was the subject of more speculative rumors about a move to SKA earlier this month, which he refuted at the time and said he was focused on landing another NHL opportunity.
But in the days following DeAngelo’s statement, SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg confirmed that his club had contacted DeAngelo and maintained interest (via Championat’s Anton Nekrasov). Panchenko’s report from Monday, albeit translated from Russian, indicates that DeAngelo has now agreed to a contract with the KHL powerhouse.
DeAngelo, 28, became a UFA this summer after a second stint with the Hurricanes failed. The right-shot defenseman, whose play style is as one-dimensional as they come, enjoyed an offensive revival in Carolina in 2021-22, leading the club’s defense in scoring across the board with 10 goals, 41 assists, 51 points, and a career-high +30 rating in 64 games.
He gave Carolina that production on a dirt-cheap one-year, $1MM deal after he played just six games the year prior with the Rangers. That resulted from an early-season altercation with then-teammate Alexandar Georgiev, which resulted in DeAngelo being placed on waivers and assigned to the minors. He didn’t report to the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack and instead sat out most of the shortened 2021 season before the Rangers bought out the final season of his contract, making him free to sign with the Canes as a UFA.
The Hurricanes couldn’t afford to keep him around after he punched far above his weight financially, trading his signing rights to the Flyers during the 2022 offseason. Philadelphia promptly signed him to a two-year, $10MM contract, and he entered 2022-23 near the top of their defensive depth chart.
However, DeAngelo’s defensive struggles became much more apparent outside of a strong Carolina system. He posted a team-worst -27 rating and became a healthy scratch at times near the tail end of the campaign. He was still a respectable contributor offensively, leading Flyers blueliners with 11 goals, 31 assists and 42 points in 70 games, but his relationship with head coach John Tortorella was fractured as a result of the scratches.
Shortly after the season ended, the Flyers made DeAngelo the first player in NHL history to be bought out twice. He then returned to Carolina on a one-year, $1.675MM deal to try and rediscover past magic. But he wasn’t their only notable free agent signing on the back end, and he was relegated to the No. 7 spot on their defense depth chart for most of the season after Dmitry Orlov was brought into the mix. He was a healthy scratch for over half the season, limited to 11 points in 31 games while averaging a career-low 14:20 per contest.
It’s not just DeAngelo’s poor defensive play that’s limited his interest from NHL teams. His lack of discipline has rendered him wholly ineffective at times. Aside from the Georgiev incident in New York, he was suspended for physical abuse of an official while with the Coyotes in 2017 and again for spearing during the tail end of his time with the Flyers. During his junior hockey days with the Sarnia Sting, he was suspended twice for violating the Ontario Hockey League’s Abuse/Diversity policy.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Maybe he and Fogel can be part of the next deal.
@66TheNumberOfTheBest — When Foegele shows up, he can be a bit noticeable. When he doesn’t, though, we know the ankle bracelet tracker malfunctioned again.
Good riddance
Hope an NHL team signs him just to see the ‘sploding heads around here. :D
weird comment
Weird reply.
Spot on comment. If some NHL team decided to sign the guy, a bunch of your clan would be here yelling and screaming about it, thus the ‘sploding heads’ reference.
your know your in trouble when slavin can’t cover your defensive mistakes anymore
Amazing that this “adam henry” was able to keep a job in the league this long. DeAngela was a defensive liability and coaches nightmare.
Can you imagine being so intolerable in a locker room that no one wants you? And then not looking inwards to see that it’s you?
Maybe a locker room where English isn’t the first language will help mask his dogshit personality short term.
Can you name an NHL player who has said something bad about TD?
Solid tantrum. Well played.
You can start with Georgiev. Next up, Kreider.
Can you link to the quotes?
: Tony DeAngelo started a fight with Alex Georgiev after a February 2021 OTL to Pitt. A miscommunication between the 2 led to the OT winner. He blamed Georgiev on letting in a weak goal.
: Chris Kreider, it is rumored, stepped in and punched DeAngelo in the face
Everyone knows about the Georgiev incident and that they made up later. And “it is rumored” is not a legitimate source of info.
Five NHL teams have dropped him, including once as a 1st round pick without playing a game. Three different teams paid him to play elsewhere. There’s a reason for that.
And the Canes hated him so much that they brought him back a second time.
Do you want me to provide you with a list of players bought out more than once or have played on 4 or more teams already?
No one is saying Tony D. doesn’t have issues, but making him out to be the demon some of you do is silly.
Sharks should sign him they have no pp defenceman
It is amazing that everyone considers him an issue but all of their examples are from over 4 -7 years ago. All of the feedback he’s gotten since then has been positive. No one like Torts. He’s not great D, but his offense is good and he can move the puck. San Jose should take a gamble.
Here’s a recent example: -27 +/-. Watch his game. He’s that bad. And when your defensive liabilities can’t be covered in Carolina’s system, that evidence enough.
Actually quite a few players like Torts. Listen to NHL Network; he’s got a bunch of guys who credit him with substantially improving their games and careers. Marty Biron, for example, speaks very highly of him, as does Martin St. Louis.
Most of Torts issues have been with specific members of the media (Larry Brooks, who is a clown to begin with) and upper management.
Gonna love seeing him complain about free speech over there. Maybe he’ll appreciate what he has over here after his stint there. Or, maybe he just belongs there, which is perfectly fine. Either way, good riddance.
When all 32 NHL teams pass on TDA, THAT is a powerful statement of his perceived value in the League.
Dasvidaniya.
MAGA going home
Tampa? Dallas? Utah?
Torts is like most coaches. some players are fans some are not. D’angelo has at best been a 6th defensemen. He has had issues everywhere but Carolina. Imagine him in Montreal , toronto or vancouver with their media. Edmonton would work Bowman and And Kane like it.