Tony DeAngelo played his last game for the Rangers.
President John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton made that statement loud and clear at a press conference ahead of Monday’s game against the Penguins to address the aftermath of a physical disagreement between controversial defender and goalkeeper Alexandar Georgiev following Saturday’s loss to Pittsburgh. discuss, leading to No. 77 being placed on exemptions on Sunday.
“Yes, he played his last game for the Rangers,” said Gorton. “What will happen in the future, I have no answer.”
The Post reported that the incident between DeAngelo and Georgiev was the result of a miscommunication between the two during overtime on Saturday, leading to Sidney Crosby’s game winner. The 25-year-old made a comment to Georgiev just as the team left the ice, which led to a scuffle.
DeAngelo has been tentatively assigned to the taxi crew, but Gorton said the organization is looking for a trade. Gorton also said there have been no discussions about ending DeAngelo’s contract.
Davidson opened the press conference by refuting speculation about DeAngelo’s relationship with rookie K’Andre Miller. It was rumored that DeAngelo had retained Miller’s puck in the first goal and that the two had a tense relationship.
“That’s 100 percent wrong,” he said. “There is no truth in it at all. And when people write things like other people to digest, it’s just wrong. It’s sad actually. “
The beginning of the end for DeAngelo was seemingly his reaction when he was scratched in the second and third games of the season. After the player took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for slamming the door to the penalty area in the season-opening loss to the Islanders, head coach David Quinn benched DeAngelo for disciplinary purposes in the 5-0 rematch win before staying the same lineup in the next game against the Devils.
“After the first game of the season, he was clearly told he would not play,” said Gorton. “Tony couldn’t get rid of that, it was something he was trying to get through. I had then spoken to him and said, “Listen, if there are any more problems here, the time will come when we will distance you and move on. No more problems, if your name is in something we need to hear, let’s move on, we’re going to make that step. ‘
“I made that statement to him, something happened and I have to stay more or less true to my word and the word of the organization here that it was time to move on. … We feel that leaving Tony is the right choice. It’s about winning, and we feel like this is a step we had to take in our room to get us on the road to winning. “
DeAngelo, who signed a two-year $ 9.6 million extension with the Rangers this off-season, was also chided by the organization for his social media presence in recent months. From challenging a fan to a fight outside of MSG to questioning what happened to the coronavirus pandemic in the recent election, DeAngelo had multiple conversations with Rangers Brass about lowering his off-ice profile.
Asked if his social media antics had anything to do with the organization’s decision to move forward, Davidson said there was no connection.
“There is a fine line with social media, but there is clearly freedom of speech,” he said. “We certainly look at what our players say and do on social media. Tony, we’ve had informal discussions about it, there’s always a drip effect. “
DeAngelo came to Broadway from the Coyotes on drawing day of 2017 with the seventh overall pick (Lias Andersson, now with the Kings) in exchange for Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta. He had a past in the Ontario Hockey League, where he was banned twice for violating the policies of harassment, abuse and diversity.
“We did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people about Tony before buying him,” said Gorton. “We did our homework, we were comfortable. If you look at his track record with us, I think you know his season spoke for itself last year.
“There have been a few things along the way, but really nothing that would suggest anything from his junior past, nothing like that has ever occurred to us.”