There was a physical disagreement between Tony DeAngelo and Alex Georgiev outside the locker room after Saturday night’s 5-4 defeat to the Penguins at the Garden, which triggered the team placing No. 77 on waivers, a source close to the team confirmed to The Post.
DeAngelo had been on the ice for extra time and for the Penguins’ first three goals at five-to-five. There had been an accident – or miscommunication between the goalkeeper and the defender – that kept the puck alive prior to the goal that Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin had been working on for more than two minutes.
There was also questionable, bad body language that DeAngelo displayed as he turned off the net after each of Pittsburgh’s first two scores.
DeAngelo is at regular intervals as opposed to unconditional waivers, The Post has been informed. According to the CBA, placement and cancellation of unconditional waivers are necessary for a team to be able to terminate a player’s contract.
There seems to be an exception, according to section 14 of the standard player contract which states: “The club can also terminate this SPC. [Standard Player’s Contract] upon written notice to the player (but only after obtaining exemptions from all other clubs) if at any time the player: a) will not comply with, disregard or refuse the club’s rules regarding player training and conduct after a such failure, refusal or negligence should be a material breach of this SPC. “
It is unclear whether the Rangers will argue that Saturday night’s incident amounts to a material breach. If so, you would expect the NHLPA and DeAngelo’s camp to dispute that charge. The defender is represented by Pat Brisson.
Exemptions on DeAngelo expire Monday at 12 noon. It is unlikely that, after a low season where the Blueshirts could not deter a willing trading partner from him, a team would claim the defender, who has eight games in the first season of a two-year contract with an annual top hit. of $ 4.8 million.
However, it seems impossible that the Rangers would keep DeAngelo with the team by sending him to the taxi crew. For cap purposes, the Rangers would only get a $ 1.075 million relief if DeAngelo left the NHL roster. It also seems unlikely that they would want to skate and play him with the Wolf Pack.
Sum and substance, all signs indicate that DeAngelo’s time in New York has passed in a blaze of controversy, even though the details of the divorce finalization are murky. Maybe this is always the way it was supposed to end. This appears to be a situation from which there is no return.
After all, asking for an exemption from a 25-year-old who was the NHL’s fourth highest scoring defender last season with 53 points (15-38) in a power play that hit nearly 30 percent after Christmas is rather extreme. You don’t do this because a player goes minus three in a match, like DeAngelo did on Saturday.
In addition to DeAngelo’s questionable body language on Saturday, there was evidence that DeAngelo had not responded with a particularly constructive or positive attitude to the scratches from the second and third games of the season. It probably didn’t help that he was removed from the first power play unit for a few games until he was restored to the revamped PP1 at Buffalo on Thursday.
DeAngelo came to the Arizona Rangers in the 2017 draft day deal with the seventh overall pick (which turned out to be the now-traded Lias Andersson) in exchange for Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta. Baggage was attached to the defender’s resume, with him being banned twice from the OHL for violating the policies of bullying, abuse and diversity. He was traded within a year by the Lightning, who voted him 19th overall in the 2014 draft.
The South Jersey native’s exciting social media presence has made him a lightning rod among fans. There had been numerous conversations between management and DeAngelo’s camp about the defender’s wisdom lowering his off-ice profile. This irritated the hierarchy but didn’t seem to become a distraction or unpleasant trouble in the room.
It’s unclear what management’s next step will be as DeAngelo makes clear. The Blueshirts may not have the right to just send him home and continue depositing his bimonthly salary immediately if he cannot place him with another organization.
However, it seems pretty clear that DeAngelo has worn out his welcome to New York.