Philadelphia Flyers
Troubles apparently behind him, Tony DeAngelo comes home to Flyers in trade
The Philadelphia Flyers feel Tony DeAngelo’s character issues are behind him.
They acquired the puck-moving, right-handed defenseman, a native of Sewell in South Jersey, for three draft picks Friday.
DeAngelo, 26, had 51 points (10 goals, 41 assists) in 64 games last season with Carolina. He was plus-30 on a powerful Hurricanes team.
In the deal, the Hurricanes received a second-round pick in 2024, a third-rounder in 2023 (the lowest of three picks), and a fourth-rounder this year. Besides DeAngelo, the Flyers received a seventh-round pick, and they selected speedy right winger Alexis Gendron with it.
The Flyers reportedly signed the controversial DeAngelo to a two-year deal that carries an annual $5 million cap hit. He could have become a restricted free agent Wednesday.
‘Dream come true’
“It’s a dream come true for me,” DeAngelo, who played youth hockey in the Philadelphia area, told Flyers public-relations staffers. “I was born in Jersey, but really my entire family besides myself comes from Philly. That’s where we lived. Been a Flyers fan since the day I can remember.”
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Philly is trading away draft picks at a high rate. Last year, the Flyers dealt defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to Arizona and had to give the Coyotes second- and seventh-round draft picks to take his $4.5 million cap hit. Gostisbehere had 14 goals and 51 points (the same total as DeAngelo) for Arizona last season.
DeAngelo was chosen by Tampa Bay in the first round of the 2014 draft at the Wells Fargo Center. He was taken 19th overall — two picks after the Flyers took defenseman Travis Sanheim.
Sanheim was together with Rasmus Ristolainen on the second pairing last season.
Checkered past
DeAngelo, a 5-foot-11, 180-pounder, has a controversial past.
Last summer, the New York Rangers bought him out of his contract. They had booted him off the team after six games in 2020-21 because of disruptive behavior, including an altercation with teammate Alexander Georgiev after a game.
He was twice suspended in his junior career for violating the league’s policy on homophobic, racist, and sexist language.
In 2017, he was suspended from Arizona for physical abuse of officials.
When he signed a one-year, free-agent deal with Carolina before last season, the Hurricanes received lots of criticism from fans. He responded with a strong season.
General manager Chuck Fletcher told reporters in Montreal that DeAngelo has “made some mistakes,and he’s apologized for them; he’s suffered consequences for them. Some of the mistakes earlier in his career, he hasn’t had any repeat offenses, so to speak.”
Fletcher said DeAngelo has “matured from everything we can gather. He’s working hard to be a better person, both on and off the ice.”
Flyers center Kevin Hayes was DeAngelo’s teammate with the New York Rangers.
“Tony is one of the most loyal teammates I’ve ever played with,” Hayes said. “He will have every guy in that locker room’s back.”
Hayes called DeAngelo a “passionate person who plays with an edge while being one of the most skilled D-men in the league. The fans are going to absolutely love him. Ever since I met him, we always joked about him playing in Philly. Everyone should be excited for opening night.”
Fletcher said the Flyers “did our due diligence, and we strongly believe in Tony and his ability to help our team.”
DeAngelo should bolster the Flyers’ sad-sack power play, and if Ryan Ellis isn’t ready to start the season because of a pelvic injury, he could move to the top pairing for a bit.
As a youngster, DeAngelo was a member of the 2007-08 Flyers Quebec international pee-wee team.
Breakaways
Carolina took 6-2, 194-pound defenseman Simon Forsmark with the fourth-round pick it got Friday from the Flyers. He went at No. 101 overall. McKeen’s Hockey rated him 68th.
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Hopefully DeAngelo has matured and has put his controversial past behind him. Hopefully this is the first of many shoes to drop over the next week, including opening the checkbook for one of the higher ranked free agents like Philip Forsberg.
This organization is hard to watch. Fletcher doesn’t understand what he’s doing and Dave Scott has given him a blank check to make decisions that would make Holmgren look like a genius.
I’m really close to giving up on this team.
SMH. The team needs to build with draft picks – not trade them away. Someone still believes the team is just a couple of small tweaks and some improved health away from being a contender but I find that to be overly optimistic.
These are the type of decisions made when you have a GM getting closer to the hot seat.
Sadly, the Flyers keep trading away their future for now and they just aren’t even close.
Chuck will long be gone when the Flyers realize they need to rebuild.
It seems as though this organization has a way of vexing its fan base. On this one, where do I even start?
Sam already pointed out they could have just kept Ghost and their draft picks. Instead, they gave away four net picks (a 7th rounder came back to them) to lose Ghost and acquire this player with a troubled history. Plus, they signed him at $5 million per year. I thought the idea was to trade Ghost to gain cap space. Wasn’t his cap hit $4.5?
De Angelo had 51 points last year on a very good team. I would be surprised if he replicated that with the Flyers. Acquired because he shoots right and can move the puck. This is the type of trade made from a position of weakness; obviously Fletcher believes Ellis will not be ready for next season and so had to find a defenseman. However, De Angelo is not a top pairing defenseman.
I cannot imagine this move will be well-received because of De Angelo’s past history. Tortorella has said he senses there was a “split” in the locker room. So the Flyers acquire a player who had an altercation with a teammate and was subsequently dismissed by the Rangers. Additionally, in juniors there were the racist, homophobic, and sexist comments. I thought Comcast was all about diversity, inclusivity, wokeness, and political correctness. Kate Smith sang a song 75 years ago so they packed away her statue but now they trade for this guy.
I said before this is a critical summer for Fletcher. I was ok with the coaching hire but so far, they passed over Jiricek in the draft (mark me, that will come back to haunt them) and now this trade and contract. Not good.
Well said, and the can on the needed rebuild just got kicked down the road in order to buy Fletcher another year while selling the fan base on their retool.
The Flyers will forever chase the cup if they don’t solve their ability to judge talent in the draft.
I look forward to another year of spare time starting sometime in December when I start to turn off the TV.
I think it’s great they got this guy. Someone with backbone and skill which the flyers lack both of. Philly guy. 1st round draft picks are hard enough to cash in on let alone the latter round picks. Good deal overall. Welcome to philly Tony can’t wait to watch you play.
Glad they got DeAngelo. Now they need to get rid of some of the “dead weight ti free yo cap space and get back the “G” Man and also to after Johnny Hockey.