After the news that the New York Ranger‘s troubled defenseman Tony DeAngelo has cleared waivers, the question now becomes what to do 25-year-old lightning rod.
Tony DeAngelo clears waivers.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 1, 2021
So the Rangers have the next move in dealing with DeAngelo. Pierre LeBrun has reported that the Rangers are still determining the next steps for DeAngelo now that he has cleared waivers and that they are working closely on it with his agent, Pat Brisson.
While many feel they should just release him, it is not quite that simple. First of all, there is the issue of that pesky salary cap.
There is a provision in the collective bargaining agreement that allows for a player’s contract to be terminated based on conduct, it is not sure if the Rangers would win a case if DeAngelo and the NHLPA decide to challenge the Ranger’s actions.
However, because of DeAngelo’s age, he is 25 and doesn’t turn 26 until October, the Rangers could buy out DeAngelo’s contract in June for one-third of the cost, not the regular two-thirds.
The Rangers re-signed DeAngelo to a two-year, $9.6-million contract carrying a cap hit of $4.8 million this season and next. That would mean a buyout would cost $883,333 each of the next two seasons, with a cap hit of $383,333 in 2021-22 and $883,333 in 2022-23, according to CapFriendly.com
The next possibility would be to trade DeAngelo, which is harder to do because of his behavior history. As Elliot Friedman of Sportsnet.ca pointed out, “The thing about this is that you really have to do a deep dive to make sure that you want to do this” and also pointed out that “any team that does it (take DeAngelo) there’s gonna be heat. And are teams going to take that heat?”
It is not like DeAngelo can go anywhere in North American and hot have his behavior issues follow him, as his exploits have been well-documented since he had the incidents while playing in juniors.
A trade will be a little more likely if the Rangers were willing to take on some of his cap hit.
While it is possible, the Rangers could send him to Hartford, but it does not seem plausible that the Rangers would want him around their prospects.
If they do, and DeAngelo refuses to report, that would be cause for a suspension or a termination of his contract.
The “odds-on-favorite” solutions seem to be to place him on the taxi-squad and/or pay him to sit at home for an unspecified period of time. Maybe a “time-out” would give DeAngelo and the Rangers some time to work things out that could benefit all parties.