All systems go for 2019-20 as Tony DeAngelo signs

The off-season business is officially over after the New York Rangers finally thrashed out a new contract with defenseman Tony DeAngelo.

DeAngelo was an restricted free agent but he is now committed to the New York Rangers for at least 2019-20 after signing a one-year, $925,000 deal – the same terms given to forward Brendan Lemieux.

It has been a long time coming and the Rangers were certainly not helped in negotiations by their salary cap constraints, but they were able to eventually hammer out a contract and they will enter the year $235,201 under the salary cap ceiling of $81.5 million for 2019-20.

DeAngelo’s signing wraps up what was a busy and blockbuster off-season for the Rangers, who will head into the regular season with all of their key men in place and a plethora of shiny new weapons.

It was important for the Blueshirts to sign DeAngelo to a new deal given how important he has become on the blueline, while there is still a boatload of potential there to be tapped into.

Plus, the 23-year-old really burst onto the scene last year and began the process of ironing out certain kinks in his game and becoming more of a model professional on and off the ice.

There were still one or two blemishes on his copybook but, overall, DeAngelo began morphing into the potential top four defenseman the Rangers hope they had acquired  from Arizona in 2017 when they traded for the 19th overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

Skating in 61 games in total in 2018-19, DeAngelo tallied four goals and 26 assists for 30 points along with 10 points on the power play.

He also established career highs in games played (61), average total ice time (19:20) and points (30), in addition to ranking 12th among NHL defensemen 23 years or younger in points in 2018-19.

The impressive stats don’t stop there, either. DeAngelo also led the Rangers in plus/minus rating (+6), he led Rangers defensemen in points and ranked fifth among NHL blueliners in penalty minutes with 77.

DeAngelo looked like a much more polished player in 2018-19 and every aspect of his game was vastly improved. He was more solid and reliable in his own zone in addition to being a potent weapon on the power play.

He also showed time and time again that he was capable of jumping up and joining the rush, which added a different dimension to the Rangers’ offense.

It was the kind of season that people have been longing to see from DeAngelo since he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2014, and he really went on a tear during the latter stages of the year.

After recording an assist/point in 17 of his final 29 games of 2018-19, DeAngelo recorded 18 assists during that segment which were tied for the fourth-most among NHL defensemen over that span, tied with new teammate Jacob Trouba and trailing only Keith Yandle (21), Brent Burns (20) and Erik Gustafsson (20) down the stretch.

DeAngelo also registered a career-high eight game point streak from Feb, 12 to Feb, 27, which featured nine assists during that span, and his eight-game assist streak is tied for the eighth-longest in Rangers history.

That streak is tied with Blueshirts legend Brian Leetch for the longest assist streak by a Rangers defenseman in franchise history, which isn’t bad company to keep at all.

You get the picture by now. DeAngelo was dominant at times for the Rangers last year and his electric play with the puck has also made him a fan favorite.

He’s an exciting player and seems perfectly suited for the modern day NHL, and he’s the kind of puck moving, points scoring blueliner the Rangers have been craving for a while.

And let’s not forget with all the shiny new toys at the Blueshirts’ disposal that DeAngelo is also a potent weapon on the power play and he adds to the abundance of riches the Rangers now have on the man advantage.

DeAngelo, who has registered nine goals and 43 assists for 52 points along with 152 penalty minutes in 132 career NHL games, is a big part of this defensive unit for the Rangers and it has a new-look following the off-season additions of Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox.

Having better players around him in both zones should only help to elevate DeAngelo’s game further, and 2019-20 will be a gigantic year for the right shot when it comes to trying to secure a big payday next summer.

There is no doubt that the New York Rangers are expecting big things from their young defenseman and, after exploding last year with a career-year, the stage is set for DeAngelo to blossom further and cement his status as a key piece in this rebuild going forward.

So, after now ending his holdout, DeAngelo will report to Training Camp and although he won’t play against the New Jersey Devils tonight, he could be in line to make his preseason debut against either the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday or against the New York Islanders next Tuesday.

Either way, Head Coach David Quinn will be eager to get DeAngelo out on the ice as soon as possible in order to allow the defenseman to blow off the summer cobwebs and get back into the swing of things ahead of the regular season.

Overall, this is good business by the New York Rangers who have one of their most promising blueliners under contract for what should be the final development year in this rebuild, while it gives DeAngelo the chance to carve out another career year and prove why he deserves a bigger contract next year.  That could be a problem for the Blueshirts as he will be arbitratino eligibile next summer and he could be due a big payday.

In other news, the Rangers have announced some more roster moves as they continue to trim the fat from their Training Camp roster.

Brandon Crawley, Jake Elmer, Vincent LoVerde and Darren Raddysh have all been assigned to Training Camp with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL.

All four players were never expected to be anywhere close to competing for a roster spot in the big leagues, so this isn’t groundbreaking news by any means.

Crawley, Elmer, LoVerde and Raddysh will now get back down to the work and make sure they are ready to compete for a spot on the lineup for the new and improved Wolf Pack.

The New York Rangers now have 45 players remaining in Training Camp and that will continue to be whittled down the closer we get to October and the NHL regular season.