New York Rangers: Trouble ahead for Tony DeAngelo
Tony DeAngelo is having a career year for the New York Rangers. His timing is great and it will result in a big payday this summer and that will be a headache for the Blueshirts.
The New York Rangers are paying close attention to what salaries other NHL teams are awarding their young players. The latest to join the ranks of players inked to long-term deals is Marcus Pettersson of the Pittsburgh Penguins and his payday may mean headaches for the Blueshirts.
Tony DeAngelo will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer. That means the leverage the Rangers is gone, unlike last summer when he was forced to sign a one year deal for $925k. If they cannot agree on a contract extension, they will go to arbitration and he can ask for millions and the Rangers will have to fork over whatever the arbitrator decides is fair.
The New York Rangers cap situation has been well documented. They currently have $17.4 million in cap space if the ceiling remains the same. $19.5 million if it goes up the same two million it went up last summer. That’s $19.5 million to cover new contracts for DeAngelo, Ryan Strome, Alexandar Georgiev and Brendan Lemieux and to replace UFA’s Chris Kreider, Jesper Fast and Greg McKegg.
The big question is how much is Tony DeAngelo worth and the Marcus Pettersson signing Monday was an indication that he won’t be cheap. The Penguins signed defenseman Pettersson to a five-year extension for over $20 million. That works out to an annual average salary (AAV) of $4.025 million. Why is this an issue? It’s worth looking at Pettersson.
Who is Marcus Pettersson?
Pettersson is a 23-year old lefthanded shooting defenseman who was drafted by Anaheim in the second round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. The Penguins traded for Pettersson, sending the Ducks forward Daniel Sprong in December 2018.
Pettersson’s top offensive year was last season when he had two goals and 25 points split between Anaheim and Pittsburgh. This year he has one goal and 15 points in 50 games and while not the offensive force as DeAngelo, he is playing over 19 minutes per game and has steadied the Penguins blueline.
Compare that to DeAngelo. At 24, he is six months older than Pettersson. He is a former first round pick and this season he has scored 12 goals and 37 points in 48 games. DeAngelo has three times as many goals this season than Pettersson has scored in two and a half NHL campaigns. Questions about the Blueshirt’s consistency have been answered this year as he is in his second straight solid season. He is a righthanded shot and that makes him even more valuable.
How much is DeAngelo worth?
If a Marcus Pettersson can get a salary of over $4 million a year, how much is DeAngelo worth? Today, 167 NHL defensemen make more annually than DeAngelo. Five defensemen have scored more goals than DeAngelo and their AAV’s range from $5 million to over $9 million. Six defensemen have more points than DeAngelo and their AAV’s range from $6 to $9 million.
Last summer, Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski signed a three year contract for an annual hit of $5 million and he is having a Norris Trophy quality season this year. The Blue Jackets were smart to sign him to what amounts to a bridge deal since they won’t have to pay him really big bucks until 2022.
Last fall, DeAngelo was an RFA and at the Rangers’ mercy. Even so, he held out and missed the opening of training camp and was forced to sign for $925k, just $200k more than the NHL minimum. There’s no reason to believe that he will cut the Rangers any slack in his negotiations for an extension and will probably go to arbitration. Don’t be surprised if he asks for the same $7 million Jacob Trouba asked for from Winnipeg in the summer of 2018. Trouba was awarded $5.5 million. DeAngelo is having a better season that Trouba did.
A $6 million arbitration award to DeAngelo would leave the team with $13 million in cap space. They would still need to re-sign arbitration eligible RFA’s Strome (also having a career year), Georgiev and Lemieux as well as replace Kreider and Fast on the roster.
The tragedy is that they could have signed DeAngelo to a bridge deal last summer, but didn’t have the money to do it. The only player the rewarded with a multi-year deal was Pavel Buchnevich who signed a two year deal for $3.25 million.
In hindsight, it would have been wiser to ink DeAngelo for similar term and money. Now, there’s a real chance that the Rangers will use DeAngelo as trade bait next month, but teams may be scared off by a potential arbitration windfall.
Other players to watch
In the meantime, keep your eyes on Darnell Nurse (Edmonton), Brandon Montour (Buffalo) , Ryan Pulock (Islanders) and Troy Stecher (Vancouver). They are all RFA’s after this season and if they are signed to extensions before the summer, it could affect the DeAngelo negotiations. And keep in mind that Josh Morrissey of Winnipeg signed an extension in September before his RFA season began. His terms? It was an eight year deal at an AAV of $6.25 million.
There’s no doubt that DeAngelo’s defense can be an adventure at times, but in an NHL that values mobility, speed and scoring, he is the prototype of the modern hockey defenseman. A right handed shooter who can run the power play and is feisty to boot would be a huge asset to any teams. It’s in the Rangers’ favor that they have a number of defensemen who fit that mold and that makes DeAngelo expendable since he may have priced himself out of New York.
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