New York Rangers: Trouble ahead for Tony DeAngelo

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.