Editor’s note: Updated with comments from Gorton and Davidson
There is nothing but confusion when it comes to the New York Rangers. No one knows what is going to happen to Tony DeAngelo now that he has cleared waivers. Kaapo Kakko’s name appeared on the NHL’s list of players unavailable due to the league’s COVID-19 protocols, meaning he cannot play or practice.
The pandemic is wreaking havoc on the schedule. The New Jersey Devils have ten players on the COVID list and all of their games are postponed through February 6. That means the Ranger’s scheduled game Saturday afternoon in New Jersey is off.
Most of the COVID related postponements have been in the Central Division, but now the East has been hit. Any COVID related issues have to be a concern for Kaapo Kakko since he has Type 1 diabetes. Being on the list doesn’t mean he has tested positive, it could be just that he was exposed to someone who did.
Without Kakko in the lineup along with the injuries to Blackwell and Chytil, they are out of forwards. They moved Jonny Brodzinski to the taxi squad today so he may end up playing. Tony Bitetto will be making his debut as a Ranger in DeAngelo’s place.
DeAngelo news
John Davidson and Jeff Gorton spoke with the media this afternoon and made it clear that Tony DeAngelo’s career as a Ranger is over. DeAngelo’s issues stemmed from his benching after the season opener and never improved.
Davidson did say that reports that there were issues between DeAngelo and K’Andre Miller were false. He said “There’s been a fan blog out there that has stirred some things up… that is 100% false. There’s no truth to it whatsoever.” “To have K’Andre Miller pulled into this is really disappointing.”
As far as DeAngelo’s future, Darren Drager of TSN made some news this afternoon when he tweeted that DeAngelo’s agent is working with Jeff Gorton on a trade.
Spoke with DeAngelo’s agent, Pat Brisson. He says he and Rangers GM Jeff Gorton are talking with clubs with trade interest in DeAngelo. Brisson is confident they will get something done in the near future. In the meantime, DeAngelo will remain at home awaiting a deal.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) February 1, 2021
From Dreger’s report, the good news is that there is some trade interest in the NHL and if the Rangers are willing to retain some of DeAngelo’s salary, they could find a taker. The other option is for the teams to swap bad contracts. The Blueshirts are allowed to retain half of DeAngelo’s $4.8 million salary.
Considering the badness surrounding this situation, getting something in return for DeAngelo has to be a positive, but when the dust has settled, there will have to be questions about how the Rangers handled this whole situation.
Projected starting lineups (we’re not kidding when we say projected)
Without Kakko in the lineup, this is pure speculation. The Rangers moved Jonny Brodzinski to taxi squad today so he might make his Ranger debut.
New York Rangers
13 Lafrenière– 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 33 Di Giuseppe
20 Kreider – 14 Howden– 12 Gauthier
48 Lemieux – 17 Rooney– 76 Brodzinski
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
42 Smith- 22 Bitetto
31 Shesterkin
40 Georgiev
Pittsburgh Penguins
59 Jake Guentzel – 87 Sidney Crosby – 17 Bryan Rust
16 Jason Zucker -71 Evgeni Malkin – 42 Kasperi Kapanen
19 Jared McCann – 53 Teddy Blueger – 13 Brandon Tanev
10 Drew O’Connor – 14 Mark Jankowski – 18 Sam Lafferty
73 Pierre-Oliver Joseph –6 John Marino
2 Chad Ruhwedel– 4 Cody Ceci
27 Kevin Czuczman– 3 Yannick Webber
35 Tristan Jarry
1 Casey DeSmith
Join the live conversation
With all of the news, we are starting the live thread early tonight. Be sure and weigh in with your comments about the game, COVID issues, the lineup and of course, Tony DeAngelo.
The start time for the game is 7pm and will be televised on MSG Plus. Radio will be on WEPN 1050AM.