More rumors swirl around Tony DeAngelo

There’s nothing like a pandemic to further the spread of rumors.  Without access to the players except those provided to the media in controlled situations, there is no real way of knowing what is going in the locker room.  As a result, reports about Tony DeAngelo  and his behavior are gaining traction and the New York Rangers can say practically nothing.

Here’s where we stand.

The facts

Fact #1  – Tony  DeAngelo was placed on waivers.  They were ordinary waivers, not unconditional waivers which would be required if the team intended to terminate the contract.

In order to put DeAngelo on the taxi squad or send him to Hartford, he would have clear waivers.

Fact #2 – DeAngelo did not take part in the team practice.  Neither did Alexandar Georgiev who was on a “maintenance day.”  According to Quinn, DeAngelo didn’t practice to “protect the waiver process.”

Fact #3 – David Quinn would not confirm any altercation except to say that the placing of DeAngelo on waivers was the result of more than one incident.  Here is his exact quote to reporters:

"“There’s always rumors, as you know, I’m not going to address rumors. This isn’t about one incident. It’s not about one thing. It’s a situation the organization felt was best at this current time and we’ll see how the situation plays out.“It’s part of the business. It’s a decision we made. You’re always sitting down, evaluating your organization. It’s something we did. We’ll see how it plays out. … I don’t want to get into specifics. In 24 hours we’ll probably be able to be more specific and address the situation differently.” –  David Quinn,  Rangers Head Coach"

Quinn’s statement does indicate that the team will be more forthcoming about the nature of the situation with DeAngelo, sometime on Monday.

Fact # 4 – Quinn also told reporters that Tony Bitetto will be in the lineup replacing DeAngelo for Monday’s game against the Penguins.

Fact #5 – Two Rangers, Jacob Trouba and Mika Zibanejad,  spoke to reporters after practice Sunday and addressed the DeAngelo issue.

Jacob Trouba said “We had a  player put on waivers. It’s not something as players that you’re very happy about, he’s one of our friends,  That’s the business of the game. It’s a little bit of a somber mood, but at the same time, you gotta be a professional.  You’ve got to do your job. ”

Zibanejad also reacted  “Right now, Tony’s our teammate.  You don’t want anyone to go through that and be put in that situation… we’re human beings and it’s not an easy thing to maybe deal with, but we just have to find a way.”

Trouba was asked if he had spoken to DeAngelo and he said that he hadn’t.

Fact #6 – Tony DeAngelo is off to a bad start.  His plus/minus is -6 and he has only one assist for far this season.  He was benched for one game due to an undisciplined penalty he took in the season opener.  He didn’t play in a second game because the coach wanted to play the same lineup that won the second game of the season.

Fact #7 – De Angelo got in some trouble with his activity on social media.  The club  acknowledged that they handled that internally, but it resulted in DeAngelo deleting his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Fact #8 – There was some form of miscommunication between DeAngelo and Georgiev 13 seconds before the Penguins scored he game winning goal.  That miscommunication might have kept DeAngelo from getting the puck and clearing it so they Rangers could swap out their exhausted players.  When asked about it after the game on Saturday, Quinn said he didn’t hear the exchange so he didn’t know what had happened.

Fact #9 – DeAngelo was on ice for four Penguins goals Saturay night.

What is being reported

Several news organizations are reporting that they have confirmed that there was an altercation between DeAngelo and Georgiev in the tunnel on the way to the locker room right after the game ended.  Larry Brooks of the New York Post is reporting that it came about after DeAngelo made a remark to the goalie and that a third player broke it up.   No one has reported on the nature of the altercation, whether it was a shoving matches or if punches were thrown.

Brooks also reported that there was an issue with  DeAngelo’s body language. “There was also questionable bad body language displayed by DeAngelo in turning away from the net following each of Pittsburgh’s first two scores.”  From the telecast, nothing looks out of the ordinary. The goals are scored and DeAngelo turns away as did the other Ranger players including Brendan Smith.

An issue with the puck from K’Andre Miller‘s first goal was in a story on Blueshirt Banter that said DeAngelo has kept the puck after retrieving it from the net.  Adam Herman of Blueshirt Banter also reported that “there was concern at various levels of the organization regarding DeAngelo’s treatment of rookie defenseman K’Andre Miller.  Sources did not wish to go on the record with specific examples but indicated that it was an issue that caught the attention and ire of multiple players in the organization. Additionally, sources say tension has been building up in the locker room prior to the incident on Saturday night.”

Those reports were refuted in a tweet from ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski.

The Banter piece also alluded to ill will between Georgiev and DeAngelo dating back to their time as teammates on the Hartford Wolf Pack in 2017-18.

So, what does it mean?

Teams have until noon on Monday to put in a waiver claim.  With DeAngelo’s $4.8 million salary and the issues that have made headlines this weekend, there is little chance that he will be claimed.

When he clears waivers, that’s when we will know much more about his relationship with the team.  He could be assigned to the taxi squad, he could be sent to Hartford to train with the Wolf Pack, or they could just send him home.

If he is no longer with the team, it will mean a cap savings of $1,075,000 of his $4.8 million cap hit. The Rangers will still be on the hook for a cap hit of $3.7 million.

The good news is we should find out his status on Monday afternoon and how the Rangers treat him will tell a lot about the nature of what happened in the locker room between him and his teammates.