Second Round Playoff Series To Be Dominated By Tony DeAngelo Drama

Move over “Battle of Florida”, the most exciting second-round matchup out of the Eastern Conference might be between the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes.

Neither of their previous series was expected to go to seven games, but the Canes defeated their frequent playoff nemesis, the Boston Bruins. Meanwhile, the upstart New York Rangers used the goaltending from almost certain-to-be Vezina winner, Igor Shesterkin, to beat a shorthanded Pittsburgh Penguins team.

Carolina is seemingly good at all ends of the ice, while Shesterkin is the Rangers’ main asset. All eyes will be on this series for a different reason, however. It will be because of Carolina defensemen Tony DeAngelo. Have you ever heard of him?

The offensive defenseman who kept former general manager Jeff Gorton up at night faces off against his former team, the New York Rangers. While DeAngelo was a great contributor in New York, he was unceremoniously stripped of his blue shirt after a fight with his then-teammate Alexander Georgiev last year.

That was the same season he signed a two-year and $9.6 million extension. That’s not to mention his various Twitter antics (just admit you had a burner account, Tony).

Tony DeAngelo’s history will be a main storyline from this Metropolitan Division matchup in the second round. His current team will face off against his old team.

DeAngelo signed as a free agent this season with Carolina and was seen as a cheap attempt to replace Dougie Hamilton. DeAngelo found a place on Carolina’s top line next to the league’s most underrated defenseman, Jacob Slavin, and scored 51 points in 64 games.

That was the best point per game of his career at 0.79 PPG and only two points shy of his career-high of 53 points in the shortened 2019-2020 NHL season. That season he played in 68 total games.

Even when he was finding himself on the scoresheet for the Rangers, some New York fans criticized him and said his offensive production was the byproduct of playing alongside Artemi Panarin. They may have had a point. That season saw DeAngelo get 22 of his 53 points alongside Panarin whether sharing the goal or the assist.

Fast forward to his career resurgence in Carolina. Without Panarin, DeAngelo has put up almost identical numbers. Just like that 2019-2020 season, his assists are almost identical between primary assists (including goals where he had the only assist) and secondary assists.

In 2019-2020, DeAngelo had 18 primary assists and 20 secondary assists. This season, he has 22 primary assists to go along with 20 secondary assists.

Even more important, DeAngelo has behaved himself in Carolina. That led to a fan base who wasn’t sold on the signing to start embracing the New Jersey-born defenseman. That’s a pretty big difference from his relationship with Rangers fans, and a recent run-in with Brad Marchand on the playoffs for that matter.

Also interesting to note is that the coaching staff and management that banished him in New York are no longer with the team, since replaced with Gerard Gallant as head coach and Chris Drury as general manager.

Many of the teammates he left behind are still with the Rangers. That includes Georgiev, for now, who will backup the sure-to-be-starting Shesterkin.

Some on Twitter have called this series the “Tony DeAngelo Bowl” and some have called it the “Tony DeAngelo Revenge Tour.” The biggest headline coming out of this series will be about a defenseman who was buried in the minors last season.

Will DeAngelo have the last laugh as Carolina gets one step closer to the Stanley Cup, or will the Rangers win another round as underdogs and send their former 49.6 million dollar man packing once again?