Signing Tony DeAngelo would be a misstep for the Oilers
Do you hear the collective groan from the NHL world as the Edmonton Oilers have once again been connected to a controversial player?
Every couple of months, it feels like the Oilers find a way to add a player who has been cast off due to a bevy of off-ice issues. Zack Kassian started the trend back in 2015 and recent years have seen similar occurrences in Evander Kane, Corey Perry, and even a failed PTO to Jake Virtanen in 2022.
Somehow, the Oilers found a way to extend that trend into the front office, hiring the highly contentious Stan Bowman as their new GM this summer despite him being ineligible to work in the league up until mid-July.
The latest potential rehabilitation project is defenceman Tony DeAngelo, who Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli mentioned on Monday night’s edition of the OilersNow radio show on 630 CHED.
While he admitted that DeAngelo’s name wasn’t getting much play internally, he gushed about the defenceman being the best remaining RD on the free agent market.
“What you’re talking about is the potential for a 50-point defenceman on your team that is still in his 20s, that is ready, willing, and able to play for close to league minimum and would absolutely love to be in Edmonton,” Seravalli said.
It’s certainly a glowing review of DeAngelo and one that makes it seem like a slam-dunk no-brainer for the team. The surface-level boxcars show that he only had a measly 11 points in 31 games with the Carolina Hurricanes last season, but he recorded upwards of 40 points in each of the previous two seasons.
That being said, the Oilers would be wise to look elsewhere for defensive help.
When talking about DeAngelo, you can’t help but look back on his controversial history both on and off the ice. Drafted 19th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2014, he wound up making his NHL debut with the Arizona Coyotes and was subsequently traded to the New York Rangers in 2017.
It wasn’t until his fourth season in New York that things hit the skids as he got into a physical altercation with Rangers goalie and teammate Alexander Georgiev following an OT loss. The incident prompted New York to place him on unconditional waivers and buy him out.
He was signed by the Hurricanes to a one-year deal following that incident, but was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, bought out again, and then returned to the Hurricanes for a second stint this past season.
He has also said some fairly controversial things on social media, but those are neither here nor there.
That is not the reason this would be a bad move for the Oilers. Rather, DeAngelo is a very one-dimensional player who does not fit the mould at all of what Edmonton needs. This is a matter of fit, not off-ice issues.
There is a good offensive defenceman in DeAngelo and, despite not finding the scoresheet a whole lot last season, it’s a decent bet that he will bounce back for more than 11 points next season wherever he winds up.
Edmonton is looking for a second-pair defenceman to play with Darnell Nurse, a player who struggled mightily in his own zone last season and needs a steadier defensive partner. Cody Ceci failed to fill that role last season and having an all-offence guy like DeAngelo to fill that spot doesn’t seem likely.
In all honesty, trade pickup Ty Emberson is probably a better fit for that spot at the moment as he combines puck-moving ability with fairly decent defensive instincts as well. If the plan is to play DeAngelo as a third-pairing guy, it seems a bit redundant as he’ll have limited time at even strength and will probably be relegated to minimal powerplay time on the second unit. It’s also doubtful that DeAngelo would get much of any time on the PK.
Adding DeAngelo mimics the same issues as adding a guy like Tyson Barrie in that it seems like a lateral move at best. Sure, he may rebound with more points, but it’s likely to cost you defensively. The Oilers have enough offence in their lineup and lack defensive prowess.
It wouldn’t be the end of the world if they brought him in, it just wouldn’t make much sense to tie up more money (even league minimum) in a player that won’t make the team better in an area they desperately need to improve.