After one year apart, the Carolina Hurricanes and defenseman Tony DeAngelo are reuniting after the Canes signed him to a one-year, $1.675 million contract.
DeAngelo was most recently bought out of the final year of his two-year, $10 million contract by the Flyers and so was back on the market as a UFA. This deal also evens out his lost earnings back to amount of his previous deal.
The Hurricanes had had a deal in place to acquire DeAngelo for Philly through a trade that was agreed upon in principle back in June, but the NHL wasn't going to allow it to go through until a full year had passed since the initial trade due to current rules surrounding the retention of salary for a player previously traded from a team.
Once more time had passed, the trade fizzled out and the Flyers opted to go the buyout route leaving Carolina free to sign the defenseman as a UFA.
The 27-year old defenseman had 11 goals and 42 points last season with the Flyers and is two years removed from a 10 goal and 51 point season with the Hurricanes.
While DeAngelo's defensive struggles have been evident, the offensive upside is tremendous. It gives Carolina a second power play quarterback and he'll play limited minutes in a more sheltered deployment scheme than he was getting when he was previously on the top pair.
The Hurricanes are also confident enough in their defensive systems and blueline personnel to be comfortable having him out there.
An area of concern surrounding DeAngelo has been that the hot-headed defenseman has been infamous for his outbursts resulting in multiple suspensions throughout his early hockey career, and while nothing publicly was revealed from his time in Philadelphia, he and head coach John Tortorella didn't seem to see eye-to-eye ultimately resulting in DeAngelo being healthy scratched for the final five games of the season.
However, he was very well liked in the Hurricanes' locker room and there were no reported incidents during his time with the team, so perhaps it's the right fit for him.
The deal will give the Hurricanes eight NHL defensemen, so it's also evident of perhaps an additional move still to come.
Here's the team's official press release:
-‘CANES SIGN DEANGELO TO ONE-YEAR CONTRACT
Defenseman tallied 51 points in 64 games with Carolina in 2021-22
RALEIGH, N.C. – Don Waddell, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has
“Tony is an elite offensive defenseman who had a great season with us in 2021-22,” said Waddell. “We wanted to re-sign him last summer, and now we’re thrilled to bring him back to Raleigh.”
DeAngelo, 27, posted 42 points (11g, 31a) in 70 NHL games with Philadelphia in 2022-23. He recorded 51 points (10g, 41a) in 64 regular season games with Carolina in 2021-22 and added 10 points (1g, 9a) in 14 Stanley Cup Playoff games. The Hurricanes traded DeAngelo to the Flyers on July 8, 2022, in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft (Simon Forsmark), a third-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft (traded to San Jose – Brandon Svoboda), and a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The 5’11”, 180-pound blueliner has registered 199 points (45g, 154a) in 340 career NHL regular season games with Arizona, NY Rangers, Carolina and Philadelphia. The Sewell, N.J., native was drafted 19th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft.