tony deangelo

Per Frank Seravalli on TSN, there are no takers for Tony DeAngelo, and an AHL loan might be a possibility. Hartford is not an option, with the exact phrase being “he’s not welcome in Hartford.”

Given that there hasn’t been a trade for DeAngelo yet, the report that there were no takers shouldn’t be a surprise. This is now the second time the Rangers have shopped DeAngelo with no takers. Granted this one was much more public than the summer, when the Rangers quietly shopped DeAngelo while they were publicly shopping Ryan Strome.

Where will he go?

This is a question that genuinely intrigues me. With his NHL season likely over, the only way for DeAngelo to play is in the AHL. It was clear from a few days after the DeAngelo saga that a trade wasn’t imminent. Thus no NHL teams wanted him with his current contract. That qualifier is important here.

The AHL teams that take him on loan are going to be the NHL teams that are intrigued by him when he’s a free agent. The Rangers are going to buy him out this summer, so any team that takes him on loan is getting a 20ish game preview of what he can bring to the team in free agency.

Naturally the decision will be about his game and if what he brings is worth the potential distraction.

Potential trade deadline movement?

Another interesting thing here is any team taking him on loan could be looking to see if he’d be worth it for a playoff run. Here’s where things get interesting.

Let’s say the Minnesota Wild (I’m picking a team at random here) are comfortable with him going to Iowa on loan. He plays well enough there that Minnesota wants to add him to the NHL roster for a playoff run this season. They get a 10 game preview in advance of committing to the contract and the player.

This is clearly a hypothetical, but it there is a non-zero percent chance that it happens.

An AHL loan for Tony DeAngelo may actually benefit both the Rangers and DeAngelo in this one. The Rangers may be able to salvage something for DeAngelo, while DeAngelo gets a chance to partially redeem himself and earn a *checks notes* 4th chance in the league. It’s actually a win-win.

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