Tony DeAngelo played his last game for the Rangers.
President John Davidson and General Manager Jeff Gorton spoke out loud and clear during a pre-match press conference against the Penguins on Monday to discuss the aftermath of a physical altercation between controversial defender and goalkeeper Alexandar Georgiev following Saturday’s overtime loss. against Pittsburgh, which led. to number 77 will be placed on remission on Sunday.
“Yes, he played his last game for the Rangers,” Gorton said. “What happens next, I have no answer for that.”
The Post reports that the incident between DeAngelo and Georgiev followed miscommunication between the two during overtime on Saturday, leading to Sidney Crosby’s match winner. The 25-year-old made a remark to Georgiev when the team left the ice, leading to the altercation.
DeAngelo has been provisionally appointed to the taxi team, but Gorton said the organization wants to orchestrate a deal. Gorton also said there had been no discussions yet about the termination of DeAngelo’s contract.
Davidson opened the press conference by refuting speculations about DeAngelo’s relationship with rookie K’Andre Miller. There were rumors about DeAngelo holding back Miller’s first goal and that the two had a strained relationship.
“It’s 100 percent false,” he said. “There is no truth to that. And for people to write things like other people, it’s wrong. It’s actually sad. ‘
The start of the end for DeAngelo was apparently his reaction to being scratched in the second and third games of the season. After the player took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for slamming the penalty kick’s door during the season opener loss to the Islanders, head coach David Quinn defeated DeAngelo for disciplinary purposes in the 5-0 victory before winning the next game against the same set up configuration. the Devils.
“After the first game of the season, he was told he was not going to play,” Gorton said. “Tony could not go on with it, it was something he was trying to get through. I spoke to him at the time and said: ‘Listen, if there are still problems here, the time will come when we will put you on indemnity and move on. No more issues, if your name contains anything we need to hear at all, we’ll go on, we’ll make the move. ‘
‘I made the statement to him, something happened and I actually have to stay true to my word here and the organization’s word that it was time to move on. … We feel it’s the right thing to do to get rid of Tony. It’s about winning, and we feel it’s a step we had to take in our room to put ourselves on the winning path. ”
DeAngelo, who signed a two-year $ 9.6 million extension with the Rangers this season, has also been reprimanded by the organization for his presence on social media in recent months. From challenging a fan to a fight outside MSG to questioning what happened to the coronavirus pandemic during the recent election, DeAngelo has had multiple conversations with Rangers buyers about lowering his off-ice profile.
Asked if his antics on social media had anything to do with the organization’s decision to continue, Davidson said there was no connection.
“There is a fine line with social media, but of course there is freedom of speech,” he said. “We definitely watch what our players say and do on social media. Tony, we’ve had informal discussions about it, there’s always a drip effect. ‘
DeAngelo took Broadway off the Coyotes in 2017 on the draft game with the seventh overall pick (Lias Andersson, now with the Kings) in exchange for Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta. He has had a history in the Ontario Hockey League, which includes being suspended twice for violating the league’s policies on harassment, abuse and diversity.
“We did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people about Tony before we acquired him,” Gorton said. “We did our homework, we were comfortable. If you look at his record with us, I think you know that his season last year spoke for itself.
“There were a few things along the way, but really nothing that would suggest anything from his past in Juniors. There is nothing like it that has ever occurred to us.”