The Rangers, Tony DeAngelo, and the upcoming Seattle Kraken expansion draft
The New York Rangers are under no pressure to trade Tony DeAngelo. Matter of fact, unless the right deal comes along they may not move him until later this summer.
The Seattle Expansion Draft
on July 21st, the Seattle Kraken will pick one player from each team in the expansion draft. Prior to the beginning of this season, Tony DeAngelo was undoubtedly going to be protected. Things have obviously changed now.
That also meant the Blueshirts would need to expose young defenseman Libor Hajek to Seattle. While Hajek may intrigue Ron Francis and company, either Brett Howden or Julien Gauthier would’ve been more attractive.
Now that DeAngelo has been waived, what I can gather is that Jeff Gorton would be very comfortable letting him sit at home till later this summer. Initial reports indicated the Rangers would be willing to retain 50% of DeAngelo’s $4.8 million hit but that proved incorrect. So unless the acquiring team assumes the full cap hit (or close to it), no trade is likely.
That’s why holding onto him makes so much more sense. The Blueshirts can protect their young forwards by offering a 25 year-old righty defenseman that finished 4th in scoring for his position just one season ago. Baggage or not, Francis will do proper due diligence and make a hockey decision after he’s obtained all info available.
Remember, if he isn’t selected by the Kraken in the expansion draft the Rangers can buy him out at 1/3 the contract because he’s 25 years-old. That would only be a cap charge of $383,333 in 2021-22 and $833,333 in 2022-23.
Trade maneuverability for Rangers
The Rangers also don’t have to use that open spot to protect Hajek. They could make a move for a defenseman at the deadline. Maybe someone like Vince Dunn, and that would allow them to protect him.
As of right now, it looks like if the Blues can’t move him they’d be exposing him to Seattle. I doubt the Blues want to lose him for nothing.
Again, this will all boil down to not just what teams are offering the Rangers in return for DeAngelo. It will be about taking on the contract.
In terms of the cap, the Rangers are better off buying out DeAngelo and taking the $383K cap charge. It makes more sense than eating $2.4 million and losing a net $2 million in cap space for next season.
One closing note, recently Larry Brooks spoke with DeAngelo’s former defense partner Marc Staal. The article focused more about all the fallout surrounding DeAngelo but Staal did say this:
“The guys here in Detroit, they’re all super-curious about him...He’s a lightning rod, and yeah, he yells at coaches and referees and he has these moments where he goes overboard, but he’s a good teammate.”
Marc Staal via NYPOST
Steve Yzerman originally drafted DeAngelo with the Tampa Bay Lightning. It’s unsure if he’s willing to bring him in as a reclamation project for the rebuilding Wings.
Detroit has the cap space to take on the 25 year-old rearguard’s full $4.8 AAV.
RELATED: Teams are waiting for heat to die down on DeAngelo trade
NOTE: This article was originally published at The Daily Goal Horn on February 13th and updated to reflect new information.
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