With their defensive corps thinning, the New York Islanders signed veteran blue-liner Tony DeAngelo to a one-year deal worth the league minimum for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, the team announced Friday.
The 29-year-old spent four seasons with the New York Rangers from 2018 to 2021, but in-locker-room controversies and off-ice issues prompted his spell in the Big Apple to end abruptly.
He has bounced around over the last four years. DeAngelo had two separate stints with the Carolina Hurricanes, sandwiching a one-year stay with the Philadelphia Flyers. This season began in Russia with St. Petersburg of the KHL.
Desperation has forced the Islanders to bring him in. Veteran defenseman Mike Reilly has been on long-term injured reserve after undergoing a heart procedure in November. They then lost one of their very best blueliners, Noah Dobson, on a week-to-week basis after he injured his right leg during Monday night’s win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
DeAngelo does provide the sort of puck-moving capabilities that is being lost with Dobson’s injury. He has recorded 40 or more points in three of his five most previous NHL seasons, including 15 goals and 38 assists with the Rangers in 2019-20.
He was cut from the Blueshirts during the 2020-21 season following an altercation in the tunnel leading to the team’s locker room with goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.
