PHILADELPHIA — Tony DeAngelo’s homecoming with the Flyers has come to a disappointing end.
The Flyers placed the Sewell, N.J., native on unconditional waivers Friday for purposes of a buyout. If DeAngelo clears waivers, he could officially be bought out Saturday. The defenseman has one year remaining on the two-year, $10 million contract he signed with the Flyers last July. Buying him out would cost the Flyers $3.33 million spread over the next two seasons ($1.66 million each) and subsequently open up $3.33 million in salary-cap space this season.
DeAngelo, 27, ultimately played just one season for the team he grew up rooting for after his rights were acquired by the Flyers and then-general manager Chuck Fletcher last July.
“It’s a dream come true for me,” DeAngelo said in a statement after being acquired. “I was born in Jersey, but really my entire family besides myself comes from Philly. ... Been a Flyers fan since the day I can remember.”
He scored 11 goals and posted 42 points in 70 games with the Flyers, but he also struggled defensively and was a team-worst minus-27. DeAngelo was eventually benched for the final five games of the season by John Tortorella for an unspecified reason.
“I’m sure there are reasons for it, but nothing that either one of us was obviously willing to discuss,” DeAngelo said at his exit interview.
“He’s the coach of the team, so you’ve got to respect that and I respect what he does. Do I agree with it, what happened in the last five games? Absolutely not. I think it’s ridiculous that I didn’t play the last five.”
While it had become abundantly clear that DeAngelo would not be returning for the Flyers next season, the fact that he has been placed on waivers comes as a bit of a surprise. The Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes had reportedly been working on a trade that would have seen DeAngelo return to Carolina and the Flyers land a prospect in return for retaining 50% of his contract.
On July 1, Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said that the two teams had “a deal in principle” but that it couldn’t be executed until a certain date, which at that point was unclear.
Fast-forward two weeks and Carolina has other irons in the fire as it pertains to trying to acquire Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks. With that deal in limbo and the clock ticking, the Flyers chose to cut their losses with DeAngelo rather than wait around and potentially get stuck with him. Since forward Noah Cates elected for arbitration, the Flyers had the luxury of a second buyout window and elected to utilize it before it shut.
Friday’s move is a disappointing but somewhat predictable end to DeAngelo’s stint in Philadelphia. Fletcher’s decision to trade three drafts picks — a second, third, and a fourth — for DeAngelo’s negotiating rights raised eyebrows at the time, especially given that the Flyers were not expected to contend. The defensive struggles were also not a huge surprise, as DeAngelo’s high-risk, offense-first approach has long been his modus operandi.
In 2021-22, Carolina was able to successfully insulate those defensive deficiencies with their team defensive structure, a deep blue-line corps, and by pairing DeAngelo with an elite partner in Jaccob Slavin. The results were a career season for DeAngelo in which he put up 10 goals and 51 points in 64 games and finished a plus-30.
The Flyers, who did not have any of those things in place, were unsurprisingly unable to provide the same support, and DeAngelo’s play suffered.
“We wanted to get him so we don’t have to defend as much,” Fletcher said last summer. “I think he’ll complement some of the players we have pretty well. [Ivan] Provorov and [Travis] Sanheim in terms of left-shots are both really strong defenders. And Tony, I think, can complement those players a little bit as well.”
That did not prove to be the case, as DeAngelo cycled through various partners without much success. While he continued to produce points at a high clip, he did not make the type of impact Fletcher had hoped in terms of creating offense for others and improving the team’s league-worst power play. The Flyers finished dead last with the man advantage for the second straight season in 2022-23.
Acquired partly because of the unavailability of Ryan Ellis (pelvic injury), DeAngelo and his riverboat gambler persona on the blue line also led to a lot of opposing odd-man rushes and some glaring defensive numbers. Last season, DeAngelo ranked last among 326 qualified defensemen in terms of even-strength defensive goals above replacement (-10.9), according to Evolving Hockey.
Given those defensive numbers and some of the off-ice baggage DeAngelo comes with from his junior hockey days and time with the New York Rangers, the Flyers likely had a short list of teams to work with when it came to a potential trade. They also had little leverage given how things ended last season between Tortorella and DeAngelo.
Ultimately, new general manager Danny Brière decided to make the call and end the team’s relationship with the defenseman. DeAngelo will become the third key veteran to be ushered out the door this offseason by the rebuilding Flyers, following the trades of Provorov to Columbus and Kevin Hayes to St. Louis.
Once bought out, DeAngelo would be an unrestricted free agent. We’ll see if the Hurricanes retain interest in the defenseman, who for his flaws still has a lot of offensive skills and was a great fit with them two seasons ago.
