Defenceman Tony DeAngelo has found himself a new team to play on, and it’s in Russia’s KHL.
SKA Saint Petersburg announced on Monday that the veteran of 371 NHL games had signed a one-year contract with the team. He is one of only two players on the roster who are neither Russian nor Belarusian. The other is from Croatia.
DeAngelo, 28, is a former 19th-overall draft pick by Tampa Bay who gained notoriety for a physical altercation on Jan. 30, 2021, with then-teammate Alexandar Georgiev of the New York Rangers, an incident he elaborated on last month on Morning Cuppa Hockey podcast on Daily Faceoff. The incident prompted the Rangers to place DeAngelo on unconditional waivers and eventually buy him out, despite having played just six games of that season, which had been delayed due to the pandemic.
Offensively gifted, the native of Sewell, N.J., has 48 goals and 162 assists during his NHL career. But behaviour issues have followed him since his time in junior hockey with the Sarnia Sting, when he was suspended for eight games by the OHL for violating the league’s abuse/diversity policy, for making an “inappropriate statement to a teammate.”
DeAngelo, who was traded by Tampa before he played an NHL game for the Lightning, has spent time with the now-defunct Arizona Coyotes, Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers. In 2023, he became the first NHLer to be bought out of his contract twice when the Flyers did so, paving the way for his return to Carolina for a second stint with that club.