On Feb. 1, 2021, Tony DeAngelo was abruptly waived by the New York Rangers following a 5-4 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He was released from the team due to a brief altercation inside the tunnel leading to the team’s locker room with goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.
While there was knowledge of an incident between the two players, the specifics on what actually happened were unclear until now as DeAngelo has given his perspective on the story.
“Coming down the tunnel I yelled at Georgiev ‘Make a bleepin save’ If I didn’t yell at Georgiev, Georgiev was going to come down and do anything,” DeAngelo said. “That’s a fact, so obviously I started it. Obviously I wasn’t thinking what was going to happen next was going to happen, that was a surprise to me. Georgiev was running out after the game, struggling in the game and he turns around and fires a headbutt at me…
“I get a cut at the side of my face. I just hit him, got him with the stick on the goalie mask. It goes a little but into the locker room. Nothing really happens, nobody is going to let guys fight in there. Guys break it up and it ends.”
The Rangers organization new it had to act quickly.
It didn’t take long for Rangers general manager at the time, Jeff Gorton, to make the move to waive DeAngelo.
“I thought I was going to get traded to be honest with you,” DeAngelo said. “I ended up getting put on release waivers. Elliotte Friedman broke the news to me. To be honest with you, it wasn’t a total shock that I was going to be out of there at that point because the season started off so rocky and a lot of it being my fault. Probably just the icing on the cake.”
DeAngelo played 167 games for the Rangers and recorded 19 goals, 73 assists and 92 points while averaging 18:45 minutes.
Since being waived by the Rangers, he’s played for the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers.
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