Hurricanes’ Tony DeAngelo on trade rumors and being a healthy scratch: ‘I want to play’
Carolina getting second-, third- and fourth-round picks in return. He signed a two-year contract worth $10 million with the Flyers. At Hurricanes training camp this year, DeAngelo said he thought he started last season playing the best hockey of his career but then struggled with inconsistency.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, moved on, landing Brent Burns in a trade to be Slavin’s new partner. Burns bested DeAngelo by 10 points for the most since relocation, finishing with 61 last season.
With Burns entrenched as Slavin’s partner and Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce one of the most frequent tandems in the NHL over the past few years, DeAngelo came into this year’s camp battling Chatfield for the spot next to big free-agent acquisition Dmitry Orlov on the third pairing.
“We were just trying to break each other in a little bit,” DeAngelo said of his start to the season with Orlov. “And then it was switching up, like I said, everything was kind of bouncing around. That’s the way it goes. We weren’t on our A game to start the year as a team too. So coaches tend to start to move things around a little bit, and that’s just the way it went and, unfortunately, I wound up being the odd man out.”
Now he is waiting to see what comes next, and DeAngelo admitted he has wondered about his future in the NHL.
“It’s tough for me to think that way,” he said, “but I have, trust me. … It’s top of mind the way things have gone. But at the same time, when I watch myself play and I know what I could do, it’s like there’s gotta be a spot for me. And that’s kind of (the situation now) — you gotta play to show it, right? Well, you don’t play and you don’t show it, that’s the easiest way to get thrown under the rug.”
The Hurricanes will need a reliable No. 7 defenseman for the stretch run and postseason, so trading DeAngelo would mean finding another blueliner to serve in that role.
After logging 13-plus solid minutes in tough home wins against Colorado and New Jersey in Pesce’s absence, DeAngelo is hoping teams take notice.
“This situation for me has been has been the toughest thing for my career as far as not playing,” he said, “and all I can do is just be a good teammate, be a good pro.
“And hopefully that translates into something good going forward.