Old Lessons NHL Management Groups Need To Remember

It's a lesson most NHL management teams don't seem to know, or always forget. Time and time again they give players second, third, fourth, etc chances only for the player to show them they're the exact same player they were with their previous organization.

It should be made clear, I'm not referring to players talent level or on-ice play here. Management groups will continue to fill out rosters with the "less talented" players. I'm referring to the players that constantly have off-ice character issues, but somehow still continue to get chance after chance in the NHL just because they do have enough talent.

The latest two examples being Alex Galchenyuk and Tony DeAngelo. For this articles purpose, we're only going to focus on DeAngelo because I, personally, don't know enough about the Galchenyuk issues to make any comments.

When now-former Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher traded for DeAngelo's rights last summer while he was a pending UFA, and then proceeded to sign him to a multi-year contract, many people believed it was an awful idea due to past history.

By all accounts he never had any public issues while playing in Carolina during the pandemic-impacted 2021/2022 season, so he appeared to have redeemed himself. The question becomes, if he did truly redeem himself, and he had no character or disciplinary issues, why didn't Carolina want to keep and re-sign him? The public info at the time was that his price tag was just too high for the cap-strapped Hurricanes to endure, but looking back at it now, was that the true reason?

Without someone in the organization saying we may never truly know. What we do know for sure is that DeAngelo has had off-ice character and disciplinary issues dating back to his days in Juniors. Perhaps his most famous mishap came while he was a member of the New York Rangers. After a particularly nasty loss for the Rangers, reports indicate DeAngelo seemed to say something to goaltender - and teammate at the time - Alexander Gerogiev as they were leaving the ice at the games conclusion. No media was near by, and the cameras were to far away to hear what may have been said, and nearby teammates declined to comment on the situation afterward, but whatever was said or done angered Gerogiev enough to cause him to spin back around toward DeAngelo and take a swing. The altercation was caught on network cameras that were still rolling capturing the players leaving the ice at the conclusion of the game. The team was far enough into the dressing room tunnel that it's extremely hard to tell on the video if contact was made when Gerogiev swung, or if teammates that were close by were able to intervene in time to keep the altercation from turning into an all-out fist fight.

Ultimately, the altercation led to DeAngelo's indefinite suspension from the team by their front office. He would never wear a Rangers jersey again as he was sent home to await a trade.

A trade that never came.

Given the altercation was caught on camera, no teams were willing to pick DeAngelo up at the time for fear of a public outcry by fans. He sat out the remainder of the season before officially being bought out by the Rangers during the off-season buyout window.

The Hurricanes signed him for one year on July 28, 2021. Upon the announcement of the deal, the public backlash so many teams worried about when the Rangers were attempting to trade him, popped up in droves. Even fans that weren't Hurricanes fans were speaking out against the signing.

DeAngelo seemed to stay out of any hot water with the Hurricanes. At least, publicly. But when it came time to renew his contract in the summer of 2022, the Hurricanes passed on the opportunity, instead opting to trade his rights to the Flyers where Chuck Fletcher opted to sign him to a 2-year contract.

Looking back now, reports seem to indicate that while he stayed out of hot water publicly with the Hurricanes, it may not have been the case behind closed doors. Recent reports seem to suggest that while the GM likes him, which is why he was discussing trade options with Briere, however Hurricanes ownership is not a fan. No word on what may or may not have happened with DeAngelo and Tom Dundon, but for him to veto a trade just because it involved DeAngelo's name seems to suggest it was pretty significant.

DeAngelo was born in South Jersey, and grew up a Flyers fan. When he signed with the team, he did so fulfilling a dream not many get to fulfill. The dream of playing for your childhood favorite team.

It's not hard to imagine that the Flyers believed because he grew up in the area and was a fan of the team growing up that he'd be different here.

Unfortunately, a leopard doesn't change its spots, so despite who he was playing for, it was only a matter of time before DeAngelo would find himself back on the bad side of the public eye. After playing 70+ games in the 2022/23 season with the Flyers, he was benched for the final 5 games of the season by head coach John Tortorella. He wasn't playing great at the time, prompting the media to ask if that was the reason for the benching. Tortorella made it clear he was not benched for poor play, but refused to reveal what he was benched for citing that the issue was between he and DeAngelo and they'd leave it in the locker room.

There didn't seem to be any issues between DeAngelo and his now-former teammates, but having an issue with the coach is just as bad, if not worse. The coach has a say in who plays on the team, and it was blatantly obvious when Torts opted to bench him that he did not want him on a team he's working to help rebuild. From the time he was benched until the buyout was complete, the writing was on the wall for DeAngelo's exit from the organization in all but blood.

The saying says "When a person shows you who they are, BELIEVE them the first time!" NHL Management teams didn't do this and now Tony DeAngelo has shown it on multiple levels in multiple locations that he is who he is. The time to start believing him was 3 or 4 years ago, but since it went ignored, now seems like the best time to start believing him. After all they say it's never too late, so why not start now?