UFA Tony DeAngelo Reportedly Leaving the NHL

After eight sometimes tumultuous years in the NHL, a tough 2023-24 season might be the last in North America for a while for UFA defenseman Tony DeAngelo.

Reports out of Russia state that the 28-year-old "has agreed" to sign with SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League. The d-man had denied earlier in the summer that he was considering such a move, saying he still had a deal with an NHL team as his goal.

At the end of the Hurricanes' season, he stated "I told (Carolina head coach Rod Brind'Amour) my phone's going to be on all summer and if they call, that'd be great and if they don't, I totally understand too. It's a business".

His phone apparently never rang, and now the Championat website reports that a deal is done for DeAngelo with SKA.

The 5'11" right-shot blueliner played just 31 games last season for the Carolina Hurricanes, serving as a 7th defenseman most of the year, and managed just 11 points on three goals and eight assists. In his prior stint in Raleigh, in 2021-22, he recorded 51 points in 64 games along with a plus/minus of +30.

He was bought out of his $5 million cap hit last summer by the Philadelphia Flyers after a troublesome 2022-23 season under head coach John Tortorella, who left DeAngelo as a healthy scratch for several games late in the season, as, despite his offensive contributions of 42 points, he also sported a dreadful plus/minus of -27.

In 2019-20 with the New York Rangers (53 points in 68 games), DeAngelo even received some votes for the Norris Trophy, finishing 12th in the balloting.

He was a first-round pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning (19th overall).