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The New York Rangers have placed defenseman Tony DeAngelo on waivers, less than a month after the defenseman publicly declared his preference for Parler when Twitter deactivated former President Donald Trump’s account.
According to The Athletic, this move comes after there was an altercation Saturday night following the Rangers’ loss between DeAngelo and starting goalie Alexandar Georgiev in the tunnel that leads to the locker room. Georgiev was not at practice Sunday for “maintenance.”
“There’s always rumors, as you know,†Rangers coach David Quinn said Sunday, per The Athletic. “I’m not going to address rumors. This isn’t about one incident. It’s not about one thing. It’s a situation the organization felt was best at this current time and we’ll see how the situation plays out.
“It’s part of the business. It’s a decision we made. You’re always sitting down, evaluating your organization. It’s something we did. We’ll see how it plays out. … I don’t want to get into specifics. In 24 hours we’ll probably be able to be more specific and address the situation differently.â€
A 2014 first-round pick by the Tampa Bay Lighting, DeAngelo signed a two-year, $9.6-million deal in October as a restricted free agent with the Rangers. They acquired him in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes in 2017.
In 2019-20, DeAngelo led all Rangers defensemen with 53 points in 68 games. But in 2021, he’d already been a healthy scratch in two games this season after earning an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the opener.
DeAngelo had not been shy about his support of Trump in the past, particularly on social media. Although he denounced the attack on the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, he told the USA TODAY Network, he left Twitter for Parler — which has since been shut down — due to “freedom of speech.”
He has also in recent months challenged a fan to a fight on social media and asked “what happened to COVID-19?” after the election.
DeAngelo’s controversial past goes beyond this year, however. He was suspended in juniors and the NHL for abuse of officials and also was suspended twice in juniors for violating the Ontario Hockey League’s policy for keeping “homophobic, racist and sexist language out of the game.”
DeAngelo has averaged 18 minutes, 29 seconds of ice time this season, with one assist and a minus-6 plus/minus in six games. He played 20 minutes, 28 seconds and was on the ice for three goals against in Saturday night’s 5-4 overtime loss.
Each team has the ability to claim DeAngelo and his remaining contract over the next 24 hours. It is unclear what the Rangers’ plans are if the defenseman clears waivers by noon ET tomorrow.
Contributing: Vincent Z. Mercogliano, Bergen Record
Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.
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