This past weekend, we saw former Devils winger Nikita Gusev accept a contract termination to give him a chance to catch on somewhere else to finish the season. While rare, there could have been a second one of these this year as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that the Rangers approached defenseman Anthony DeAngelo about this scenario, noting that Montreal was among the teams interested in him if he was to become an unrestricted free agent. However, the blueliner declined and will instead be bought out this summer.
DeAngelo was waived in late January after an altercation with Alexandar Georgiev and after clearing, he was assigned to the taxi squad where he has remained ever since. However, he has not been with the team since then and while they were attempting to loan him to an AHL club last month, that clearly didn’t materialize.
While it may seem odd that DeAngelo turned down a chance to play again this season, there is definitely a financial component to consider. He would have had to walk away from the remainder of his $4.3MM salary this season. It would depend on when the termination was to occur to do an exact calculation but it would have been with somewhere around 30% of the season left, which works out to roughly a $1.29MM forfeiture. On top of that, he wouldn’t have collected any of his $5.3MM salary for next season. While it appears he could have had a chance to play elsewhere, that’s still a lot of money to walk away from.
Instead, as expected, the Rangers will buy him out this summer, making him an unrestricted free agent at that time. As a 25-year-old, he’ll only be entitled to one-third of the salary over two years instead of the standard two-thirds which means he’ll collect $1.767MM while New York will incur cap charges of $383K next year and $883K in 2022-23, per CapFriendly.
He’s either a buyout or expansion draft trade possibility
I was thinking that too. The Rangers could offer a sweetener to get Seattle to take him in the draft.
Maybe, if the idea is that Seattle, rather than the Rangers, would then buy him out…that could happen.
But, there is zero chance that Ron Francis is going to bring DeAngelo into his locker room, which will have to build their culture from scratch.
Bringing in deangelo in a first season of operations in an expansion draft would be an awful business decision
I’ve heard a lot of stuff about this guy, but the fact he’d rather sit home and collect money instead of playing is telling.
Yeah it’s a lot of money to walk away from but you hit the nail on the head. It’s a bad sign of character.
I don’t think anybody’s walking always from millions of dollars when they don’t have to.
He would have to be a Moron to agree to a termination. The Rangers suck! Don’t give them the satisfaction!
Actually now thinking about this, I think I’m wrong. It’s not his fault they signed him to that deal then now don’t want him. Why should he forfeit the money they contractually agreed to pay him. I know everyone hates a “backtracker” but I’m full on willing to admit I think I was wrong.
Sorry – when players get bought out, they don’t receive the full value of their contract? Did I read that correctly? I thought that NHL contracts were guaranteed, like MLB or NBA. I knew that buying out a contract changed the salary cap dynamics, but I didn’t think it changed the cash out the door.
It sounds like DeAngelo has a personality disorder, but I can’t blame the guy for not forfeiting his full salary this season, especially if he can get bought out at a reduced basis for next season. It should cost the Rangers the full contract for signing an @$$#ole.
Seattle might be too liberal for Tony’s mouth.
Anyone who isn’t a racist, homophobic, transphobic idiot is “too liberal” for him.
Takes one to know one!
Swoosh!
So he declined to walk away from $3 million to possibly play hockey for 1-2 weeks this year, assuming the Canadiens really wanted him, quarantine time, make the playoffs, etc. That sounds like a smart decision actually.
DeAngelo won’t be a good fit in Seattle given how the whole city is consumed by progressives and liberal agitators.
They’re all awaiting trial for dressing up in MAGA hats and assaulting our nation’s capitol building.
WOW…great comeback, very impressed, nice one!
He would be a horrible fit in Seattle despite his skills. I would guess people would protest if the Kraken drafted him.