Rangers Send Tony DeAngelo to Practice Unit

DeAngelo has been involved in controversies on and off the ice during his career. DeAngelo has played down the severity of the coronavirus on social media. He took down his Twitter page in January and said he would be joining Parler, the app some conservatives began using after Facebook and Twitter began flagging posts for misinformation.

“I think there’s a fine line with social media but there’s also freedom of speech and we certainly watch what our players say and do on social media,’’ John Davidson, the Rangers’ team president, said. “But that had nothing to do with this.”

The Rangers have benched DeAngelo twice over the past three seasons, most recently for two games after he incurred an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty for slamming the penalty box door and yelling at referees late in an opening-night loss to the Islanders.

“We want to make sure we have a great culture here and we’re working every day to make sure that happens,’’ Davidson said.

DeAngelo also was twice suspended while playing junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League for violating the league’s harassment, abuse and diversity policy — at least once after using an unspecified slur against a teammate. And he was suspended once in juniors and again with the Arizona Coyotes for abuse of an official.

The Rangers acquired DeAngelo, a first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2014, from the Coyotes in June 2017 as part of a trade for center Derek Stepan and goaltender Antti Raanta.

SLAP SHOTS

The Rangers’ game Saturday against the Devils has been postponed as part of the schedule changes caused by the Devils’ having 10 players on the N.H.L.’s Covid-19 protocols list. The Devils will not play until at least Saturday. The Rangers also added Kaapo Kakko, a second-year forward, to the Covid-19 list.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/sports/hockey/rangers-send-tony-deangelo-to-practice-unit.html