The New York Rangers assigned 22-year-old defenseman Anthony DeAngelo to the team’s AHL minor-league affiliates in Hartford.
This being his first year with the Rangers after being dealt from the Arizona Coyotes during the offseason in the Antti Raanta Derek Stepan deal, DeAngelo appeared in eight of New York’s first 10 games this season. He recorded an assist with a minus-4 rating.
But the Rangers’ horrid start has forced the team to shake things up. At 2-6-2 after their first 10 games of the season, the defense has proven to be a major problem. Entering Tuesday night’s slate of games, New York led the league with 163 giveaways with seven Rangers appearing in the league’s top 25.
Ryan McDonagh is tied for the most turnovers with 19 alongside San Jose Sharks blueliner Brent Burns while Kevin Shattenkirk is two behind with 17.
DeAngelo has 10 himself, tied for 22nd, but his 12:38 of average ice time per game is the lowest among the league’s top 97 turnover leaders. Most of that ice time was coming because of head coach Alain Vigneault’s decision to carry seven defensemen instead of the conventional six. Given this transaction, it looks like the Rangers will be going back to a gameday roster with 12 forwards.
The Rangers look to be taking caution with their young defensive prospect, ensuring he irons out his issues in the minors instead of losing confidence while in the pros. However, New York’s “win now” approach when dealing Raanta and Stepan has not amounted to much considering the one player they got in return is going down to the AHL.
