PHILADELPHIA — This isn’t the Tony DeAngelo Revenge Tour.
It isn’t about proving one thing to the groups that forged him off or people who didn’t signal him over the summer time.
It’s in regards to the right here and now: serving to get the Islanders into the playoffs and making good on their determination to deliver him again to the NHL.
“I think just me being back proves it enough,” DeAngelo stated Thursday morning earlier than the Islanders confronted the Flyers in his first recreation again in his dwelling metropolis since being signed final weekend. “It is what it is. I’m just looking to take advantage of this opportunity, help this team get where it needs to go.”
It took mere seconds into his debut with the Islanders for the significance of getting DeAngelo on the best aspect of the blue line to change into all of the extra necessary, when Ryan Pulock went down and later joined Noah Dobson on injured reserve.
He’s picked up a heavy dose of minutes on the highest pair and doesn’t look to have missed a beat whereas taking part in for SKA St. Petersburg within the KHL.
The 29-year-old who twice reached the 50-point mark can nonetheless transfer the puck at an elite stage, filling a gap that was evident even when the Islanders had been utterly wholesome.
There has not been an apparent adjustment interval, thanks partially to the Islanders using an analogous system to what DeAngelo performed in Carolina final season.
“Everybody has little tweaks,” DeAngelo stated. “My feeling is a lot of teams in the league are starting to play similar. That’s the way to win, basically. So the way we’re playing in this league is easy for me to pick up. You gotta use your skating in this league, you gotta be tight on guys. I think we got a good five-man unit which has been good so far. Guys are always in the right spots. If we do get in trouble, we have guys there to help. That’s a big plus for a defenseman.”
Lou Lamoriello’s transfer to usher in DeAngelo was met with mockery on social media and forged as one thing determined.
But when not for the historical past that seemed to be the most important motive DeAngelo ended up in Russia to start with, you’d marvel how the NHL ever let him go to start with.
“How calm he is with the puck, he’s capable of escaping by himself a lot. He moves it really well,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy stated. “Our structure’s pretty close, defensively, to what they do in Carolina. I was pretty confident that he’d adjust pretty easily to it. The way that he’s been escaping, the way he’s been moving that puck, the poise and how calm he is. And I feel like he’s a really good partner for [Alexander Romanov] right now. They’re both playing really well.”
It may need been a danger to take DeAngelo on. However a one-year deal on a prorated league minimal shouldn’t be going to be a drag on the cap sheet perpetually.
From the crew’s perspective, there was not all that a lot to lose right here.
If the Islanders had been taking a danger, then absolutely DeAngelo himself was taking a much bigger one, pushing in a complete lot of chips with a crew keen to present him a shot.
As a matter of talent and expertise, it’s plainly apparent that he’s an NHL participant.
And as a matter of first impressions, he’s making an excellent one on the Islanders.
It was put to DeAngelo Thursday that a couple of days prior, Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour had expressed shock that no one had signed the defenseman over the summer time.
“I had a good relationship with him. Really good relationship,” DeAngelo stated. “He’s an excellent man, nice coach.
“Nice words. But this is the team that signed me, so this is the one I’m worried about.”
