Tony DeAngelo and the Flyers should be heading for a divorce

Photo Credit: Rebecca McCormick

“He is a great player, skates well, is able to make plays,” Ivan Provorov said when asked thoughts with playing with Tony DeAngelo earlier in the season. “Very good passer and it has been fun so far. We are going to just continue to get better.” Finally, Provorov appeared to have a capable partner to lead the rush of the ice, and make quick zone exits. Provorov looked more like himself, and it was a thing of beauty to watch.

When looking at the play of Provorov both last season and the 2020-21 season, it’s clear the defenseman wasn’t at his best, neither was the team in general. Coupled with Provorov’s high ice time and usually starting his shifts in the defensive zone. It’s only going to make a defenseman who logs a lot of ice time have less than ideal statistics. We’re not even factoring that his defensive partner has been an influx for approximately two years, finally it appeared Provorov had a true number one defenseman playing alongside him, an offensive defenseman at that. However, then the wheels started to fall off the bus as little over a quarter way into the season with DeAngelo’s bad habits of being out of position, or always looking to engage offensively. What that did was make the Flyers that much easier to beat with giving more space for their opponents to create, thus being out of position 9 times out of 10 for a goal against.

Unfortunately that was then, now he has benched for three straight games. What John Tortorella does well is hold players accountable, but Tony DeAngelo must have been at least one player that Associate Head Coach Rocky Thompson was talking about this past Tuesday night, “I just told them it’s not about X’s and O’s, I said quite frankly it looks like some guys don’t even care. They’re just not trying. I wasn’t going to call anybody out individually, but your teammates know. I told them I’d give them another chance if you’re going to do it, I’ll keep you in, if not I’ll take you out,” Thompson said after coaching the game.

Everyone wondered who was Thompson calling out after the game. Some people were speculating James van Riemsdyk, Kevin Hayes, or Ivan Provorov. I think it has become clear that DeAngelo was at least one of them, and this should lead to a Flyers divorce after the season concludes on Thursday night. Circling back to Provorov, last night it appeared he sustained a significant injury to his shoulder or arm, but he returned and did not miss a shift. His willingness to play sets him apart from the rest of the pack, “He doesn’t stay down. He’s frustrating me at times, but how he handles himself. There aren’t too many players that go about it that way,” John Tortorella said about Ivan Provorov following the game against the Boston Bruins.

What Tortorella has done effectively in the past was politely call out his defenseman and he had this to say about DeAngelo a few months ago, “We want to try to help him. We feel he needs to get better defensively, without taking away any of the great offensive ability he has.”

DeAngelo has since been relegated to the bottom pairing when he plays, while being paired with Nick Seeler. The Flyers had to do their due diligence with obtaining a Shayne Gostisbehere “Ghost” esque defensman. They wanted DeAngelo to provide offense and Power Play numbers, while being just “Ok” defensively. That doesn’t sit well with Tortorella, and it shouldn’t:

“I’m a little bit, not disappointed, but the defensive liability is something we need to work at.” – John Tortorella on Tony DeAngelo

One good thing is DeAngelo offers a dimension with the man advantage that makes them less predictable…his shot from the point most notably. He really can blast the puck, and hits the net nine times out of ten for a juicy rebound, or let’s JvR stand his office to deflect pucks home. This will make him easier to move in the offseason with a favorable cap hit of $5 million, but the Flyers can retain part of that cap hit, as well. If the Flyers do not find a trading partner for DeAngelo, then they could buy him out for a cap hit of $3.33 million, while saving $1.67 million. It’s not about saving at this point, it’s about ridding a bad contract. Obviously things are not going well here in Philadelphia, and both parties should move on.

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“Just our decision. I haven’t talked to him,” John Tortorella said about benching Tony DeAngelo for a third straight game in his pre-game presser. It’s that bad that Torts hasn’t even talked to a player that hasn’t given max effort. DeAngelo at this point is not part of the solution, rather the writing is on the wall for these two parties to part ways.

“Just our decision. I haven’t talked to him.” – John Tortorella

The one area that DeAngelo needs to be more consistent with is playing as a defenseman, rather than a forward. It’s easier said than done, and there is no time for this with only two games remaining in the season. Like Tortorella said previously, they are working extensively in this area with him to get him to better understand playing the right way, while not limiting his offensive abilities. However, this will be done with another team in the future.