Former New York Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo has broken his silence on the events that led to his dramatic departure from the team. He shed light on the heated altercation with goaltender Alexandar Georgiev that led to his dismissal from the franchise.
DeAngelo, currently an unrestricted free agent, appeared on the Morning Cuppa Hockey podcast on August 14 and told the whole story, revealing all sorts of details. That said, he admitted to being the instigator of the scuffle that led to his eventual exit from Manhattan.
“It was a tough game. He struggled, I struggled in the game. We’re playing against Pittsburgh, going down the tunnel, I yelled at Georgie. ‘Make a bleeping save,’” DeAngelo said. “So if I didn’t yell at Georgie, Georgie wasn’t gonna turn around and do anything. That’s a fact. So obviously I started it. Georgie’s running hot after the game and he turns around and fires a headbutt at me.”
DeAngelo described his immediate reaction to Georgiev’s headbutt.
“I responded by slapping Georgiev’s mask with my stick,” DeAngelo said. “I had a feeling something was gonna come there. I thought I was gonna get traded, to be honest with you.”
DeAngelo acknowledged his role in the incident.
“It was just, to me, one of them situations where if I would’ve done the right thing from the start, from the beginning of training camp, none of that probably would have happened. But it did.”
Following the incident with Georgiev, the Rangers placed DeAngelo on waivers on January 31, 2021, a move that signaled the end of his time with the team. DeAngelo played only six games that season before his exit. He left the franchise for good on July 23, 2021, when his deal was bought out.
“The Georgie incident, which was probably the least worrisome incident out of all of them, I guess just the icing on the cake,” DeAngelo said.
Despite the fallout, DeAngelo mentioned that he and Georgiev have since crossed paths and are on relatively good terms.
“I never blamed [Georgiev] as far as that, that was just heat of the moment,” DeAngelo said. “What I blame is what happened after, how it was a bit of a 180 as far as how things were handled with each individual.”
Georgiev remained with the Rangers until the end of the 2021-22 season before he left the franchise via trade to the Colorado Avalanche on July 7, 2022.
