With the New York Rangers losing two defensemen in the past week, the door might have cracked open for Anthony DeAngelo.
The New York Rangers have lost two starting defenseman in the last week due to injury. An opportunity for defenseman Anthony DeAngelo to play may finally be here.
The Rangers decided to carry eight defensemen when this season began. That eight has dropped to six as Adam McQuaid suffered a lower-body injury in Thursday’s loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. He joins fellow defenseman Fredrik Claesson who suffered an upper-body injury and will be out of the lineup for at least 3-4 weeks.
DeAngelo has been watching plenty of hockey this season. A healthy scratch in eight of the 10 games the team has played, the young defenseman has been unable to impress head coach David Quinn enough to get him games.
When asked following Thursday nights game of the team would need to call up a defenseman for the remaining three west coast games, Quinn replied, as reported by Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post
“I don’t know enough right now to comment on that in any way.”
DeAngelo has been in a grey area all season. He should have been sent to the Hartford Wolf Pack to get some much-needed playing time, but since he has to clear waivers in order to be sent down, he has remained with the club.
Other Rangers News
Center Matt Beleskey cleared waivers on Thursday and was sent down to the Harford Wolf Pack. Beleskey, 30-years-old, has one more year remaining on his contract with a salary cap hit of 41.9 million.
Belskey will have a cap hit of $875,000 while he plays in the AHL. Acquired in a trade with the Boston Bruins last season for Rick Nash, half of his $3.8 million dollar contract is being picked up by the Bruins.
