RALEIGH, N.C. — The points are nice, for sure. And no question that if they keep coming like they have to start this season, so will the big money when Tony DeAngelo hits this summer as a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
But the Rangers 24-year-old defenseman already knows the fickle ways of the NHL marketplace. He had his holdout with the Blueshirts this past summer, when he was tardy to training camp because he wanted more years and more money than the one-year, $925,000 deal he eventually signed.
But with almost no leverage, he was finally convinced to take the deal and hit the ice.