Yahoo Sports Oilers Have No Good Reason to Add DeAngelo
EDMONTON -- Tony DeAngelo has had a roller coaster career.
The offensively talented defender presently finds himself without a contract. The Edmonton Oilers are rumored to be looking at several defenders to invite to camp on a PTO.
Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports
While on Oilers Now yesterday, hockey insider Frank Seravalli brought up DeAngelo as one to look out for. He said, "I'll throw one other name at you that I don't think has gotten much play internally but I think is a better player than all the names I have mentioned (Justin Schultz, Tyson Barrie, Kevin Shattenkirk) and who's still unsigned is Tony DeAngelo."
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"What you are talking about is the potential for a 50-point defenseman on your team, that is still in his 20's, that is ready, willing and able to play close to league minimum. And would absolutely love to be in Edmonton."
How Good is Tony DeAngelo?
For the sake of entertainment, let's look at what DeAngelo brings to the table.
During the 2023-24 regular season DeAngelo scored 11 points in 31 games. He averaged 14:20 of ice time per game. Of his 11 points, six came with the man advantage. This production is good for the ice time he was given.
The biggest issue he would face is getting power play time in Edmonton. Over half of his points were generated on the power play. He averaged 2:31 on the power play this past year. So how much time would DeAngelo get on the power play if he were to play in Edmonton?
Evan Bouchard is glued to the top unit, so there isn't an in there. It's possible that he could get onto the second unit and replace Mattias Ekholm or Darnell Nurse. Ekholm averaged 0:52 while Nurse mustered 1:02 on the second unit power play. It's reasonable to expect that if DeAngelo's ice time plummets, his points with the man advantage will too.
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This past season DeAngelo scored six power play points. In almost a third of the time, Nurse collected five points. Ekholm only gathered three power play points himself. It doesn't make much sense to replace Nurse or Ekholm with a player who scored one point more than Nurse despite playing 1:30 more than him on the power play.
Oilers Are Better Off Without DeAngelo
Furthermore, when looking at DeAngelo's fancy stats, things don't look pretty.
According to PuckIQ, DeAngelo had a dangerous fenwick for percentage (DFF%) of 49.8%. This was across all levels of competition. This was also the lowest of any defenders who played for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Comparing this to the eight defenders who played at least seven games for the Oilers last year doesn't paint DeAngelo in a good light. His 49.8 DFF% would place him ahead of only Philip Broberg who had a 49.1 DFF%.
Both Justin Schultz and Kevin Shattenkirk had better results (52 DFF% and 54.1 DFF% respectively) than DeAngelo. However, he did better than Tyson Barrie, who finished the season with a DFF% of 43.9%.
Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
In conclusion, despite the notion that adding a "potential" 50-point defender is appealing, DeAngelo is the wrong guy for the Oilers to add. His reliance on power play production and poor defensive results (on a great team with the Hurricanes) should be enough information to steer the Oilers into less stormy waters.
Instead, the Oilers would be better off agreeing to a PTO with one of Schultz or Shattenkirk.
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