Philadelphia Flyers place Tony DeAngelo on unconditional waivers for purposes of a buyout

The Philadelphia Flyers have placed defenseman Tony DeAngelo on unconditional waivers for the purpose of buying out his contract.

DeAngelo, 27, had one year remaining on his two-year, $5 million contract that he signed with the Flyers in the 2022 offseason after they acquired his signing rights from the Carolina Hurricanes. His buyout would come with a cap hit of $1,666,667 for the next two seasons, still saving the Flyers $3,333,333 in cap space in 2023-24.

The Flyers were looking to move on from DeAngelo this summer after a season that saw him and Flyers head coach John Tortorella clash, resulting in several instances of DeAngelo being healthy scratched. There was reportedly a trade in the works that would have sent him back to the Hurricanes around the time of the draft, but it never materialized. The Flyers had 72 hours after the resolution of Noah Cates’ pending arbitration case to utilize their second buyout window, so they opted to go this route to move on from DeAngelo.

Despite not getting along with Tortorella and being healthy scratched, DeAngelo at least had a solid season offensively with 11 goals, 31 assists, and 42 points in 70 games in 2022-23. However, his issues stem from his complete lack of a defensive game, as he ranked last among all NHLers in defensive goals above replacement with -15.1, resulting in the ninth-worst overall GAR with -9.5.

DeAngelo was a former 19th-overall pick for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2014, but was dealt to the Arizona Coyotes for a second-round pick before he made his NHL debut in the 2016-17 season. He was then traded to the New York Rangers, where he played for four seasons until he was bought out due to several instances of off-ice problems related to locker room issues and his vocal political affiliations.