The 28-year-old blueliner saw himself as the seventh defenseman this season.
Tony DeAngelo
Carolina Hurricanes blueliner Tony DeAngelo was playing in a different role than he was previously used to this season.
Despite having 40+ points the prior two years, DeAngelo saw himself relegated to a seventh defenseman role with Carolina, but he still wound up with the opportunity to play in the postseason and did well when he was called upon.
Now an upcoming UFA, DeAngelo is hoping that stretch showed he can still be an effective defenseman in the league.
The Canes held their first round of exit interviews on Saturday following the conclusion of their 2023-24 season which ended after losing in six games to the New York Rangers in the second round of the playoffs.
Here’s what DeAngelo had to say:
On if his strong postseason performance puts him in a better position for free agency: I would hope so. I thought I played well. Obviously if we, as a team, won that would have put everybody in a better spot. That would have been the most important thing and best thing for all of us as players going forward and for now. But I felt like… I knew I could play and I think most people know I can play. There’s some other reasons and stuff that stay away or have stayed away or whatever, but I think when it mattered most in the playoffs, I performed pretty well and hopefully that translates.
On if he would entertain coming back into the same situation: More games would be the most important thing, right? You want to play, but you also have to earn it. No one is just going to tell you… I mean they could tell every player they sign, ‘Oh, you’re going to play,’ but you have to come into camp and earn it. This would always be an option though because of the way I feel about [Rod Brind’Amour]. I told him my phone’s going to be on all summer and if they call, that’d be great and if they don’t, I totally understand too. It’s a business. But the relationship I’ve had with him even with some tough times this year between us because I wasn’t happy not playing, but it was never anything personal. As long as he’s here, it’ll be an option.
On if he felt he grew from the role he found himself in: As a player, no. As a person, sure. I’m 28 now. You have to be a professional. I’ve been on teams the past eight years and seven out of those eight years, I was watching someone do the same thing. Everyone handles themselves properly and I thought I tried to do that. There was some days where I wasn’t very happy and you could probably tell, but I tried to keep it away from these guys and away from the room. Just keep it to myself or whatever the case was. But that’s just all part of being a pro. Someone does it on each team. I’m not the special guy that can just act like an idiot. It’s frustrating but you just have to deal with it and I thought I did a pretty good job of that.
On who from the team he’d choose to go on a summer vacation with: Not Jarvy. Jarvy’s near everyone’s pick but he’s too loud. I have to be the loud guy. But nah. The same guys. Brady [Skjei] and Brett [Pesce] are my two top picks there, but we have a ton of guys. The one sad thing about this [loss] is how good of a group we had. Just good people. Two years ago too and even again this year and then we brought in guys like [Evgeny Kuznetsov] and [Jake Guentzel] and we just kept adding great guys into the room. So it made it all the harder to not get to the end goal. But good guys. I would go away with any of them.
On the locker room culture: Every team and anybody you ever talk to is going to love the group of guys they’re with. I mean I loved my guys in Philly. It was a great group of guys. But here, it’s a group that’s been together a little bit longer. So there’s tighter relationships and it’s sort of like a family after a while. You keep seeing the same guys every year. But I came back in this year like I never left. It was just easy to walk in. That’s kind of the way it’s treated all around the team from top to bottom. It’s an important thing. Culture’s huge and I think maybe, I wasn’t here a long time, but maybe it wasn’t here before but it’s here now. It makes guys want to come too. So now when I talk to players or [Guentzel] talks to players and everyone asks what the guys are like, what’s this like and when we speak honestly, which we’re going to do to other guys in the league, they’ll want to come. It just makes it more of a destination and more of where people want to be.
