Rumor: Chris Kreider was involved in the DeAngelo altercation.

This story surrounding New York Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo just keeps getting more and more crazy.

Although we now have confirmation that DeAngelo was involved in some kind of physical altercation with teammate Alexandar Georgiev following a 5 - 4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night, there's another component to this rumor that has yet to be confirmed. That component would be the alleged involvement of Rangers veteran forward Chris Kreider in this incident, not as one of the instigators but rather as the disciplinarian. 

We may never get confirmation of Kreider's involvement given what is alleged to have transpired but rumor has it that, after the conflict had escalated between Georgiev and DeAngelo, Kreider would have stepped in on behalf of Georgiev. Rumor has it that Kreider struck DeAngelo in the face.

There has been conjecture that has also led many to speculate that Kreider could indeed be the third man that was involved in this incident, much of which stems from some unusual activity during his post game press conference. First, there were those who noticed that Kreider was unusually fired up during his post game press conference, a presser that would in theory have occurred just minutes after the incident in question.

The other interesting tidbit from the presser comes in the opening seconds of Kreider's availability. Kreider raises his hand to scratch his face and many have pointed to what they believe is a damaged knuckle.

Here's the full video.

Here's a still photo of what some are pointing to,

Just to be clear none of this is concrete proof of anything and it is for this reason that this will remain a rumor until a source steps forward and confirms that Kreider was indeed involved, something that may never happen.

It certainly does paint an interesting narrative of what may have happened behind the curtain following the Rangers loss on Saturday and if DeAngelo did indeed cross a veteran like Kreider, who is in many ways a franchise player at this point, it would explain why the team felt that this was the point of no return.

What comes next now depends entirely on whether or not a team is willing to claim DeAngelo on waivers.