Tony DeAngelo reveals what really happened with Alexandar Georgiev

No stranger to controversy mostly owing to off-ice incidents, free agent defenseman Tony DeAngelo got into a physical altercation with New York Rangers teammate Alexandar Georgiev in January of 2021 after a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden. 

The incident led to the Rangers choosing to waive DeAngelo, and was allegedly precipitated by a comment DeAngelo made to Georgiev as the team departed the ice toward the dressing room. 

“Coming down the tunnel I yelled at Georgiev ‘Make a bleepin save’ If I didn’t yell at Georgiev, Georgiev was going to come down and do anything,” DeAngelo said. “That’s a fact, so obviously I started it. Obviously I wasn't thinking what was going to happen next was going to happen, that was a surprise to me. Georgiev was running out after the game, struggling in the game and he turns around and fires a headbutt at me…

“I get a cut at the side of my face. I just hit him, got him with the stick on the goalie mask. It goes a little but into the locker room. Nothing really happens, nobody is going to let guys fight in there. Guys break it up and it ends."

He then revealed that NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman was the one who informed him that he'd landed on waivers rather than being traded, as he anticipated. 

“I thought I was going to be traded, to be honest," he continued. "I ended up getting put on release waivers. Elliotte Friedman broke the news to me. To be honest with you, it wasn’t a total shock that I was going to be out of there at that point because the season started off so rocky and a lot of it being my fault. Probably just the icing on the cake.”

Currently a free-agent after becoming (at the time) the first player in NHL history to be bought out from two separate contracts, DeAngelo appeared in 197 total games for the Rangers, racking up 92 points. He's also played two stints with the Carolina Hurricanes along with the Philadelphia Flyers. 

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