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Welcome back to Around the League — the column here at CanucksArmy where we deliver you news and notes from around the National Hockey League — oftentimes through a Vancouver Canucks-tinted lens.
It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these, but we have actual NHL news to share in late July!
Carolina Hurricanes sign Tony DeAngelo
On Monday afternoon, Daily Faceoff NHL insider Frank Seravalli reported that the Carolina Hurricanes were in agreement on a one-year contract with UFA defenceman Tony DeAngelo. The deal carries a $1.675 million cap hit, according to Seravalli.
Hearing #Canes are closing in on an agreement with free agent Tony DeAngelo on a 1-year deal in the $1.6 million range. #LetsGoCanes@DailyFaceoff
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 24, 2023
DeAngelo spent last season with the Philadelphia Flyers and managed to tally 11 goals and 42 points through 70 games. He led all Flyers defencemen in points by a wide margin but — as has long been the case with DeAngelo — was often a liability defensively, putting up a team-worst -27 rating. DeAngelo has been bought out two times in the last three years by the New York Rangers and Flyers, respectively.
DeAngelo is once again hoping to show well enough in Carolina to earn another two year contract from an NHL team in next year’s free agency. It’s worked for him in the past, even if it did result in the second buyout of the 27-year-old’s career. Following the New York Rangers buying out the second year of his first two-year deal, DeAngelo signed for just $1 million in Carolina, and spent the 2021-22 season with the Hurricanes.
His play in Carolina was enough for former Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher to hand him a two-year contract worth $10 million. DeAngelo and Flyers head coach John Tortorella didn’t really mesh, as Tortorella was open and honest with the media about how much of a defensive liability DeAngelo was for the Flyers. This inability to take care of business in his own end of the ice eventually led to a five-game benching which DeAngelo called “ridiculous”.
The Flyers bought out DeAngelo’s contract in the middle of July, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Erik Karlsson has spoken to Penguins, Leafs, Hurricanes, and Kraken
While speaking with Adam Johansson of Swedish outlet Expressen in an exclusive interview that dropped over the weekend, Erik Karlsson shared that he has spoken with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes, and Seattle Kraken about a possible trade.
Karlsson made it clear this offseason that he just wants to play for a winner, and he doesn’t really seem to care where that winner is located. “No, I’m open about this process,” Karlsson said in the interview. “I don’t have a chosen destination. I just want the best chance to get to the best team. Where it is, well, we’ll see.”
Having just won the Norris Trophy, Karlsson should garner plenty of trade interest, but with another year of a flat salary cap set for the 2023-24 NHL season, it seems to be proving quite difficult for the Sharks to deal Karlsson’s contract. The 33-year-old defenceman’s deal carries an $11.5 million cap hit for the next four years. Whichever team makes a trade for him will almost certainly want Sharks general manager Mike Grier to retain a maximum of 50%.
Karlsson became the first Swedish defenseman and the first NHL defenceman in 31 years to register 100 points in a season after notching 25 goals and 76 assists for 101 points in 82 games.
Karlsson made it clear that he will not be staying with the Sharks, so it will be interesting to see how the Sharks’ management group goes about trying to move him with what appears to be very little leverage.
