2016-2017: 21 year old DeAngelo makes his debut in Arizona. Shows some nice flashes offensively but has no clue how to make reads defensively. Puts up 14P in 39G.
2017-2018: First season in NY. Struggles during the first half of the season, but then he started playing pretty well. He crashed into the boards and missed the rest of the season which delayed his development as a 22 year old, which sucked because the team just announced their decision to rebuild which would have allowed him the opportunity of more playing time.
2018-2019: This was the year where Tony started figuring it out, and that’s because Of Coach Quinn. He repeatedly benched him, even after Tony had decent games. Sure, he had 30P in 61G, but he just wasn’t getting it defensively.
There were times where the fanbase wanted to crucify Quinn because we all felt Tony just needed experience at the NHL level to improve.
If you’re playing your position incorrectly, experience won’t do shit for you. Quinn broke DeAngelo and over the course of the season and slowly rebuilt him. Kid made big strides and showed a lot of improvement in understanding his position.
Like most offensive dmen, DeAngelo will leave you wanting more in his own zone. That doesn’t make him a bad hockey player, or worthless. A good coach utilizes his players in different situations.
There are many dmen in the league that are better at playing defense than ADA. But there aren’t many better offensively. Not at Even Strength or the PP.
If your team had a 24 year old RHD who was on pace for 60P this year, played physical and dropped the gloves, you would understand why Rangers fans love the kid.
But some people here clearly have an agenda, and it’s obvious. But, you haters keep on hating if it helps you sleep better at night.