Oilers Explosion, Weekend Wrap Up

Waivers, DeAngelo, Monday matchups and more

Scott Cullen

Feb 01, 2021

I wrote about fantasy waiver and streaming options, including Jordan Kyrou and Martin Necas, on The Athletic today.

Recapping the weekend…

SUNDAY STARS

EDM C Leon Draisaitl 6 A in an 8-5 win vs. Ottawa

EDM C Connor McDavid 1 G, 4 A in an 8-5 win vs. Ottawa

PHI RW Joel Farabee 3 G in a 4-3 overtime win vs. the N.Y. Islanders

NJ LW Miles Wood 2 G, 1 A in a 5-3 win at Buffalo

New Jersey 5 Buffalo 3

BUF D Rasmus Ristolainen 1 G, 1 A

(1 G, 4 A in past 5 GP)

BUF C Jack Eichel 2 A

(2 G, 3 A in past 5 GP)

BUF RW Victor Olofsson 2 A

(2 G, 5 A during 6-game point streak)

NJ LW Miles Wood 2 G, 1 A

(5 G, 3 A in 9 GP)

NJ C Michael McLeod 2 G

(3 G, 1 A in past 4 GP)

NJ G Eric Comrie stopped 30 of 33 shots for the victory.

Devils forwards Michael McLeod and Miles Wood were on the ice for three goals for and none against during 5-on-5 play.

N.Y. Islanders 3 Philadelphia 4 (OT)

PHI RW Joel Farabee 3 G

(5 G, 3 A in 10 GP)

PHI LW James van Riemsdyk 4 A

(2 G, 6 A during 4-game point streak)

NYI C Mathew Barzal 1 G, 1 A

(2 G, 4 A during 4-game point streak)

NYI RW Josh Bailey 1 G, 1 A

During 5-on-5 play, Flyers LW James van Riemsdyk, RW Joel Farabee, C Scott Laughton, and D Philippe Myers were all on the ice for three goals for and none against.

Dallas 3 Carolina 4 (SO)

CAR C Jordan Staal 1 G, 1 A

(1 G, 3 A in 4 GP)

DAL LW Jamie Benn 1 G, 1 A

Florida 3 Detroit 2

FLA D Keith Yandle 2 A

(2 G, 4 A in 6 GP)

FLA LW Jonathan Huberdeau 2 A

(1 G, 6 A in 6 GP)

Columbus 1 Chicago 3

CHI RW Patrick Kane 1 G, 1 A

(4 G, 6 A in 10 GP)

CHI C Philipp Kurashev 1 G, 1 A

CHI G Kevin Lankinen turned aside 32 of 33 shots for the win.

(.937 SV% in 6 GP)

CHI rookie D Ian Mitchell was on the ice for three goals for and none against.

Colorado 3 Minnesota 4 (OT)

MIN C Victor Rask 2 G

MIN LW Jordan Greenway 1 G, 1 A

(1 G, 4 A during a 4-game point streak)

COL C Nathan MacKinnon 2 A

(2 G, 12 A in 10 GP)

St. Louis 4 Anaheim 1

STL G Ville Husso stopped 25 of 26 shots for his first career win.

Ottawa 5 Edmonton 8

EDM C Leon Draisaitl 6 A

(6 G, 10 A during a 7-game point streak)

EDM C Connor McDavid 1 G, 4 A

(5 G, 12 A during a 7-game point streak)

EDM LW Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 1 G, 2 A

(3 G, 4 A in past 7 GP)

EDM LW James Neal 2 G

EDM D Tyson Barrie 1 G, 1 A

(1 G, 4 A in past 3 GP)

OTT LW Brady Tkachuk 1 G, 1 A

OTT C Colin White 1 G, 1 A

Tony DeAngelo and the New York Rangers

NYR D Tony DeAngelo was put on waivers Sunday (and he cleared Monday).

DeAngelo had a career-high 53 points last season but throughout his career has been considered a defensive liability, to say nothing of an unrepentant jerk going back to his teen years in the Ontario Hockey League.

The story that made the rounds Sunday, in the aftermath of DeAngelo going on waivers, is that he had been punched by Rangers winger Chris Kreider after Saturday’s overtime loss to Pittsburgh, something which had reportedly been a long time brewing.

Additionally, there was a story that DeAngelo had kept rookie defenseman K’Andre Miller’s first NHL goal puck, a story that was then denied by Miller’s agent and a source with the Rangers, but this leads in a couple of directions.

Both the agent and the Rangers have incentive to deny the story if they want DeAngelo gone. It’s such a donkey move that any team claiming DeAngelo would have to answer for that, in addition to his lifelong series of misbehaviors. Guys on waivers can’t really afford to have this much baggage.

If the story is true, DeAngelo would be a spectacularly bad teammate and the online sleuths are left wondering why, if it’s not true, there was no picture of Miller with his first-goal puck, which is standard practice – an NHL player scores their first goal, the trainer puts tape around it and notes the date and opponent. That picture doesn’t appear to exist for Miller.

Here’s the thing: DeAngelo is capable enough to play in the league as a third pair guy who can work the power play, but who wants to commit $4.8 million over then next two seasons to a player with questionable defensive play and behavior that is worse than questionable. The thing is, having right-wing political opinions isn’t going to cost anyone a spot in the NHL because there are enough similarly inclined people playing in the league. The problem arises when a player isn’t good enough to be worth the off-ice headaches. For better or worse, the NHL is the league that most preaches not being a distraction to the team and there comes a time that a team will decide it’s not worth it any more. The Rangers are the second team to reach that conclusion. The question is whether there will be a third willing to give him a chance. I mean, he’s probably learned a lesson, right?

NYRFan @NYRFan92360244

I believe this is called being “Blackballed” https://t.co/KNbSnNQRR8

Elliotte Friedman @FriedgeHNIC

DeAngelo clears

Or, maybe not.

One last point: if the story of DeAngelo withholding Miller’s first-goal puck is true then the Rangers leadership needs to get a lot better immediately. Maybe that starts with popping DeAngelo in the mouth but it can not be okay for the far-right guy with a history of racist incidents to do it to a Black player, a first-round pick who is a bigger part of the franchise’s future. That someone in the Rangers leadership didn’t sort that out immediately is a legitimate problem.