3 Defenseman the Red Wings Should Target in Free Agency

Anthony DeAngelo, RHD

Tony DeAngelo was known as a toxic guy in the locker room. In fact, there has been multiple incidents regarding him and a referee and/or a teammate. That reputation led to him and the New York Rangers parting ways this past season.

With the New York Rangers pretty much openingly stating that he is not the guy you want in the locker room, and that made a lot of teams very hesitant at looking at him. After some time, the Carolina Hurricanes decided to give him a shot in theory to replace right-handed defenseman, Dougie Hamilton who signed with the New Jersey Devils last season.

Now, Hamilton was right to leave and go where the money takes him. Prior to this past season, Hamilton was almost a consensus top defenseman in the NHL, and he deserved to get paid. But, now the trend has been set as DeAngelo is more than likely going to find himself making some money in free agency.

This past season, DeAngelo played in 64 games for the Hurricanes. In those 64 games he put up 10 goals and 41 assists for 51 total points. On top of that, he was playing top lines minutes averaging just under 20 minutes of ice time.

DeAngelo is more than likely going to get a moderately large deal after this stellar season he had. Now I don’t know for sure rather or not he plans on staying with the Hurricanes, I mean, they are right there, they just needed Frederik Andersen and they probably would have been representing the eastern conference in the Stanley Cup. So, I’m sure he is open to returning under the right contract and circumstances. But if he follows the money, the Red Wings need to know there are definitely some benefits to signing DeAngelo.

DeAngelo would likely drop Hronek down to the third line which I don’t really like. However, when you look at the big picture, Hronek being on the third line because of the other two guys ahead of him speaks to the talent you have.

If the Red Wings were to sign or target DeAngelo, he would give the Red Wings another star offensive defenseman along with Seider. Having put up 51 points in 64 games this past season with the Hurricanes and previously putting up a 53 point season with the Rangers back in the 2019-20 season.

DeAngelo is also a very good defenseman due to his physicality and willingness to face anyone and everyone. And I have to be honest, that’s one of the reasons I really want him.

When you have a young team like the Red Wings, It’s important to make sure that you back them. If the opposition lays a bad hit on them or starts playing in a way that is disrespectful, DeAngelo will drop with them and we don’t really have a guy like that right now. Well, none that really puts fear into the other guy. There’s no banger on this team like him.

Signing him really has no downsides as of right now. However, if he reverts back to his nature of idiocy and bull-headedness, he could prove the Red Wings wrong for signing him. Is it a risk worth taking?