BREAKING: Islanders Re-Sign Tony DeAngelo

The New York Islanders have an extremely thin right-shot defensemen hole. They decided to keep Tony DeAngelo at the 11th hour. It’s a one-year deal worth $1.75 million.

DeAngelo, 29, gets to stay close to home, where he said he wanted to be. He fit in enough with Patrick Roy‘s system that, with such a thin right-shot defense market, the Islanders had to bring him back. Part of that comes down to the Noah Dobson trade, as well.

DeAngelo played 35 games with the Islanders after signing in late January. He started off hot, scoring an overtime winner in his fourth game with the team. He finished with four goals, 19 points in 35 games. Of those 19 points, three goals and 11 points in 11 games from March 8 to March 29. In the other 24 games, DeAngelo posted just one goal and seven assists.

The big key for this to work is to get more of that 11-game stretch than the 24 other games. In the 11 games where he puts up points, the defensive woes don’t matter as much as they would otherwise. The Islanders ultimately had no choice but to keep DeAngelo- there won’t be any other options that provide his offensive upside for as cheap as he will.

DeAngelo will compete with Adam Boqvist and Scott Mayfield for places in the lineup, while the left side becomes a battle zone with Adam Pelech, Isaiah George, Alexander Romanov, & Matthew Schaefer set to battle for the remaining three spots.