SKA: Tony DeAngelo « was not liked and argued with everyone »

In Montreal, the SKA of Saint Petersburg has never had more followers than it does since the beginning of the season. With Ivan Demidov, the club’s great hope, playing there, we are closely monitoring what is happening within Roman Rotenberg’s team.

This clearly shows how eager fans are to see Demidov arrive in town.

Among the many events this season for the SKA, the signing of Tony DeAngelo was a major moment. A quality offensive defender joining the group was a great opportunity for a talented player like Demidov…

Except that in the end, he left the team for « family reasons »… and it sounded like an explanation that hid another.

However, according to MatchTV, the hidden explanation may be the one that has been problematic for DeAngelo since the beginning of his career: in fact, according to a source from the Russian media, DeAngelo « was not liked and argued with everyone » at the SKA.

In the above post, we see a video where a coach from the SKA dismisses DeAngelo as he returns to the bench. He reportedly did this in response to similar comments from DeAngelo towards him.

DeAngelo, whose salary was largely tied to performance bonuses, is also accused of being self-centered and only thinking about his statistics.

Quite a portrait, all of this.

Of course, one has to take some stories of this kind with a grain of salt, especially since DeAngelo has not been able to give his version of events. That said, DeAngelo has not always had the reputation of being a great teammate during his time in the NHL… and this story seems consistent with the defender’s history.

Once again, maybe the source from MatchTV exaggerated things to make the defender look bad after he left the club… but all of this remains peculiar.

That said, we know that (publicly, at least) DeAngelo has never hesitated to praise Demidov. He repeats to anyone who will listen that the CH prospect is a special talent who should never have slipped to the Canadiens’ selection rank.

Perhaps behind the scenes, the relationship between the two was more strained… but one could wonder if Demidov lost a teammate who believed in him. The good news is that Roman Rotenberg now seems to be part of that clan, but in any case, it must be said that Demidov lost a talented teammate.

In Brief

– 6-0-0: the CH’s record this season when Kirby Dach scores.

– A beautiful way to honor his memory.

– He is a name to watch.