John Tortorella sends a message to his team, healthy scratches one of the team's highest paid defensemen
This morning, the Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella announced that defenceman Tony DeAngelo will be a healthy scratch tonight.
For a defenceman that scored 51 points in 64 games last year, and a respectable 14 points through 26 games this year, this might come as a surprise. However, with the Flyers desperate struggles this year, coach Tortorella might be looking for another way to shake up the room.
Tortorella commented for his reasoning on scratching Tony DeAngelo later:
Evidently, Tortorella isn't happy with DeAngelo's defensive game. This should've been known, as DeAngelo has always profiled as an offensive defenceman - and the Flyers traded for him. Knowing Torts however, it's unlikely he had much patience for lacking detail in the defensive game.
The Flyers acquired DeAngelo from the Carolina Hurricanes this past offseason for a second, third, and fourth round draft pick - the earlier picks coming in subsequent years. After trading for DeAngelo, the Flyers signed him to a two year contract, worth $5M a year.
In his place, the Flyers will dress prospect 21 year old prospect Cam York, who has suited up for 33 games so far in his NHL career. With the Flyers entering a rebuild, they'll hope to see what contributions they can get internally from younger players.
