Despite ‘ridiculous,' season-ending 5-game benching, DeAngelo wants to be a Flyer

Tony DeAngelo's first season with the Flyers saw various emotions, going far off the dream script.

It ended with DeAngelo sitting rather than playing.

The local product hopes that isn't the conclusion to his story with his hometown team.

"I plan on being back, I want to come back," DeAngelo said last Friday at his end-of-the-season press conference. "I have no clue what's going to happen. Those are not my decisions, but I'll be training and getting ready to play another season here."

The 27-year-old was mysteriously benched by John Tortorella for the final five games of the season. DeAngelo plays with a fiery, toe-the-line personality, an edge that the old-school Tortorella praised last July when the Flyers acquired the puck-moving defenseman.

As the benching ballooned, it became easily evident the head coach's gripe was not about DeAngelo's on-ice performance.

"I know that's probably a big topic for you guys, Tony didn't play the last five games, so something happened, right?" Tortorella said Monday. "That's going to stay between Tony and I and the team."

The competitive DeAngelo wouldn't say much about it other than, well, yeah, he didn't like it.

"I'm sure there are reasons for it, but nothing that either one of us was obviously willing to discuss," he said. "I'll just leave it at that. ... We talked, but not a whole lot.

"He's the coach of the team, so you've got to respect that and I respect what he does. Do I agree with it, what happened in the last five games? Absolutely not. I think it's ridiculous that I didn't play the last five. That's one thing. But he's also the coach of the team. It's not my job to decide that.

"All I can worry about is being a good teammate, which I think I did. Tried to stay out of the way. I don't want to be a distraction to anybody, these guys had stuff to play for — there's milestones guys are trying to get to, guys are trying to play for contracts next year."

Whatever went down the last week of the 2022-23 season, DeAngelo made one thing clear: he still wants to be in Philadelphia next season.

"The way I put it: I love being a Flyer," he said. "My whole life I've wanted to be a Flyer. Now that I am, I don't take it for granted at all. It's something that means a lot to me, so we're not going to let any relationship stuff get in the way."

The Flyers are rebuilding and entering an offseason littered with questions. DeAngelo has another year left on his two-year, $10 million contract. Interim general manager Danny Briere said Monday he plans on bringing DeAngelo back but they'll see where it goes.

"I've wanted to be a Flyer forever," DeAngelo said. "As far as what's going to happen, I can't tell you what's going to happen. Even if I'm back next year, if I'm back after that year, I can't tell you what's going to happen. As long as I'm wanted here, I'll be here."

With 42 points over 70 games, DeAngelo led all Flyers defensemen in goals (11) and assists (31). Defensively, there were moments in which Tortorella wanted more out of DeAngelo. He owned a team-worst minus-27 rating.

"I've got to play and I've got to play better," DeAngelo said. "I'm pretty accountable of myself. Did I have a good year offensively? Probably. In my opinion, I was pretty good with the puck. Did I have the points that I probably think I should have had? No. Lower year than I would have expected, even in the 70 games.

"But there was other stuff that I didn't do as well. I didn't think I was great defensively all the time. There were some games where I was real good. Early in the year, I thought I was really good defensively, and then kind of dipped, then the points weren't coming — it was all over the place. Too inconsistent. I thought it was very frustrating for myself to be that inconsistent this year, especially after the year I had last year [in Carolina], where I thought I was very consistent.

"I can't blame Torts for that — me being inconsistent and him not being happy about it. That's stuff that I take responsibility for and I was pissed about. It was a disappointing year for me in that sense."

DeAngelo didn't play on a four-game road trip in December because of a benching and then having to go home to be with his family following the death of his grandmother. He received a two-game suspension in March for spearing Corey Perry and missed a game in November because of an injury.

"I thought I did a lot of good things with the puck," DeAngelo said. "Without the puck, average at best. Some games really good, some games terrible. When you're getting paid $5 million, to me, you really can't let that happen. I take a lot of pride in being worth what I'm getting paid. People think that guys get paid and they don't really care. Maybe that's the truth for some guys; not for me. I think I care even more, especially being a Flyer, as well, so that bothered me.

"Having said all that, that would make me want to come back even more. I don't care who the coach is — I want to come back and this is where I want to be."

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