Once again, Twitter pitted Rangers fans against young defenseman Anthony DeAngelo.
Tony DeAngelo has had plenty of issues on the ice, all of which are well reported. He’s also on the record of supporting Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, which makes people feel a certain way immediately (myself included).
All of this is to say that there is ample evidence to suggest that Tony DeAngelo might not be the right cup of tea for a portion of the Rangers fan base. I don’t think there’s any debating that; some people simply don’t get along with some people, and if you’re going to give others plenty (and I meant plenty) of reasons for someone to dislike, it’s not their responsibility to ignore those reasons even if you play for their favorite team.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”998″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”” style=””][text_output]Here’s the thing, though:
Not liking Tony DeAngelo for justifiable reasons doesn’t give you permission to get upset when he calls you out for giving him shit.
Tony DeAngelo isn’t the first douchebag to play for your favorite team. If you think he is, you’re willingly ignoring a large part of your favorite team’s history.
To my knowledge, ADA didn’t do anything new last night to warrant backlash. Last night, he was tweeting about the lead-up to the Sunday Night Football showdown between his Eagles and the Cowboys.
Now, I hate Philly sports fans. I’m on record often about how much I hate Philly sports fans. I even told Philly sports fan Namita Nandakumar on our podcast that I hate Philly sports fans. But I don’t get how one guy tweeting about the Eagles was the opening someone needed to attack his (misguided) political beliefs. You’re taking a shot just for the sake of taking a shot, which I guess is fine, but that doesn’t seem like a productive use of your time.
While the attack on DeAngelo was unwarranted, DeAngelo should’ve been smarter than choosing to clap back.
Why any professional athlete wants to subjugate themselves to some of the shit people throw at them on social media is beyond me. I don’t see the value in it. It’s only going to get you angry or in trouble. It’s sad, but there’s nothing to gain from a professional athlete defending their honor even when they’re justified to do so on social media. Someone is always going to be pissed at how they respond or someone is going to feel like the situation could be handled better. It’s the very definition of a lose-lose.
Look, I don’t come anywhere close to agreeing with DeAngelo’s political ideology. He’s been a huge headache and distraction on multiple teams he’s played on as a pro, and has run himself out of two organizations because of it.
Anthony DeAngelo isn’t my definition of a good person.
I still don’t think people should be tweeting at him every day and calling him shit. That’s dropping yourself to his level. Is that what you want to do? Is that the message you’re trying to send?
Either way you slice it, Tony, if you see this, do yourself a favor, man.
Delete your account. Shit just isn’t worth it.
-Greg Kaplan[/text_output][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h4″ looks_like=”h4″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]JT Miller Deserves A Thorough Look at Center[/custom_headline][text_output]The Rangers followed up their 6-game win streak with a 1-2 stretch last week against three teams that have also had very up and down seasons to this point: Blackhawks, Blue Jackets and Senators. Alain Vigneault made a number of adjustments after the Blue Jackets loss, including scratching David Desharnais, moving JT Miller to center and re-inserting AHL-lifer Paul Carey into the lineup. I’ve made it known before that I believe Paul Carey is more or less useless at the NHL level, so I’m not thrilled that he got inserted into the lineup.
That said, Desharnais has been very poor defensively so far this season, and outside of a couple of good games he hasn’t been much better offensively. It is no coincidence that nearly every line he has played on this year has had poor possession numbers. In fact, Desharnais has the worst Corsi for % among any NYR forward this year with at least 50 minutes of ice time. The eye test hasn’t painted that much brighter of a picture, and he had an absolutely brutal play in his own zone that led to the Werenski goal in the second period against Columbus. So, while I’m not thrilled with Carey getting thrown into the lineup as opposed to maybe giving a guy like Vinni Lettieri a chance, I can’t sit here and say that I am that upset that Desharnais was scratched.
On a positive note, with a massive small sample size alert, I would like to say that I thought JT Miller looked very strong at center last night against the Senators, and the data agrees. I will repeat, this is the biggest small sample size alert of all small sample size alerts, but last night JT Miller was on the ice for one goal for and no goals against (obviously) and he won 7 of his 13 faceoffs (53.85%). In terms of 5v5 score-adjusted possession metrics (which weights shot attempts to account for the fact that, when a team is behind, they are pressing and therefor usually get more shot attempts), JT Miller posted a CF% of 58.13%, a Fenwick For % of 58.08% and most impressively, an expected goals for % of 66.67%.
It should be noted that due to the system they employ, Ottawa is one of the worst possession teams in the NHL, and that Miller’s line had the heaviest offensive zone deployment on the team, both of which will skew the numbers in a positive direction. However, we can look at the relative numbers to somewhat adjust for the fact that most players had positive possession numbers against Ottawa, and doing this still reveals a positive night. Just a reminder, relative possession metrics benchmark the player’s actual numbers against the team average, to show how much better than team average they were. Miller posted an adjusted 5v5 relative CF% of 5.04% and posted nearly an even relative expected goals for %. All in all, when you include the standard numbers, advanced analytics and the eye test, I would conclude that JT Miller played the role of offensively-deployed center admirably, and I would like to see him get another shot at it next game.
– Drew Way[/text_output][image type=”circle” float=”none” src=”1002″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h5″ looks_like=”h5″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]SNL & Chance Puts the Rangers Back in the Eye of the Public[/custom_headline][x_video_embed id=”” class=”” style=””][/x_video_embed][text_output]I’ve long said the Rangers give off a too stingy feeling for casual fans but SNL painted the sport in a lighter tone over the weekend. Chance, who was phenomenal playing a misplaced Knicks reporter stuck on the ice attempting to do hockey analysis shared a lot of my struggles with pronouncing hockey names.
“Okay, that is an S-K and a J all next to each other” is exactly how I felt about Brady Skjei’s name when he was first called up from the AHL. “Don’t know how to say his name, it has like 30 letters in it, none of them are vowels.” Try and stop me from saying “Let’s do that hockey” 600 more times this season.
Between letting some of the Rangers branch out and go on Barstool, Amanda Borges’ Instagram and social media interviews and now SNL, it finally feels like MSG is starting to let this team have a bit of a personality
Now if only they would let them on mediocre Rangers podcasts…..
-Ryan Mead[/text_output]
Author: BSB Staff
This Article is presented to you in High Definition Surround Sound by some or all of the Blueshirts Breakaway Staff. At least whoever wasn’t lazy enough to contribute.