SKA: Tony DeAngelo “was not liked and argued with everyone”

In Montreal, the SKA of St. Petersburg has never been more followed than it has been since the beginning of the season. With Ivan Demidov, the club’s major prospect, playing there, people 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 significant moment. A high-quality offensive defenseman joining the group was a great opportunity for a talented player like Demidov…

Except in the end, he left the team for “family reasons”… and it sounded like an explanation that was hiding another.

However, according to MatchTV, the hidden explanation might 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.

This explains why Tony DeAngelo left SKA via MatchTV (translated) pic.twitter.com/QapqsNT07b

— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) January 16, 2025

In the publication above, we can notably see a video in which a SKA coach tells DeAngelo off as he returns to his bench. He allegedly did this in response to similar comments from DeAngelo towards him.

DeAngelo, whose majority of his salary was tied to performance bonuses, is also accused of being selfish and only thinking about his statistics.

Quite the picture, all of this.

Of course, one must take and leave with stories like this, 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 gold teammate during his time in the NHL… and this story seems to fit the defender’s history.

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

That said, we know that (at least publicly) DeAngelo has never hesitated to praise Demidov. He repeats to anyone willing to listen that the hope of the Canadiens 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 can wonder if Demidov lost a teammate who believed in him. The good news, is that Roman Rotenberg seems to now be part of that clan, but in any case, Demidov lost a talented teammate.

In brief
– 6-0-0: the record of the Canadiens this season when Kirby Dach scores.

The Habs are 6-0-0 this season when Kirby Dach scores a goal pic.twitter.com/0dihogVPSR

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) January 17, 2025

– A beautiful way to honor his memory.

Meredith Gaudreau honors her late husband Johnny with two tattoos, featuring his ashes mixed into the ink.

(via IG/taynictattoos) pic.twitter.com/ZR6ATrToyZ

— BarDown (@BarDown) January 17, 2025

– He is a name to watch.

Les A’s ont mis la main sur Shotaro Morii. https://t.co/N8ef5fwdIN

— Passion MLB (@passion_mlb) January 17, 2025