Tony DeAngelo has been bought out of his contract.

For months now the hockey career of once promising National Hockey League defenseman Tony DeAngelo has been hanging in limbo thanks to a falling out between the player and the organization that signed him to a lucrative two year contract in October of 2020, but on Saturday DeAngelo finally got some closure when his relationship with the New York Rangers officially came to an end.

The Rangers announced on Saturday that they had officially bought DeAngelo out of the one year that remained on his two year deal, making the young defenseman an unrestricted free agent effective immediately. DeAngelo was still under contract at a cap hit of $4.8 million for the 2021 - 2022 NHL regular season, but the Rangers will actually save a tremendous amount of cap space by making the move. DeAngelo's cap hit for this season will instead be just $383, 334 as a result of this buyout which will also cost the Rangers an additional penalty of $883,334 against the cap for next season, nonetheless a tremendous savings in that regard for the organization.

For DeAngelo it is also a chance at getting a fresh start either within the ranks of the National Hockey League or perhaps elsewhere should he fail to secure any contract offers from other teams. DeAngelo may not have received any interest on waivers with his cap hit of $4.8 million, but I would not be the least bit surprised to see him get a contract offer at a much reduced price from a team looking for help on the blue line in the offseason.

In fact as an unrestricted free agent, thanks to this buyout, DeAngelo is now free to talk with the remaining teams in the NHL and discuss terms on a new deal should he choose to do so and should those teams show interest. Like the rest of the free agents however DeAngelo will not be eligible to sign a new contract until this coming Wednesday when free agency officially begins for the 2021 - 2022 season in the NHL.

DeAngelo may have done enough to get himself blackballed from the league, but I suspect at least one team will make him an offer this summer.