NHL Rumors: Tony DeAngelo’s Trade from Flyers to Hurricanes Held Up By CBA Clause

The Tony DeAngelo-Carolina Hurricanes reunion is on the rocks because of a clause in the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement.

The team is looking to reacquire the defenseman with a history of disciplinary issues whom it traded away nearly a year ago, but a salary-cap complication is the driving force behind the inability to complete the deal, according to ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski.

The agreed-upon transaction had the Hurricanes sending a prospect to the Philadelphia Flyers for DeAngelo, with Philadelphia retaining 50 percent of his salary-cap hit. That means that DeAngelo, who has one year and $5 million remaining on his contract, would only count for $2.5 million against the Hurricanes’ salary cap.

However, Rule 50.5 of the NHL CBA prohibits a team from trading a player and then reacquiring the player shortly after at a reduced cap hit because the previous franchise retained salary. The official wording of the rule is “under no circumstances may a Club reacquire, as part of a Retained Salary Transaction, the contract of a player who was on that Club’s Reserve List within the past calendar year.”

DeAngelo made $4.8 million when he played for Carolina in 2021-22.

If the Flyers were to not retain any of DeAngelo contract, the deal would be permissible. However, the Hurricanes have numerous players approaching a new contract, including star center Sebastian Aho who is set to be an unrestricted free agent after the 2023-24 season.

The team also has decisions to make at goaltender, as Pyotr Kochetkov is the only netminder currently under contract for next season.

DeAngelo scored 11 goals and had 42 points for the Flyers in 2022-23, but the team sputtered to a 31-38-13 record and missed the playoffs for third consecutive season and the fourth time in five years. New general manager Daniel Briere and President of Hockey Operations Keith Jones appear to be taking a rebuilding approach, so moving DeAngelo for a prospect is a value add.

The Hurricanes won the Metropolitan Division in 22-23 with 52-21-9 record and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals where they lost to the Florida Panthers in a sweep.