A domino may have fallen in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ pursuit of Erik Karlsson. One former Steelers draft pick has a new home, while another may be closing in on a deal with Baltimore.
Plus there is trade interest in Pirates closer David Bednar.
All that in Tuesday’s “First Call”.
What does it mean?
Carolina Hurricanes re-sign free-agent defenseman Tony DeAngelo. He had been a member of the Hurricanes before going to the Philadelphia Flyers last year. In 70 games for Philly last season, DeAngelo totaled 11 goals and 42 points.
He will count $1.675 million against the salary cap.
“Tony is an elite offensive defenseman who had a great season with us in 2021-22,” Carolina general manager Don Waddell said via NHL.com. “We wanted to re-sign him last summer and now we’re excited to bring him back to Raleigh.”
It has been widely reported for weeks that the Penguins and Hurricanes were the two finalists in the competition to acquire Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks. Many have felt that whoever didn’t land Karlsson in a trade with the Sharks may try to get DeAngelo as a consolation prize.
So one has to wonder if that means the Canes are out on Karlsson, and if so, who the Penguins are bidding against. Karlsson has said Seattle and Toronto are other teams that contacted him about the idea of coming on board.
Controversy has followed DeAngelo in his career for both on-ice and off-ice incidents. He was suspended twice during his junior career, including for violating the OHL’s policy prohibiting “homophobic, racist and sexist language” and abuse of officials. While with the Arizona Coyotes in 2017, he was also suspended for three games for physically abusing officials.
During his time with the New York Rangers, following a 5–4 overtime loss to the Penguins in January 2021, the Rangers placed DeAngelo on waivers for a physical altercation with teammate Alexandar Georgiev.
Interested in Bednar?
It’s an annual summer ritual in Pittsburgh. The annual surge of interest from other MLB teams to acquire whoever happened to be in the All-Star Game for the Pirates.
Often during recent history, it has been their closer. And in this case, that local product is David Bednar. According to John Heyman from MLB.com and the New York Post, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington is not dismissing inquiries about the availability of the right-hander from Mars Area High School.
Pirates tell teams they’d listen to All-Star closer David Bednar, but the understanding is he’d be tough to move since he’s not a free agent until 2027. The Pittsburgh native (another plus for the Bucs) has a 1.15 ERA.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) 24 July 2023
There is a big difference between listening to inquiries and actively shopping the player, so we’ll have to see where it ends up. The trade deadline is August 1.
Bednar has saved 19 out of 20 opportunities this year.
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A move for Maulet
Former steel man Arthur Maulet seemed like one a little bitter about how his time ended in Pittsburgh.
Now he might have a chance to get some measure of revenge against his old team twice a year.
The castle corner is apparently on the verge of joins the Baltimore Ravens.
Former Steelers CB Arthur Maulet is nearing an agreement to sign with the Baltimore Ravens, per source.
Maulet played a lot of slot CB and special teams snaps for Pittsburgh the last 2 years. And now he could play the Steelers twice a year.
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) 24 July 2023
In two seasons with the Steelers, Maulet played in 33 games with eight starts. He had 106 tackles, one interception, two sacks and two forced fumbles.
That move makes sense for the Ravens, especially after the former Baltimore cornerback Marcus Peters went to Las Vegas.
Heading for bears?
An ex-Steeler is headed to the Chicago Bears. It’s former fourth-round draft pick Buddy Johnson.
Via KPRC-TV’s Aaron Wilson, Chicago signs the Texas A&M product to a contract.
#Bears sign earlier #Steelers linebacker in the fourth round @AggieFootball Buddy Johnson #Texans #49ers according to a league source #BearDown @KPRC2
—Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) 25 July 2023
The linebacker played in four games with Pittsburgh and recorded two tackles. He only got 6% of defensive snaps, playing primarily on special teams. After the 2021 season, the Steelers cut him. In 2022, Johnson spent time with the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans practice squads.
Wilson also reported that the Denver Broncos coached former Steelers corner Mark Gilbert.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All e-mails are subject to publication unless otherwise stated.
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