With 11 goals and 25 assists this season, Tony DeAngelo ranks 5th in the NHL for points by a defenseman.

From the Rangers Game Notes:

• DeAngelo has established career-highs in goals (11) and points (36) this season, and he is the first Rangers defenseman who has registered at least 36 points through the team’s first 43 games of a season since Leetch in 2000-01.
• DeAngelo, who registered 30 points last season, is the first Rangers defenseman who has posted back-to-back 30-point seasons at age 24 or younger since Sergei Zubov in 1993-94 and 1994-95.
• He has posted a multi-assist/point game in each of the last two games, and he has registered seven points (three goals, four assists) over the span.

The Rangers tweeted on Wednesday, “Tony DeAngelo is the third Rangers defenseman over the last 25 seasons (since 1994-95) who has recorded at least 30 points in the team’s first 42 games of a season (Brian Leetch – 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 2000-01, 2001-02; Tom Poti – 2002-03).”

DeAngelo, 24, is a pending RFA, with arbitration rights, that missed part of training camp this year while holding out for a better contract.

He ultimately signed a one-year deal that pays him $925,000.

DeAngelo ranked 15th on The Athletic’s trade big board with Craig Custance writing that the Rangers would “listen” on DeAngelo because of the depth on defense they have in the farm system.

Right-shot defensemen currently in the Rangers farm system include 20-year old AHL All-Star Joey Keane and 2018 1st round pick Nils Lundkvist.

Larry Brooks wrote in October that if DeAngelo were to finish the season with around 60 points he’d likely be in line for a two-year bridge contract that has a cap hit of between $4 million and $4.5 million. (NY Post)

Neal Pionk, who the Rangers traded last summer to acquire Jacob Trouba, has 27 points this season and i in the first-year of a two-year deal with Winnipeg that has a cap hit of $3 million.

Brooks wrote in the NY Post Friday that DeAngelo is comfortable on the left side and that he spent most of his junior career on the left side.

Brooks adds that if the Rangers were to trade DeAngelo they would need to acquire a “premium, young, power forward with controllable contract years in return.” (NY Post )

Adam Rotter: This is an understatement, but DeAngelo is having and outstanding offensive season and certainly reached a lot of the potential that came with being the 19th overall pick in 2014 and a big part of the Derek Stepan/Antti Raanta trade. His outstanding season though is likely to lead to him being the first Ranger since Nikolai Zherdev to actually go through an arbitration hearing. DeAngelo has leverage this summer, as opposed to last summer, and he will and should use it. He’s one of the best offensive defensemen in the league and, if he keeps it up, should be paid like it.

What doe that mean for his future with the Rangers? Well, it’s hard to know at this point. Short of a deal they absolutely can’t turn down, DeAngelo isn’t going to be traded by the deadline. In the offseason though that could be another story. Offensive defensemen are always at a premium, especially on the right side, and the Rangers are deep there organizationally. Does that mean DeAngelo will be traded? Not necessarily but if the two sides are far apart on a new contract, then a trade at the draft or early in free agency is certainly possible.