Teams interested in DeAngelo at deadline

More than one team was interested in signing Tony DeAngelo as a free agent prior to Monday’s trade deadline had he been placed on, and cleared, irrevocable waivers, The Post has learned.

But, we’re told, there was just not enough time to enable DeAngelo to find the right fit and deal that would have brought him back into the NHL 10 weeks after his exile in the wake of the Jan. 30 post-game brouhaha with Alexandar Georgiev.

Hence, DeAngelo remains on the Rangers’ taxi squad, being paid his $4.3 million salary (without escrow deductions as a defined AHL player) while eating $3.075 million of the Blueshirts’ cap.

The 25-year-old defenseman will remain under Rangers control until he either is selected by Seattle in the expansion draft (which will not happen) or thereafter is bought out of the second year of the contract at a total cost of $1.766,667, which will ding the Blueshirts with dead cap space of $383,333 next season and $883,333 the following year.

Sources indicated DeAngelo’s party brought the concept of contract termination via irrevocable waivers to the Rangers, who of course would have been only too happy to comply. But the offer was contingent upon the defenseman being able to reach a contract agreement with an interested club.

TSN’s Darren Dreger, the first to report of the termination scenario, identified the Canadiens as a team interested in striking a deal with DeAngelo.

That did not occur, even as one source told The Post that Montreal would have made DeAngelo financially whole by covering the remaining portion of this year’s pay plus the buyout sum.

➤ Chris Kreider, perhaps chastened by his demotion to the fourth line in Sunday’s overtime loss at the Coliseum, fought the Devils’ Damon Severson 1:17 into the first period Tuesday after Kreider’s big hit on the defenseman.

➤ The Rangers went without a power play for the second time in three games. Pavel Buchnevich’s shorthanded goal at 19:32 of the third period was the club’s seventh while a man down, three of which have been scored into an empty net. The goal also marked the 20,000th overall in franchise history.

The Blueshirts, who have outscored their opponents by an aggregate 20,000-19,975, became the fifth of the Original Six clubs to reach that milestone. The Blackhawks are the laggards with 19,498 goals.