The Calgary Flames are in the midst of a re-tool on the fly, aiming to get younger and more skilled to complement some of the larger contracts on their roster right now. Looking at the roster, there are some players who cannot be moved easily due to their contract structure and performance, and there are a number of young players that you want to include as part of your core going forward.
Then there are the tweeners, the guys drafted in the mid 2010s, who are approaching 30 but have not been signed to high-value contracts, and will be too old to be part of the team’s next young core and can be moved relatively easily to new teams for picks or prospects.
Andrew Mangiapane is one of those players. Now 28, the 2015 sixth round pick has just one more year left on his current contract. That contract pays him $5.8 million, and comes with an eight-team no-trade clause, allowing the Flames the liberty to trade him to one of the 23 teams not on the list.
A rough season for the Bread Man
This has been a forgettable season for so many Flames players, and Mangiapane is one of them. He finished with just 40 points on the season, which is a far drop off from two seasons ago when he had 35 goals alone. Take a look at his points drop-off below:
| Season | Goals | Team rank | Assists | Team rank | TOI/GP | Team rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 18 | 3rd | 14 | 8th | 16.39 | 10th |
| 2021-22 | 35 | 4th | 20 | 9th | 15.43 | 12th |
| 2022-23 | 17 | 7th | 26 | 10th | 16.49 | 10th |
| 2023-24 | 14 | 8th | 26 | 6th | 15.59 | 14th |
The challenge for Mangiapane is that his shooting percentage dropped off a cliff this season. He went from being a 19.5% shooter in 2020-21 to being a 7.5% shooter this past season. Shooting nearly 20% is unsustainable, even for the best marksmen in the league, but dropping to less than eight percent is unheard of for him. He should expect a rebound to about 13-14% next season, which would be around average for him.
However, while his scoring was down this season, his underlying numbers were among the best on the team. The entire team’s numbers dropped off this year, but Mang’s drop was far less noticeable. He finished top-10 in every category except for Corsi-for, where he finished 12th. He was also above team average in each category. Take a look at his numbers below, courtesy of NaturalStatTrick.com.
| Season | CF% | SCF% | HDCF% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 55.0% | 56.0% | 58.9% |
| 2021-22 | 59.1% | 60.3% | 59.0% |
| 2022-23 | 58.8% | 56.8% | 55.4% |
| 2023-24 | 51.5% | 51.0% | 53.9% |
Despite what his stat line shows, it was actually not a terrible season analytically for the Bread Man. He definitely had a down year, but the stats should correct back towards normal next season.
What exactly is Mangiapane?
The challenges for the Flames are threefold with Mangiapane. First and foremost, there are still questions of what he really is. He is almost certainly a second line winger, who can play the wing on either side. He does have offensive upside for sure, but how much is a big question mark.
Further, he has been a very good two-way winger for the Flames, but this has come alongside Mikael Backlund nearly all season. Backlund is known for elevating the play of everyone he has played alongside, and Mangiapane is almost certainly no exception. What exactly is Mangiapane without Backlund remains to be seen. Will he be as good defensively with other linemates? Does he have more offensive upside? We honestly have no idea.
The final challenge is in the timeline with him. The Flames are going to be retooling and trying to get younger for the next two to three seasons in order to be competitive when the new arena opens. Mangiapane is going into a contract year next year with the hopes of earning his big contract before he turns 30. He will almost certainly be looking for more money and a longer-term deal, but this probably doesn’t fit with what the Flames are looking for right now.
Craig Conroy has been careful about giving out contracts with term under his stewardship, and Mangiapane does not fall into the category of players that would really make sense to give a long-term deal to right now.
What do you do with Mangiapane?
If Mangiapane were two years younger, the answer would be to absolutely keep him. He’s an excellent two-way winger in his current capacity, and someone who can play up and down the lineup and hold his own. He has also shown enormous offensive potential as a former 35-goal scorer and can likely put those numbers up again in the right circumstances.
However, given the direction that this team is going and the need to prioritize getting younger and faster, Mangiapane is probably a guy on the move either this summer or by the Trade Deadline next year. With his current contract structure and value, there are numerous contending teams that will be looking for his services.
Further, given where he is at in his career, if he wants to earn that big contract, he is going to need to show he can be a 30-goal scorer again and that likely won’t happen on this Flames team next season.
It is worth noting how much of a loss Mangiapane would be to this Flames team. He is an integral part of this team’s shutdown line, and with Mikael Backlund now 35 and Blake Coleman 32, the Flames are going to need to revamp that line to ensure they can shutdown the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl when the Oilers play the Flames.
Further, Mangiapane adds a lot of versatility to the lineup, able to play both up and down the lineup but also on both wings. He can take faceoffs, kill penalties and play on the powerplay with relative ease, and can also play heavy minutes against top opponents. Don’t kid yourself, he is going to be hard to replace. With time, Jakob Pelletier may be able to get to playing against top opponents in a shutdown role, but even he isn’t as good at it as Mangiapane.
While moving Mangiapane is the right decision for the franchise in this moment, it’s going to be a big loss to the team. Hopefully, if he is traded, he is able to be as big of an impact player as he has been in Calgary.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
