Oilers look for more offence, snarl from Mangiapane

Bringing in Andrew Mangiapane in July was a test drive.

It’s not like Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman gave him term and dollars.

Fact is, Bowman looked at those 14 goals and 28 points in Washington last season and while he wanted the free-agent Mangiapane, probably thinking he might still have some top-two-line chops in him because he scored 35 goals one year in Calgary, he only gave him two years and $3.6 million AAV.

He was hedging his bets. It wasn’t four years and $4.6 million.

But he’s been an offensive disappointment through 30 games.

Mangiapane was tried on the top two lines but it didn’t work. He now he seems welded to a third-line role, which is likely where he should be. He hasn’t scored in 16 games; he has one goal in the last two months. He has points in 10 of the Oilers 30 games, no games with more than one. He has 31 shots, total. He’s skating but it’s on the perimeter.

Nobody’s mad at him, on the other team. That’s not a good thing.

Mangiapane, when he was in Calgary, was a mini Rat.

He was small but always in your face, in the crease, disturbing, pushing, getting under your skin. He was very good at it. That is the way he has to play to be a major contributor. But he hasn’t been there as an Oilers player. Maybe he doesn’t have it in him anymore, now that he’s 29. He’s has two minor penalties in those 30 games. He played just nine minutes against Buffalo Tuesday, just 11 shifts in all.

“He got off to a really good start for us, four goals early,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, “but as of late that’s dried up.”

“We had him come in with the idea he would be in a top six role but that faded a bit, not that I don’t see him getting back there,” said Knoblauch.

Not with the injured Jack Roslovic coming back later this month, not with Vasily Podkolzin wedded to Leon Draisaitl on the second line, not with Matt Savoie’s fine play with 29. If Ryan Nugent-Hopkins moves from LW on Connor McDavid’s line to third-line centre, maybe that opens up a spot for Mangiapane, but now it seems a leap of faith.

Again, Mangiapane has talent but he’s misplaced his snarl.

“We’d like more offence, more energy. There’s more than he’s giving us now,” said Knoblauch. “He’s played with McDavid and Draisaitl but what suits him best is the same as our team game, simplifying, being a bit quicker. That’s a case for him.”

“Rather than slowing down, pulling up, looking for a delay, there has to be a little more of slinging pucks, crashing the net,” said Knoblauch.

SNEAK PEAK

While the Oilers are chock-a-block with forwards, it’s no secret they’re monitoring Buffalo’s UFA winger Alex Tuch as a trade-deadline rental as a top-six finisher for either McDavid or Draisaitl. They’re not alone. Probably every Cup contender wants in on the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Tuch, who just so happened to get the OT winning tuck Tuesday when left all alone in front of Stuart Skinner.

“There’s all this talk about the Oilers needing another goalie,” said a long-time NHL management source, “but I think what they should be looking for is a bigger body on their first two lines. Yeah, somebody like Tuch.”

Tuch, 29, has two 36-goal seasons. His $4.75 million AAV could be manageable for the Oilers’ squeezed cap if Buffalo eats a a chunk of it but in the new CBA, you can’t bring a third team into a trade scenario to retain another portion. The most retained salary for one team is 50 per cent. It’s going to cost any team wanting Tuch in a trade a first-round pick. The Oilers don’t have one in 2026 but do in 2027. You can bet they would be asking for Ike Howard, too, likely a non-starter for the Oilers for a sheer rental.

Tuch will be the UFA’s biggest name July 1. Somebody is going to give him $10 million AAV or more in a long-term deal. Tuch isn’t going to be back with Sabres.

He wants a chance at winning.

ANOTHER TEACHING LESSON FOR BOUCHARD

We all know how good Evan Bouchard is offensively, but when he let the 6-foot-7 Tage Thompson, the biggest player on the ice, sneak up on to steal the puck in the second period for his quick snipe on Skinner, that was a rough sight.

Knoblauch said post-game his usual M.O. is to talk about errors of this type the next day rather than read any riot acts immediately. He’s right. But it’s probably another log on the fire for Canada’s Olympic team selectors who could certainly use the cool Bouchard as cover for power-play point duty if Cale Makar were to get hurt, even as their No. 8 defenceman, but the defensive mistakes are the gnashing of teeth for them.

“Mostly you have a conversation the next day about what happened on that play. To tear a strip off him between periods or on the bench I don’t think is productive. He knows he made a mistake, he knows it’s not the right play. It would be different if Evan didn’t care or Evan didn’t believe he made a mistake. But he has pretty good self-awareness,” said Knoblauch.

GOALIE DOWN

When David Tomasek drove the net in the first period, one of the few times the Oilers had any offensive chances, and bowled over Buffalo starter Colten Ellis, Sabres lost their goalie to a concussion. Alex Lyon came in for the last 41 minutes, but what if Lyon had also gotten hurt?

Buffalo’s Ebug was actually their third goalie, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who was dressed and watching from the dressing room — Ebug’s can’t be on the bench.

Normally, the home team provides the local Ebug and they were ready to do so, but the Sabres are carrying three goalies on their 23-man roster so UPL was ready. Next season, a designated, full-time Ebug will travel with every NHL club and be eligible to practise with the team on the road if a starter was rested.

Again, the Oilers might have complained to the NHL if Lyon had been hurt, though. Luukkonen wasn’t officially on their lineup card. Just on their roster.

This ‘n that: Oilers winger Trent Frederic took a puck in the face in practice Wednesday and was leaking blood as he left the ice. No word on how severe the injury is. “You guys (media) saw more of it than I did. I should be asking you how he is,” joked Knoblauch. “Hopefully he’s OK.” … Oilers defenceman Jake Walman will be going on LTIR with the indefinite nature of his return from his foot injury after he was hit with a puck in Tampa Nov. 20. The LTIR designation means a player has to sit out 10 games and 24 days. It’s retroactive to Nov. 20 for Walman. He’s missed seven games and 19 days. Walman will take centre Noah Philp’s Oilers place on LTIR. Philp (concussion) is eligible to play this Saturday in Toronto, if need be … The Oilers were successful wiping out a Tage Thompson second-period goal seeing a redirection from Tuch’s hand to Thompson, with several controversial goal-or-not plays like that recently. “It was definitely accidental but we felt we had a good opportunity to challenge it. It’s always a bit of a guessing game,” said Knoblauch about the challenges. But it wasn’t their crack video experts who saw it first. “It was Connor (McDavid) from the bench. He saw it right away. Maybe if this hockey thing doesn’t work out he’ll have another career,” said Knoblauch … McDavid’s first goal in the third period Tuesday appeared to be a missed icing with Mattias Ekholm dumping it in half a dozen feet from the redline.