Matheson: Trade rumours swirling between Edmonton Oilers and struggling Mangiapane

If, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported, struggling Edmonton Oilers’ winger Andrew Mangiapane is willing to waive his no-trade clause to get more playing time elsewhere, then GM Stan Bowman has to be on the phone.

What seemed like a pretty good fit by Bowman on July 1, signing a depth offensive piece, also somebody with a reputation for playing an in-your-face game, has been a swing and a miss. Yes, we’re only 39 games into the first season of his two-year deal, and yes, Mangiapane could turn it around. He is a proven NHL winger, with 537 games, with a well-earned rep in the past as a bit of a rat.

But Mangiapane hasn’t given the team much grease in 39 games. And he has one goal since Remembrance Day, one snipe in the last 25 games, heading into Monday’s game with the Jets in Winnipeg.

This has the same ‘oops’ today as the additions of Jeff Skinner and Victor Arvidsson in free agency in July 2024, before Bowman came aboard, with both wingers expected to offer some offensive cover to the big guns. That didn’t turn out well, as we all know. Skinner didn’t get any traction from coach Kris Knoblauch and Arvidsson, while energetic and a hitter, simply couldn’t stay healthy to make the impact we all thought could be there.

Mangiapane did get his shot in the top six in the first two months, playing 95 percent of those games with Leon Draisaitl or Connor McDavid. But with just eight points in the first 25 games, he has basically been a third-line winger in December. This is where he really belongs, if we’re looking at just stats, with the big-boy hitting and unexpected second-line offence from Vasily Podkolzin (nine goals), the strong pick-up of Jack Roslovic (10 goals, 18 points in 26 games), who has been on RW but will centre a third line in Winnipeg, and rookie Matt Savoie’s energetic work. He has seven goals and was on the second line with Roslovic injured.

Is it a little early to be making a call on Mangiapane, even if his play has been meh?

Probably. But here’s what Glen Sather’s GM motto always was: “Never be afraid, no matter how early, to admit a player that you got isn’t working out, and quickly move him along to somebody else.”

The best example of this was when Sather acquired a good veteran defenceman, Moe Mantha, as part of the Paul Coffey trade from Pittsburgh in November 1987. Mantha, who had three NHL seasons of more than 50 points as an offensive defenceman, lasted two months here, just 25 games (six points) before Sather soured on him and moved him to Minnesota for centre Keith Acton. The crafty Acton provided some help behind Gretzky and Messier in the middle on their 1988 Cup-winning team.

It was a fine trade, but 46 games into the 88-89 season, Sather was at it again, figuring he needed help elsewhere. He needed a heavyweight deterrent and sent Acton to the Flyers for Dave Brown. Broke Acton’s heart because he loved being an Oiler, but this was Sather acting decisively, again.

Oilers have other in-house options

Fact is, the Oilers could have a ready-made replacement for Mangiapane in Kasperi Kapanen for the third line when he finally returns from his knee issue. He’s bigger, hits lots, can kill penalties, and makes $1.3 million for just this year. They also have Ike Howard in the picture—cheaper, eight years younger. Howard didn’t sulk when sent to Bakersfield, and after 20 points (nine goals) in 15 AHL games, maybe he’s ready for top-9 duty after limited fourth-line work in 17 earlier Oiler games.

Mangiapane simply hasn’t provided the Oilers with the requisite offensive backup for the big guns, with six points in October but five in the last two months. Three goals in the first month, two in the last two. His ice-time is reflective of his stats.

He averaged 15:43 in ice time in October, scoring in his first two games against Calgary and Vancouver. In November, he dropped to13:26 a night. In December, it’s been 11:34 a game, with three games (Vegas, Minnesota and Buffalo) under 10 minutes. He is down four minutes of ice time the last two months, but he’s still played the seventh most minutes of the forwards (527:40) and the fourth most even strength (527:20) behind Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Podkolzin, albeit Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has only played 30 games and Roslovic 26, and they’re behind Mangiapane.

Bottom line: Knoblauch is still trying to unlock what Mangiapane could give them after signing a two-year free-agent deal with a cap hit of $3.6 million. He is basically an even-strength guy. He did some penalty killing work early, but he’s only had 17:50 shorthanded, eighth most at forward. He has 8:20 on the powerplay.

He’s nowhere near his 35-goal, 55-point Flames’ season in 2021-22, but he still had 43 and 40-point years after that. He’s about a 40-point on average player.

But, and it’s a big but, he has had 39 points (19 goals) in his last 120 games, so clear regression. He’s only 29 years old, not old by any stretch, but he had 28 points last year with Washington before being a free agent. He has 11 in 39 Oilers games.

The signing of free agents is always a cautionary tale, of course.

Skinner signed for one year, had 29 points, and never got any trust or traction with Knoblauch. Arvidsson signed for two years but kept getting hurt in his first Oilers season. He had 27 points and was offloaded to Boston in a cash dump in July for a fifth-round 2027 draft pick.

Skinner is now in San Jose (seven points, 25 games), and we’ll see Arvidsson (15 points in 22 games) and Boston on New Year’s Eve.

Mangiapane has been a good soldier. No complaining. But, it appeared he would be on a new-look fourth line with Adam Henrique and Curtis Lazar going into the Jets game. Henrique and Lazar could get extra ice-killing penalties. Mangiapane will not.

Potential trade targets

Could the Oilers find a taker for Mangiapane, maybe in a trade for a depth veteran defenceman? Preferably a right-shot, because they only have three in Evan Bouchard, Ty Emberson and Alec Regula. Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, Jake Walman and Spencer Stastney are the lefties.

The second year of Mangiapane’s deal is clearly problematic, of course. But some teams have cap room. If we’re allowed to spitball, the Jets are definitely dying for secondary scoring and have cap room and two extra defencemen in Colin Miller (right shot) and Haydn Fleury (left-shot but has played both sides). Miller’s $1.5 AAV is up on July 1. Fleury has another year at $950,000.

The Penguins could use another top-9 player and have veteran, sitting D in the right-shot Connor Clifton and big lefty Ryan Graves, but Graves still has this year and next at $4.5 million AAV. Too rich for the Oilers. Clifton (399 league games) has also played 46 postseason games with the Bruins, which makes him attractive. He makes $3.3 million, just this year. More palatable.

Would the Flames be interested in a reengagement? Or do they already have two small wingers in Matt Coronato and Connor Zary, and wouldn’t want a third? They do have a right-shot hitter in forward Brayden Pachal, 26, who is not playing regularly in Calgary now after 76 games last season, which would be a different dynamic for the 5-6-7-8 on the back-end. He makes $1.19 million this year and next.

Is Mangiapane happy with his lot in life right now? Happy the team is winning, but again, his ice time has dropped dramatically from the opening month. Players take notice of those sorts of things. He was most certainly counting on more than 11 and a half minutes a game, as it’s been in December, but this is on him. He didn’t grab his top-six shot and run with it.

This ‘n that

• The Oilers tried to slip right-shot centre Noah Philp through waivers to get him to Bakersfield to play some games after he suffered a concussion on Nov. 17 in Buffalo, but he was claimed by Carolina. Philp couldn’t seize the fourth-line C spot in camp, but he did get into 15 games this year and improved his face-offs dramatically, winning 55 percent of his 102 draws.

• The Oilers took their hard-scrabble winger Connor Clattenburg (eye) off LTIR and loaned him to their AHL farm team. He had made steps toward getting a fourth-line spot before getting hurt Dec. 4 against Seattle.

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