The biggest free desk of the Edmonton Oilers came on the first day when they agree with a deal of two years With attacker Andrew Mangiapane. Dericated by the Calgary Flames in 2015, he spent most of his professional career as a bitter rival of the oilers. He spent last season with the Capitals in Washington and was then in his third team in three years when Edmonton picked him up. After a consistent game with Calgary, he saw his production taking a hit with a new team last season. So, although he will join another new team, this time will be different.
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The capitals were among the best teams in the NHL last season and entered a team of undervalued talent (and Alex Oveechkin) to sail through the regular season. Mangiapane has left his mark and posted 14 goals and 28 points in 81 games, but everyone knows that he can go one step further. He is still the secret, hard -working talent that Calgary prepared all those years ago. Now it’s time for the oilers to unlock it.
He has talent around him
Don’t get me wrong, Washington had talent last season and they still have a very strong selection. Big seasons of boys like Oveechkin, Dylan Strome, Connor McMichael and other strong players make success easy to gain when you are on the ice. But the skills players who will be near Mangiapane in the 2025-26 season are a step above, making it much easier for him to find his scoring touch again.
Boys such as Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman will play alongside Mangiapane and help him find his foot with his new team. It goes without saying, I don’t have to read the CVs of one of those guys; Their game speaks for themselves. It doesn’t matter which line he ends up, he gets a chance for a high Delfer. He played with a few different line combinations in Washington, so move him as soon as he is comfortable, should not be a problem for head coach Kris Knoblauch.
With all the talent around him and the excitement to be back in Alberta, heaven is the limit for Mangiapane, and this would not be the first time he improved after a down year.
Mangiapane has previously reflected
Mangiapane is in his ninth season and has been pretty good to interweave the storm season until season. For example, he had back-to-back 32-point campaigns in his first two full seasons in the NHL; Quite good grades, but not near his potential. He would come up in large seasons for the next two seasons by having his two biggest scoring seasons of 55 and 43 points. This included a career-high 35 goals in the 2021-22 season, the season he had 55 points. It was an important point in his career, which showed how good he could really be and how valuable he was for a competition.
So, looking at the numbers, Mangiapane is set up to do it again. With the last two seasons on the decline and in a new environment, things have to look up while he wants to prove himself again. He is a filthy attacker who knows how to play physically, so combining that with his improved offensive game can be deadly for the oilers.
Oilers have seen this once or twice
The oilers have been able to help players in the past to have back-back seasons, so why not again? A good example would be the recently left Connor Brown. Out of one torn ACL In the 2022-23 season he drew a one-year-old Prove-IT deal with the oilers to hopefully get things back on track. However, it did not go his way because he only included 12 points in 71 games. He played well, but his attack was powerful because he only Back of the net about 60 games In his first season with Edmonton.
But the oilers took another chance after an impressive late season, and it certainly paid off. Last season, Brown placed 30 points in a full season of 82 game, including an almost flawless Playoff season. He earned a brand new Free Agent Deal with the New Jersey Devils, and that is all because both he and the oilers continued to believe and work on it.
So if Brown was able to do it out of a big injury and a difficult season afterwards, Mangiapane can absolutely. He has shown what he can do with opportunities, and Edmonton is clearly the place to do it.
The pressure is for the oilers this season and they need all the help they can get. If newcomers such as Mangiapane can perform and offer more than what is expected, it will be a dream for the team and fans.
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