Andrew Mangiapane
Position: LW
Age: 28
Statistics (2023): 14 goals, 26 assists, 40 points
Contract: One-year, $5.8 million
Player Overview
The Calgary Flames are an extremely interesting team. It appears that they are going full scale rebuild. Nikita Zadorov, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, and Elias Lindholm are gone. General manager Craig Conroy is shelling off pieces for assets that. Now, the priority has seemingly shifted over to his prized goalie Jacob Markstrom. Interestingly enough, the Fourth Period, while reporting the Markstrom and New Jersey connection once again, mentioned Andrew Mangiapane.
Mangiapane is a similar case to forwards Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. Both of those players had expiring deals and were dealt by Calgary. Mangiapane can do the same thing and can test the market when the time comes if he chooses not to stick around. At 28 years old, he may not want to be part of a rebuild going forward. A team like the Devils would peak his interest, as they have aspirations of contending for the Stanley Cup.
Mangiapane is a speedy winger, which would pair well with this Devils team. He also has good offensive instincts and has been consistent with his production. Since being a regular in the Calgary Flames lineup, Mangiapane has been a two-time 30-point player, two-time 40-point player, and reached a career-high of 55 points during the 2021-22 season. This also includes 35 goals, which is also a career-high for him.
During the 2023-24 season, Mangiapane scored 14 goals and 40 points. Mangiapane brings some extra toughness and is unafraid to finish his checks. He is versatile and can also play the center position, which is something the Devils can use with Jack Hughes moving to the wing and having Erik Haula as his center several times.
Contract
If the Devils were to add Mangiapane to the fold, it may just be a short-term fix. The left-handed shooting forward only has one year left on his current deal. He is slated to make $5.8 million this upcoming season.
In what could be considered a down year for the forward, the Athletic still assigned Mangiapane with a $5.3 million market value.
Potential Fit For the Devils
It is no secret that the Devils are looking to add goaltending, but that is not the only area that Fitzgerald wants to upgrade. During the NHL scouting combine, Fitzgerald went on to say, “I’m in the goalie market talking to teams, but there’s a ‘but’ and the ‘but’ is how do we want to build our team,” Fitzgerald said. “We’d like to add up front, we’d like to add on the back end, so what are those pieces going to cost us. With the goaltending, what’s that going to cost us?”
The Devils have great talent on the top two lines, with Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes paving the way. In addition, the Devils have production coming from the wings in Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt but they need more. Tyler Toffoli was a tremendous add to the top six last year and Mangiapane could fill that same role.
He would be that added layer of extra scoring that the Devils could use and a complimentary depth piece to the Devils lineup. A top-six group consisting of Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier down the middle with Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, Dawson Mercer, and Mangiapane on the wings doesn’t sound half bad.