The Edmonton Oilers have signed winger Andrew Mangiapane to a two-year, $3.6 million AAV deal.
The speedy Mangiapane scored 35 goals for the Calgary Flames during the 2021-22 season, but he has failed to reach 20 goals in each of his past three seasons. In his lone season in Washington, Mangiapane was held to just 28 points, even being used on the Capitals' fourth line at times.
Mangiapane will try to rebound in Edmonton, hoping that he can benefit from the offense generated by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in some way. The Oilers lost significant secondary scoring this offseason as all of Evander Kane, Connor Brown, Corey Perry, and Viktor Arvidsson have departed (Jeff Skinner also remains unsigned) without adding anyone else of note in Day 1 of free agency. That means for now, Mangiapane could be used anywhere in the lineup, with the Oilers building their lines around a core four of McDavid, Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
If Mangiapane is used somewhere in the top six as he is suited for instead of the bottom six, then this move could help him. The Oilers still need to add another forward or two, but right now things are looking up for him. After all, the potential for points on a line with McDavid or Draisaitl is much higher than the potential for points on a line with Lars Eller or Nic Dowd. That being said, Skinner and Arvidsson in particular couldn't revive their careers in Edmonton, so there are no guarantees. In addition to that, forget about the top power play because of the aforementioned core four unless there's an injury, though.
Overall, this move could pay off for both player and team, as Mangiapane's speed could be a great fit for the run-and-gun Oilers.
Players this helps, in order:
Mangiapane
Players this hurts, in order:
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If they were willing to pay him that much, would rather have seen Perry kept tbh.