Oilers Beat Maple Leafs to Sign Key Free Agent Forward

The Edmonton Oilers won a key free-agent battle this summer, signing skilled winger Andrew Mangiapane over the Toronto Maple Leafs, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Speaking on his 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman revealed that both the Oilers and Leafs were pursuing Mangiapane in free agency, but Edmonton sealed the deal while Toronto couldn’t move quickly enough. “One of the reasons the Leafs didn’t get Mangiapane was because they indicated they’d need to move some bodies out. And Mangiapane didn’t want to wait,” Friedman explained.

Edmonton’s offer was on the table, and Mangiapane accepted—helped, no doubt, by the opportunity to play alongside superstar centre Leon Draisaitl. Friedman noted, “It doesn’t hurt when you’re going to be playing with Leon Draisaitl. It’s going to make a lot of guys look good.” In fact, it has been confirmed by Mangiapane that both Draisaitl and Connor McDavid called him before he signed to convince him that Edmonton was a good fit.

Those calls helped motivate the winger to leave money on the table for a strong opportunity to up his production as part of Edmonton’s top-six forward group.

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Maple Leafs Are Pivoting After Losing Out on Mangiapane

Despite his hometown ties to Toronto and familiarity with Leafs GM Brad Treliving, Edmonton made more sense to Mangiapane. Nick Kypreos hinted that he might not have been keen on the pressure of playing in Toronto, but the reality is, there’s nearly as much pressure playing in the hot stove that is Edmonton and on a contending team that has been the to Final twice and fallen short.

Mangiapane, known for his tenacious two-way play and scoring touch, has a lot of pressure on him now. The Oilers need him to find chemistry with one of their top two stars and score closer to the pace he had in Calgary when he potted 35 goals.

With the departure of Viktor Arvidsson, Evander Kane, Corey Perry, and Connor Brown, Edmonton needed another scoring winger to fill the gap.

Ultimately, Mangiapane’s decision leaves Toronto still searching for offensive depth as they work to clear salary cap space. The Leafs had reportedly considered moving players like David Kämpf or Calle Järnkrok but couldn’t act quickly enough to land their target.

Next: Bouchard Almost Bolted for Eastern Contender via Offer Sheet