Oilers Situation With Mangiapane Takes Another Complicated Turn

Andrew Mangiapane’s situation with the Edmonton Oilers took another complicated turn Tuesday night as questions swirled around his reduced ice time in a game where many felt he was among the team’s most effective forwards.

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As the Oilers try to trade Mangiapane, the winger was returned to the lineup against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He delivered what several observers called his best performance as an Oiler in Edmonton’s 5-2 loss. Mangiapane played with noticeable edge early, generating chances, finishing checks, and getting under Anthony Stolarz’s skin in front of the Leafs’ net. By most accounts, he brought the exact energy the Oilers have been asking for.

Yet midway through the game, Mangiapane found himself stapled to the bench.

Sportsnet’s Mark Spector pointed out that Mangiapane made an offensive-zone giveaway that eventually contributed to Toronto’s opening goal, noting that the winger didn’t see the ice afterward. “Unless he is injured, on a night where he’s playing the best hockey he’s played in ages, that just looks like a coach who doesn’t like the player,” Spector wrote.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch addressed the decision post-game, confirming the turnover played a role in Mangiapane’s reduced ice time. “Yeah, the turnover had an effect on his ice time,” Knoblauch said, adding that Mangiapane was benched for the remainder of the second period before returning in the third.

What are the Oilers Doing With Mangiapane?

Granted, Mangiapane has not played great. He’s not been the aggressive, productive forward the team was hoping they’d signed in free agency. That said, to sit a player who was engaged and having the best game of his Oilers’ career after one mistake screams of a bias. The decision didn’t sit well with everyone.

To staple him to the bench for an entire period felt excessive, especially given that similar mistakes by other players didn’t result in comparable consequences. Mangiapane, who seems open to a trade but has reportedly never requested one, wants to stay in Edmonton and work himself out of a funk. When a player gets no rope, and the leash is beyond short, it has to be paralyzing.

Not only that, but Toronto was a team that had rumored interest in Mangiapane, and if the Oilers are looking to trade him, they just showed the Maple Leafs that the player probably isn’t worth the risk.

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