Barn Burner: What should the Calgary Flames do with Andrew Mangiapane for the rest of the season?

On Monday’s episode of Barn Burner, Boomer, Pinder, and Rhett discussed the season that Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane has had this year.

Mangiapane, 27 years old, has seen a solid decline in production since his spectacular 2021-22 campaign that saw him score 35 goals and 55 points. Through 68 games played this season, the winger has 13 goals and 25 assists.

Boomer: “It feels like the top speed is coming down a little bit. The effectiveness is coming down. We’re not seeing the shit disturber level that we used to see. He looks like a slowing winger to me.”

“I’m guessing the puck luck has been nowhere near his career normal as well,” Pinder added. “How many times has he danced through a guys legs then put it wide… Even when he’s creating chances, he’s not finishing.”

“How many games have you noticed him?” asked Rhett. “We liked him a fair bit. We were pretty pro-Mangiapane… For me personally, and I think probably for our crew, it’s more ‘be noticed, you’re not a pain in the ass to play against.'”

For the Flames, there is no shortage of winger depth on the roster. With the emergence of some young players who have made themselves everyday NHLers this season and a handful more waiting in the on deck circle for their shot to prove themselves, the fellas would suggest that what we are seeing could just be the lifecycle of a roster taking place.

“If you don’t add a Kuzmenko and you don’t have the emergence of Zary and Pospisil, maybe things look differently,” Pinder stated. “Right now, there’s just so many wingers… It just feels like there’s no room for Mangiapane at this point.”

“It’s a good thing at the end of the day,” said Boomer. “When you have guys coming through the system that are potentially pushing older/veterans out or down the roster. The emergence of Pospisil and Zary has been a good thing. Not good for Mangiapane, but good for the overall picture for sure.”

“He was the guy that did that 6 or 7 years ago,” added Pinder. “He started on the fourth line and then he started taking away Michael Frolik’s ice-time and other guys like that. This is what happens. His peak season was at 25 years of age, that’s probably very common. He had 35 goals two years ago. He’s at 13 this year. Tough year.”

For a good majority of the season, Mangiapane has been riding the left wing on a line with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman. With only 12 games left in the season and playoffs not looking like they are going to be in the picture, it was suggested that the Flames could use that line to cycle in some of the youth instead of Mangiapane to play alongside the two veterans.

“We don’t need to see the Backlund line anymore,” said Pinder. “You know exactly what that group is giving you because you’ve seen it for three years. Put someone else on the wing. Play Pelletier. Move some kids around and find some things here… That’s when they found the Tkachuk-Gaudreau-Lindholm line was late in a lost season. That’s not to say they are going to find some magical line that is going to be the best in the league for next year but we know what these lines do. We don’t need to see more of them.”

“It should be 100% kid development program,” said Rhett. “You’re playing Anaheim and San Jose, it’s the kids and nothing but the kids. Here’s your twenty minutes Pelletier and Coronato and everyone else that’s under the age of twenty five.”

Watch Monday’s episode in full here:

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