FlamesNation Prospect Profile: #6 Andrew Mangiapane
By Byron Bader
7 years ago
Coming in at #6 in FN’s annual Top 20 Prospects is 2015 sixth round pick Andrew Mangiapane of the OHL’s Barrie Colts. Drafted only last year, the dynamic and highly skilled Mangiapane jumped up six spots from our rankings last year, where he found himself in the 12 hole.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Mangiapane has taken an unorthodox route to reach the highest level of hockey. He was never drafted to the OHL and in fact was only a point-per-game player in AAA (nothing world breaking). Barrie took a chance on him in the 2013-14 season and signed him. Mangiapane, while only getting modest ice-time, registered 51 points in 68 games and went completely undrafted in the 2014 draft.
Mangiapane returned to the Colts for a second season and amassed 104 points in 68 games, good enough to finish in the top 20 in terms of NHLEs of all available forwards at the draft – as an overager, mind you. Calgary selected Mangiapane in the sixth round in the 2015 draft. Tod Button noted afterwards they were looking for a skilled forward at that spot, and Mangiapane was a favorite of the scouts that had seen him.
Mangiapane impressed so much at the Flames’ 2015 training camp and was one of the last players, along with Barrie teammate Rasmus Andersson, to be sent back to juniors. Mangiapane returned for a third season with the Colts and put up another impressive offensive campaign. He registered 106 points in 59 games (NHLE of 44), finishing sixth in scoring in the entire OHL behind teammate Kevin Labanc, Christian Dvorak, Mitch Marner, Dylan Strome and Matthew Tkachuk. He finished second in goals, behind Dvorak, registering 51 on the season (scoring a goal every 0.86 games!). This is despite Mangiapane missing nine games due to a questionable suspension.
Mangiapane’s performance so far is very impressive and not a common feat. Players that have unimpressive draft years but have enormous jumps in NHLE year over year thereafter (ideally reaching a 30+ NHLE turning 19 and/or a 40+ NHLE before turning 20) are exactly the types of players that make the NHL and do very, very well despite being drafted so late. Mangiapane hits all of these marks. He scored at an incredible rate in the OHL (118 goals over three seasons), and is a gifted playmaker as well.
To give you a sense of where Mangiapane finds himself, in terms of his NHLE leaps, here’s a list of all the players I can find in the past 13 years that did not register an NHLE north of 30 in their draft year but reached a 40+ NHLE before turning 20: Alex Galchenyuk, Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Radulov, Andrew Cogliano, Brandon Saad, Corey Perry, Dave Bolland, Derek Stepan, Evgeni Malkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Jaden Schwartz, James van Riemsdyk, Johnny Gaudreau, Marcus Kruger, Mark Stone, Rob Schremp, Christian Dvorak and Mikko Rantanen.
QUOTABLE
From Future Considerations scout Scott Wheeler:
“Mangiapane is a tough player to gauge because in all of my live viewings of him in the last two seasons he has been so far ahead of the pack that he wasn’t truly being challenged. There are a ton of players who are as talented as he is who struggle to pick up their level once they turn pro, so it will be interesting to see how he handles the AHL.“I suspect he’ll be given a prominent role with the Heat and if he has a successful rookie season he’ll be given a legit shot in camp in a year or two. But putting up back-to-back 100-point seasons in the OHL is no small feat. I mean, the kid scored 61 goals in 74 combined playoff and regular season games last season. It will be important that he’s given proper usage this year though. He’s not a depth player, and will need to stick as a top-nine winger who can play on the PP if he’s going to become an NHL player.“I generally hate comparables but he plays a similar style to Joe Pavelski in that he’s hard on loose pucks, low base in his stance, gifted scorer and playmaker.”
WHAT COMES NEXT?
Mangiapane appears to have completed his junior career. The Flames signed him to an ELC earlier in the year and he is almost guaranteed to turn pro this coming fall. He is likely heading straight to Stockton to start his pro career; however, the Flames do have a few holes on forward and Mangiapane is apparently comfortable playing all three positions and could find his way into one of the open spots.
However, odds are he’s going to the AHL any way you slice it. The Flames cut bait on many of their AHL prospects this past summer so Mangiapane should be a fixture in the top six for the Heat, where he’ll garner ice time with Mark Jankowski, Morgan Klimchuk, Emile Poirier, Hunter Shinkaruk and Freddie Hamilton.
Mangiapane could easily be one of the Heat’s best offensive talents, if not the best point producer on the entire team. To get any consideration for the NHL, Mangiapane will have to continue to produce on a nightly basis. If he produces out of the gate and is able to maintain a point-per-game pace or close to, he should be one of the first call-ups when the Flames are in need of a body in the top six. My guess… he will be called up some time around Christmas and will remain with the Flames for the year.
Previously
| #20 – Ryan Culkin | #19 – Linus Lindstrom |
| #18 – Morgan Klimchuk | #17 – Mason McDonald |
| #16 – Brett Pollock | #15 – Matthew Phillips |
| #14 – Dillon Dube | #13 – Emile Poirier |
| #12 – Brett Kulak | #11 – Mark Jankowski |
| #10 – Brandon Hickey | #9 – Daniel Pribyl |
| #8 – Adam Fox | #7 – Tyler Parsons |
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