Report: Flames and Mangiapane $200,000 apart on deal
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoThe Calgary Flames have a big ticket restricted free agent to sign, as forward Matthew Tkachuk remains without a contract as training camp looms. But a second RFA needs to be inked as well, and the stalemate on that front appears to be relatively minor in a cap sense. Per Sportsnet’s Eric Francis, the Flames and Andrew Mangiapane are around $200,000 apart on a new deal.
While neither side of the negotiation is willing to confirm numbers, it’s clear the unexpected stalemate revolves around whether he deserves much of a bump from his qualifying offer.“We provided them with an offer for one year, based on players provided to us as comparables, and we’re waiting to hear back,” said agent Ritch Winter, who represents the 23-year-old restricted free agent.“We feel strong in our position – it’s fair but it’s just not there yet,” countered Flames GM Brad Treliving, who admits he never foresaw talks stalling on the up-and-coming winger.“I am a little bit surprised. To me, this is a really big year for him. Hopefully, he gets in. I’m confident at some point we’ll get something done.”
Francis posits that the cap-strapped Flames are nudging towards an $800,000 AAV – which would put Mangiapane in with the likes of Valeri Nichuskin (74 points in 223 career games), Marko Dano (45 points in 138 games), Vladislav Kamenev (5 points in 28 games) and Charles Hudon (39 points in 110 games) in the conversation of RFA forwards who signed for that cap hit. All of these players are promising youngsters, but none have really made a consistent mark in the NHL and so, to their camps, “show me” contracts probably made some sense.
If Francis’ $800,000 estimate is correct, then the Mangiapane cap is eying a $1 million cap hit. That would put him more in the realm of Zach Ashton-Reese (23 points in 59 games), Rocco Grimaldi (23 points in 90 games) and Josh Archibald (36 points in 121 games).
Mangiapane has 13 points in 54 career NHL games. On a per-game basis, his 0.241 points is comfortably below Ashton-Reese’s 0.400 and lower than any of the cited $800,000 players other than Kamenev. Between that and their cap situation, it’s fairly understandable why the Flames are pushing for a lower cap hit for him for this season.
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