Count me in as a fan of Mangiapane still. I think he earns his contract. I don't have anything bad to say - he isn't a cap negative, he isn't some black-hole of a player like James Neal was that drags everyone down that he plays with, he doesn't mail it in, and he is strong defensively. As MANY people have mentioned, he also produces at a VERY good rate 5on5. I don't see much to gripe about him at all.
The only thing I gripe about is that the Flames are just really full of good secondary support players and don't have any elite talents. They have to out-work every single team in order to win, and then they sometimes still lose. That's a sign that they lack star players. Mangiapane would be a welcome addition on almost any team I would think that has a spot open on the 2nd or 3rd line.
I do think he will be traded by the next deadline, but I am pretty sure that we will miss him. I know I will at least, even though I do think that the Flames probably should trade him (and a few others - lots of forwards on this team in general, and nobody with elite-level skill coming up yet like the Flames will probably find in the next 2 drafts and need to make room for).
It wouldn't surprise me to see Mangiapane hit 30+ goals again next season.
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