Quote:
Originally Posted by Funkhouser
I don't think Mangiapane is underappreciated here, in general the fan base loves him! He always works hard, he scores clutch goals and has been a playoff performer.
But he is a bit redundant due to our depth on wing, and is slightly overpaid - for that I don't see him staying long.
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I would say Mangiapane is the opposite of clutch. He seems to score our goals in blowout losses after the game is out of reach (like a 6-2 loss) or a 4th goal in a (4-1 win).
For several seasons, he is deployed at the start of the season off of the Backlund line in hopes that he will show some top-6 offense on his own; we see the effort is there (remember Mangiapane-Kadri-Dube?) but by mid-season, he will be back on Backlund's wing and that's where pucks start going in for him.
He may be at 13 goals now, but I fully expect his goal scoring pace will pick up over the remaining games now that it doesn't matter. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends this season with 17 to 20 goals.
He is the latest in a long line of Flames players who have benefitted from the Backlund effect. I've always felt we should have traded him in the off-season after his 36-goal season before signing him to a $5.8M AAV contract. Despite this, based on his performance prior to that season, I anticipated the contract would deliver good value for the first 2 years if he hit at least 20 goals, and it hasn't.