Andrew Mangiapane’s Rise Through the T25U25 Ranks

With our annual Top 25 Under 25 series kicking off this week, there was a notable player missing this year for the first time as Andrew Mangiapane aged out of the list. He is the first player to age out of the lists after going all the way through the system, as 2015 was our first year of making these rankings. Other prospects and players have aged out before, but Mangiapane is the first that we’ve followed right through from the first year of these rankings after he was drafted as an overager in 2015.

With that in mind, I wanted to take a look back at his journey through our rankings, with some excerpts from each season as he grew within the system and his ranking changed.

2015 - #17

Despite having just been drafted that summer, the M&G staff was already very high on him as a player given his notable success in his Draft+1 season with the Barrie Colts. Typically late round picks find themselves near the bottom of these lists, but there was something notably different with Mangiapane. Here are a few paragraphs from 2015:

“Mangiapane is also very skilled, something that Brad Treliving was focused on in the draft. But don’t confuse that as meaning that Mangiapane is a one dimensional player. He saw extensive penalty kill time this year, and is generally regarded as a good two-way player. Oh, and he’s also got a bunch of intangibles. All the times he was skipped over seems to have riled up something inside of him, as opponents and scouts say he’s a mean one to play against. He has a never quit mentality in addition to his fearlessness with the puck.

Future role with the Flames

He’s going to be back with Barrie to begin the year, and could see a trade to one of the OHL’s bigger teams (London Knights, Sault Saint Marie Greyhounds) for a Memorial Cup run. If those dreams should fail to pan out, he’ll most likely join Stockton for the AHL playoffs and remain there for maybe a maximum of two years. I feel his potential could creep up to a second line left winger, which isn’t bad at all for a sixth round pick. Otherwise, he could be an effective bottom six player. He’s a sixth round success either way.”

2016 - #12

The 2015-16 season for Mangiapane was another impressive run in Barrie as he set a new career high with 106 points in 59 games and made the OHL 2nd All-Star team and all suited up in the Canada-Russia super series. It was another positive step forward for him as his potential continued to shine, giving us glimpses of what was to come.

“So what did Mangiapane do after being selected? He scored even more. Playing in just 59 games, he posted 51 goals and 55 assists for Barrie. He was highly regarded in the OHL among league coaches, as his name was brought up many times in the leagues’ coaches poll for Eastern Conference players. He finished first in voting for the categories of most underrated player, best skater and best shootout shooter. He also ended up a Second Team All Star on LW at the end of the year (Matthew Tkachuk was First Team LW). Getting that kind of recognition, to go along with his tremendous counting stats, makes for a very intriguing prospect.”

2017 - #11

Mangiapane continued his rise up the ranks in 2017 after an impressive rookie AHL season, collecting 41 points in 66 games. His point total was fourth on the Heat and his 20 goals were second behind Mark Jankowski. It was starting to become very clear that Mangiapane was getting close to an NHL shot.

“Andrew Mangiapane comes in at #11 this year and with good reason. The young Ontario product comes chuck full of offensive talent and he appears to be trending upwards. In his first season with the Stockton Heat Mangiapane collected 41 points (20G 21A) in 66 games in the AHL. Mangiapane is just one of many Flames talented youngsters that are looking to knock down the doors at the Saddledome, but he’s another player Calgary can take their time with. He’s only 21 and could use some more seasoning in the AHL with the Heat before Calgary really considers him for NHL duty.”

2018 - #11

Mangiapane’s rise up the rankings took a bit of a pause in 2018, mainly due to him not translating his AHL success (46 points in 39 games) to the NHL where he was held pointless in his first 10 games. However it is important to recognize how bad that 2017-18 team was towards the end of the season, and that the Flames really sewered his chances by mainly playing him in fourth line roles with players who were definitely not NHL caliber.

“He played in 39 games, but his point totals were through the roof. In a shortened number of games he scored 21 times and added 25 assists. The 46 points were the best of his career, besting the 41 he put up in 2016-17 in 66 games. Clearly Mangiapane’s stock is on the rise, but where his game didn’t translate well was at the NHL level.

And that could be from many reasons. One was that he was paired with players that weren’t elevating their game and therefor Mangiapane was left hanging. He saw the NHL ice for 10 games last season and didn’t produce a point. With that said, you probably wouldn’t produce if you were saddled on a line with Troy Brouwer. Mangiapane didn’t look lost out there, but he also wasn’t set up to succeed. I’d like to see more of him with actual players around him because he appears to have the intangibles to get to the next level.”

2019 - #8

After starting the season in Stockton, Mangiapane got a few stints in Calgary but really became a regular on his third stint as he created a strong bottom six line with Derek Ryan and Garnet Hathaway. He finally recorded his first career goal and had 13 points over his final 37 games of the regular season. He also scored a playoff goal as well on a nice play in front of the net. It was becoming very apparent that Mangiapane was ready to be a full-time NHLer.

2020 - #3

In Mangiapane’s final season of eligibility, he rose all the way to #3 on our list after an impressive season with the Flames. Coming off of 17 goals and 32 points in 68 games, it was clear that Mangiapane was ready to be a full-time middle six forward with the club, bordering on top six. In 2020-21 he would surpass these highs with 18 goals and 32 points in just 56 games.

“It’s safe to say that the 2019-20 season was another solid step forward in the development of Andrew Mangiapane. He spent the entire season with the Flames and worked himself up into a top six role as the season progressed.

Perhaps what is most impressive about Mangiapane’s point totals this past season where that of his 32 points only one single assist came while on the powerplay. His 31 even strength points were 6th on the team, just behind Elias Lindholm (35), Mikael Backlund (32), and Sean Monahan (32) despite the fact they all averaged 4-6 minutes more ice time per game than Mangiapane. In fact, Mangiapane was the only player in the league to eclipse 30 points at even strength while averaging under 14 minutes of ice time per game. It was a very impressive glimpse into what he could become.”

As I said earlier in the article, Mangiapane was one of the first prospects to progress through our list all the way from being drafted to aging out. Looking back, it was clear from the start that there was potential with him, and to see it now being realized is so exciting for Flames fans. Perhaps he even outshined our best early expectations for him and now it seems like his ceiling should be even higher.

Mangiapane had a stellar campaign this past season as well, despite limited special teams time, and with his coming out party with Team Canada this spring, we can see that he might just become a household name outside of Calgary in the near future.