Oilers' Goal For A Mangiapane Trade

The Edmonton Oilers are almost back to full health, and with that, a lot of moves have been made with more to come. Kasperi Kapanen, the last injured forward, is about to return to action, so one more forward will have to be sent down or moved out.

Isaac Howard and Quinn Hutson were just recalled after continuously dominating the AHL, so there's no reason why they shouldn't stick around. The depth veterans on the Oilers are more of the problem, but players like Adam Henrique and Trent Frederic are unmovable because of their contracts. That leaves Andrew Mangiapane and Mattias Janmark, both of whom I assume will be moved before the trade deadline.

Mangiapane is the bigger issue as his contract is bigger than Janmark's and he was a healthy scratch recently. Frank Seravalli said, "I think there's a potential with Andrew Mangiapane to move on. I don't know that the Oilers would have to retain money at this point, but what you can do is cross off any return. The point should be to try and move on from the contract."

That's a fair assessment. The Oilers could use an asset back, but what's bigger is freeing themselves of a less productive player taking up a roster spot, as well as the money it'll free up. That's $3.5 million AAV extra to utilize, and that will come into play in the offseason especially.

The Oilers could bring up a better role player as Mangiapane should be a top-6 player, but hasn't been able to produce like one in Edmonton. He would have a better opportunity elsewhere on a team that isn't so deep and now healthy.

Mangiapane has scored in the past, but he hasn't really fit in anywhere on the Oilers as well as some of the other players. If the Oilers could get rid of Henrique and Frederic too, they would. But it falls on moving Mangiapane to a better situation for him to help him and the team out.

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