All roads do truly lead to beer league. The same goes for Washington Capitals forward Andrew Mangiapane, who appears to have joined up with a Canadian beer league team for the summer as he approaches free agency.
Mangiapane is rostered for the Bullies, a C-level team out of Ontario. Per a source, he skated in a late-night game on Tuesday, picking up an assist while playing defense and showing some etiquette as one of the higher-level players skating in the game.
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“Every time he was in the offensive zone, he was looking for a pass, I don’t think he took a shot,” the source said. “And every time he was defending he gave the net to the opposing player and let the goalie play the shot. He basically just took away the far side of the ice.”
Though he’s been on the roster over the course of the league’s Summer 2025 season, Tuesday marked the only game he appeared in, an eventual 4-3 loss.
He isn’t the first NHLer to hit up a beer league, as Connor McDavid also made an appearance in a 2023 beer league championship game, but saw his team blown out in a loss. Former Capitals Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov also skated in a local game in the 2023 offseason. Additionally, NHL alumnus Roberto Luongo suited up for a beer league team’s playoff game last offseason, helping the team to victory.
Mangiapane spent the 2024-25 season with the Capitals following an offseason trade from the Calgary Flames. In 81 regular season games, he had 14 goals and 14 assists for 28 points, and added a goal and assist in 10 playoff games.
The 29-year-old is set to hit the market and sign elsewhere this offseason, but it’s fun to see that he’s putting in the work however he can.