{"id":447981,"date":"2026-02-06T00:17:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T00:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/447981\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T00:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T00:17:17","slug":"edmonton-oilers-coach-is-treating-andrew-mangiapane-differently-the-hockey-writers-edmonton-oilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/447981\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers Coach Is Treating Andrew Mangiapane Differently – The Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edmonton Oilers\u2019 head coach Kris Knoblauch benched forward Andrew Mangiapane<\/a> during the second period of the Oilers\u2019 5-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night (Feb. 3). Mangiapane made one mistake after a solid opening frame and was punished for it. He finished the game with three shots and one hit in a team-low 8:14 of ice time.<\/p>\n

Former Oiler Derek Ryan, who played four seasons with the organization and two under Knoblauch, also questioned the coach\u2019s lineup deployment<\/a> in a recent interview with Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now. He discussed the depth players and their roles. \u201cThey obviously have the two best players in the world. I would be amiss if I left this show without saying that I think they need to find a way to give these depth players, the guys that aren\u2019t Connor and Leon, that aren\u2019t playing with them, a role and a chance to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: Former Oilers Forward Calls Out Knoblauch Over Player Deployment<\/a><\/p>\n

He\u2019s right. If they aren\u2019t playing with the big guns, the Oilers\u2019 depth players have become an afterthought. That\u2019s the interpretation based on the bottom-six usage. Yesterday\u2019s game against Toronto was the perfect example. Mangiapane has clearly fallen out of favour with the coaching staff. If any other player had made that same mistake, it\u2019s highly unlikely they would have been benched, because Knoblauch decides when to hold players accountable. He\u2019s inconsistent and biased<\/a> \u2013 the players know when he likes them, and when he doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Mangiapane\u2019s situation is eerily similar to Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson. They are smaller forwards who were forced to adapt to a bottom-six role<\/a> unsuccessfully last season. They were constantly in and out of the lineup, trying to make an impact in limited ice time. Skinner scored 16 goals last season and was still made a healthy scratch for 10 games. This season, Mangiapane is the one being treated unfairly. <\/p>\n

What Message Is Knoblauch Sending?<\/p>\n

The message that Knoblauch sent by benching Mangiapane is that the bottom six can\u2019t make mistakes, or else they\u2019ll be punished. The 29-year-old forward had arguably his best period of the season<\/a> in the opening frame against the Maple Leafs. He had a breakaway, he was getting into post-whistle scrums, and he was even being a pest by giving the goaltender a snow shower as he stopped in front of the blue paint.<\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew Mangiapane, Edmonton Oilers (Perry Nelson-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

However, his turnover seven minutes into the second period led to a goal, and he was benched for the rest of the frame. He didn\u2019t deserve to be benched in that situation. Accountability is a good thing, but why isn\u2019t it applied to everyone equally? <\/p>\n

Edmonton\u2019s bench boss was asked about Mangiapane during his postgame press conference<\/a>. \u201cYes, the turnover had an effect on his ice time,\u201d Knoblauch answered. But he\u2019s not the only player to make mistakes.<\/p>\n

On that goal, Jake Walman<\/a> made a horrendous line change, leading to a 2-on-1, and the Maple Leafs scored moments later after sustained zone time. Earlier in the game, Walman had the puck stolen at the offensive blue line, resulting in a breakaway. Why wasn\u2019t he benched for that? If you want to know why the bottom six lack confidence, it\u2019s the lack of consistency from the coaching staff. <\/p>\n

Knoblauch Should Be Blamed for Lack of Bottom Six Production<\/p>\n

Knoblauch wants the bottom six to play a certain way, and that\u2019s hindering the group. The top six are allowed to play free and make mistakes because that\u2019s how they generate offence. They use their skill set to make plays, so inevitably mistakes will happen, and they are rarely punished.<\/p>\n

That same logic doesn\u2019t apply to the bottom six<\/a>. Knoblauch is stifling their creativity. The depth players aren\u2019t given the same freedom to create plays without fear of making mistakes. Mangiapane has skill, but whenever he tries to show it, he gets punished more than any other member of the bottom six. Maybe if the coach let them play to their skills, he would see more offensive production. <\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers\u2019 head coach Kris Knoblauch benched forward Andrew Mangiapane during the second period of the Oilers\u2019 5-2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[1824,198,146,5300,5,2854,4,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-447981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-andrew-mangiapane","9":"tag-edmonton","10":"tag-edmonton-oilers","11":"tag-edmontonoilers","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-kris-knoblauch","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-oilers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116020815459909892","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}