Chicago Blackhawks 2025-26 Player Grades: Andrew Mangiapane

Mangiapane was excited for the opportunity, too. When I spoke with him on March 16, he said about his experience, “It’s been great. Group of guys have been awesome. Management, staff, coaching staff, everyone’s kind of been welcoming and really helping on just kind of teaching me the system and just kind of how I need to play, and little things like that… It’s a great feeling… just being welcomed. And being part of a new team is kind of nerve-racking at the start. But everyone’s been great, and yeah, it’s been awesome.”

On the Blackhawks, Mangiapane was mainly a bottom-six forward, and he did develop chemistry with Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev.

He showed some snarl and skill, which he was commended for bringing to the roster. However, it was unfortunate that the team didn’t get to see more because he sustained three injuries, limiting him to only 10 of a possible 21 games with the Blackhawks.

Quotable Quote

I thought this quote from Blashill, after their game against the Utah Mammoth on March 9, captured how he viewed Mangiapane’s game. Also, he referred to him as “Mango.”

“You know what Andrew’s done is he’s brought us into the fight a little bit. Like he’s very competitive. You know, you get him and Mickey (Ilya Mikheyev) on a line with Dono (Ryan Donato); that line, I thought was excellent. They went up against (Clayton) Keller almost all night. And that’s an excellent line in Keller and (Nick) Schmaltz and (Dylan) Guenther. So, you know, I thought they did a really good job there. He competes hard. He plays north. He plays kind of straight ahead hockey, which, you know, sometimes we can get a little too east-west with some of our young skill. And he plays a very direct north game, and I think that helps our team a lot.

So he’s been a good addition. Again, a lot of kind of compete to him. Somebody that we’re happy to have part of our group.”

Mangiapane’s Final Grade: C+

I thought Mangiapane did fine. As aforementioned, it was disappointing that he couldn’t play more, as I think he would’ve had a bigger impact with more games. He is a tough one to grade because of the limited games, but he showed some traits expected of him. Being a gritty, veteran depth forward.

And Blashill thought he was a good fit.

Therefore, we’ll see, depending on how the Blackhawks’ roster shapes out over the course of the offseason, if the fit is still there.