When you’re as tight as Rasmus Andersson and Andrew Mangiapane, it’s possible that chirping on the ice isn’t all that effective.
For 10 years, the two were teammates.
They played together in 2014-15 with the Barrie Colts. Both drafted by the Calgary Flames, they made their way through the farm system with the then-Stockton Heat before breaking into the NHL.
When Mangiapane was traded to the Washington Capitals last spring, it set the stage for Tuesday night’s game between the teams, the first time the two have ever faced off on opposite sides of a game.
The two are as close as it gets.
And that makes chirping a lot harder than it does against other NHLers.
“I’m sure he’ll start chirping or I’ll start chirping or something like that, but it really means nothing at this point,” a clearly excited Mangiapane said Tuesday from the Saddledome. “He’s one of the guys I’m excited the most to play against here.”
The feeling is mutual.
“We’ll probably just end up laughing,” Andersson said. “He’ll try to be serious and I’ll just laugh even more about that, but it’ll be fun, that’s for sure.”
Whether it’s from Andersson or any of the other Flames who played with Mangiapane, there are absolutely no negative feelings towards their former teammate.
The Flames traded the 28-year-old winger to the Capitals in the spring for a second-round pick, but he never requested a trade or expressed any desire to be dealt despite the team dealing away veterans for most of last season.
If anything, the move came as a complete surprise to Mangiapane, who had played all 417 games of his NHL career to that point with the team that selected him in the sixth round, 166th overall, in the 2015 NHL draft.
“Obviously, you hear some rumours and what-not, but I was out doing some grocery shopping when I got the call and I left my cart there to go talk and figure out what’s going on,” Mangiapane said. “It was shocking for me to kind of find out.”
Mangiapane has adjusted quickly to life away from Calgary. It certainly helps that he’s playing for the Capitals, who happen to be the top team in the NHL this season heading into Tuesday’s action.
He’s scored 10 goals and added seven assists through 48 games this season prior to Tuesday’s matchup and while he’s playing fewer minutes than he did with the Flames those stats are generally within striking distance of what he produced annually while he had the Flaming ‘C’ on his chest.
And there was palpable excitement in the Flames’ locker room about playing against Mangiapane on Tuesday night.
Andersson and his family hosted his longtime teammate at his home on Monday evening, with Mikael Backlund dropping in to spend some time with Mangiapane, too.
“He’s one of my best friends, to see him yesterday was unique,” Andersson said. “I haven’t seen my son that excited in quite some time, and he was equally as disappointed this morning when he wasn’t there when he woke up.
“It’s gonna feel weird, but fun at the same time.”
And while Andersson and Mangiapane might not be anticipating a whole lot of chirping, not all the Flames are convinced their former teammate won’t be doing his best to get under the skin.
In fact, they expect it. They’re looking forward to it, even.
“I can’t wait to battle against him tonight,” MacKenzie Weegar said with a notable smile. “I’m sure he’ll be a little rat out there and he’ll be laughing and giggling and trying to start scrums.
“I’d love to get in a scrum with him tonight, it would be a blast. We’ll have some laughs after the game, but on the ice there’s no friends out there and I’m sure he’s saying the same thing to the media out there.”