The Washington Capitals acquired winger Andrew Mangiapane in a trade Thursday night with the Calgary Flames.
The Capitals sent a 2025 second-round pick the other way in the deal completed on the eve of the NHL draft.
Washington general manager Brian MacLellan hours earlier said he was looking for a forward via trade or free agency. In Mangiapane, the Capitals get a 28-year-old in the final season of his contract who can play on their second or third line.
Mangiapane is coming off a season in which he scored 14 goals and had 26 assists. He has 227 points in 444 regular-season and playoff games, all with the Flames, the only organization he has been a part of as a pro until this point.
It's unclear what, if anything, adding Mangiapane means for the future of 37-year-old winger T.J. Oshie, whose back problems have him looking for a sustainable way to continue his hockey-playing career without being in and out of the lineup.
“He’s still in search of a permanent solution, talking to doctors, our training staff,” MacLellan said earlier Thursday. “It’s the beginning of the summer, so we’ll see how it plays out near the end of the summer.”
MacLellan sent the pick he received from Colorado for pending free agent Lars Eller at the 2023 deadline to Calgary for Mangiapane.
“Today’s trade provides us with an increase in valuable draft capital and we have continued to emphasize the importance of how upcoming drafts will influence the future of our franchise,” said Flames GM Craig Conroy said. “Additionally, this move affords us with more salary cap and roster flexibility to make decisions after July 1."
The Capitals, who last week got center Pierre-Luc Dubois from Los Angeles for goaltender Darcy Kuemper, still have room to maneuver, and MacLellan also mentioned changing up the mix on defense.
“We have a little bit of room, the cap went up and we have draft capital, so it makes it easier to make things happen,” MacLellan said.
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FILE - Calgary Flames left wing Andrew Mangiapane (88) handles the puck as he is pursued by New Jersey Devils left wing Erik Haula (56) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Feb. 8, 2024, in Newark, N.J. The Washington Capitals have acquired winger Mangiapane from the Flames for a 2025 second-round pick. The teams announced the trade Thursday night, June 27, 2024, on the eve of the draft. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)
PARIS (AP) — Voters across mainland France began casting ballots Sunday in the first round of an exceptional parliamentary election that could put France’s government in the hands of nationalist, far-right parties for the first time since the Nazi era.
The outcome of the two-round election, which will wrap up July 7, could impact European financial markets, Western support for Ukraine, and how France’s nuclear arsenal and global military force are managed.
Many French voters are frustrated about inflation and economic concerns, as well as President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership, which they see as arrogant and out-of-touch with their lives. Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally party has tapped and fueled that discontent, notably via online platforms like TikTok, and dominated all preelection opinion polls.
A new coalition on the left, the New Popular Front, is also posing a challenge to the pro-business Macron and his centrist alliance Together for the Republic.
There are 49.5 million registered voters who will choose 577 members of the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, during the two-round voting.
After a blitz campaign marred by rising hate speech, voting began early in France’s overseas territories, and polling stations opened in mainland France at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) Sunday. The first polling projections are expected at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT), when the final polling stations close, and early official results are expected later Sunday night.
In the restive French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, polls already closed at 5 p.m. local time due to an 8 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew that authorities on the archipelago have extended until July 8.
Nine people died during a two-week-long unrest in New Caledonia, where the Indigenous Kanak people have long sought to break free from France, which first took the Pacific territory in 1853. Violence flared on May 13 in response to attempts by Macron’s government to amend the French Constitution and change voting lists in New Caledonia, which Kanaks feared would further marginalize them.
Voters in France’s other overseas territories from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, French Polynesia and those voting in offices opened by embassies and consular posts across the Americas cast their ballots on Saturday.
Macron called the early election after his party was trounced in the European Parliament election earlier in June by the National Rally, which has historic ties to racism and antisemitism and is hostile toward France’s Muslim community. It was an audacious gamble that French voters who were complacent about the European Union election would be jolted into turning out for moderate forces in a national election to keep the far right out of power.
Instead, preelection polls suggest that the National Rally is gaining support and has a chance at winning a parliamentary majority. In that scenario, Macron would be expected to name 28-year-old National Rally President Jordan Bardella as prime minister in an awkward power-sharing system known as "cohabitation."
While Macron has said he won’t step down before his presidential term expires in 2027, cohabitation would weaken him at home and on the world stage.
The results of the first round will give a picture of overall voter sentiment, but not necessarily of the overall makeup of the next National Assembly. Predictions are extremely difficult because of the complicated voting system, and because parties will work between the two rounds to make alliances in some constituencies or pull out of others.
In the past such tactical maneuvers helped keep far-right candidates from power. But now support for Le Pen's party has spread deep and wide.
Bardella, who has no governing experience, says he would use the powers of prime minister to stop Macron from continuing to supply long-range weapons to Ukraine for the war with Russia. His party has historical ties to Russia.
The party has also questioned the right to citizenship for people born in France, and wants to curtail the rights of French citizens with dual nationality. Critics say this undermines fundamental human rights and is a threat to France's democratic ideals.
Meanwhile, huge public spending promises by the National Rally and especially the left-wing coalition have shaken markets and ignited worries about France's heavy debt, already criticized by EU watchdogs.
Follow AP's coverage of elections at https://apnews.com/hub/global-elections
A woman walks past campaign boards for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Paris, Thursday June 27, 2024. Voters will choose lawmakers for the National Assembly in two rounds on June 30 and July 7. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
People gather on the Republique Plaza during a rally in Paris, Thursday June 27, 2024. Anti-racism groups joined French unions and left-wing coalition in protests against the surging nationalist far right as French President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections following the defeat of his centrist alliance at European Union elections earlier this month. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
FILE - Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Front party, arrives at the Eurosatory Defense and security exhibition, Wednesday, June 19, 2024 in Villepinte, north of Paris. The perspective of a defeat in parliamentary elections mean he may have to share power with a prime minister from rival political party — that could possibly be far-right National Rally's president Jordan Bardella. Macron defeated twice the National Rally's leader Marine Le Pen in the presidential election, both in 2017 and 2022.( AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron, right, meets French far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) leader Marine Le Pen at the Elysee Palace on June 21, 2022 in Paris. The perspective of a defeat in parliamentary elections mean he may have to share power with a prime minister from rival political party — that could possibly be far-right National Rally's president Jordan Bardella. Macron defeated twice the National Rally's leader Marine Le Pen in the presidential election, both in 2017 and 2022. (Ludovic Marin/Pool photo via AP, File)
