The Zetterberg Era
Ball Hockey Sucks
He certainly can be, unfortunately it has cost him a lot of time. Actually the last one was him letting up and not being mean enough then getting body slammed by Muzzin when he relaxed. None of his injuries have really been long-term though I guess you could look at Bobby Ryan's hands and wonder if Mantha's hands and fingers just break too easy. But Mantha is a beast when he wants to be and very intimidating when he starts pushing back for sure. He is powerful man, he isn't a guy you would want to turn around and see with ill-intent in my opinion. It is when to play that way, I think it is an element of his game that shouldn't be undersold and is because the Wings have been garbage so a lot of people haven't seen burr in the saddle Mantha in the post-season which would be scary. People got a taste of that last year when he was one of the best players at the World Championships.
I think this thread is missing the fact that we aren't looking for a fair deal to deal the most talented guy we have on a team with a serious talent deficiency. I get what other teams will want, and maybe down the line Mantha can be had as cheap as some of the proposals here. But the Wings would be wise to lock him up long-term, frankly they will get him under his true market value because of his injuries. He is a supreme talent.
You also just can't keep dealing everyone, if he is willing to stay long-term. You need guys of his talent to help the players coming through, you need Mantha - Larkin - Bertuzzi to make the building worth coming to and help the Zadina type players and others coming up in this rebuild. On this site where magic beans are everything I understand the wrong take on what Mantha is worth. If you are going to trade him you need several futures, not just one top 10 pick. That isn't enough for Anthony Mantha, certainly not where the Wings find themselves. He is the most talented player in the organization, you don't move on from him right now for anything short of a spectacular over-payment, especially so in division in terms of the always happening Montreal angle. You have to exact a pound of flesh if you're handing him over to them if you're Yzerman, but really you need to with any team. Mantha is a a stud, now hopefully he can stay healthy for a full campaign. Also at least selling then has his true talent value attached to it and hopefully a controlled contract that brings back more appropriate assets if you're Detroit. Selling him now would also infuriate Bertuzzi and Larkin, unless he is asking and his comment going into the off-season was he wanted to be here and fix this, it is a really tough sell for the organization in terms of where this actually is now.
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