Mantha out 4-6 Weeks with Hand Injury

[Winger98]

Under the circumstances I understand why Mantha fought and I like that he sticks up for his teammates. But this is his second broken hand for such an unnecessary thing. I hope he stops fighting/does it very rarely.

yeah, this is where I'm at with Mantha and fighting. Let your guy Witkowski come out and handle it. Let Ericsson handle it. Hopefully in a year or two givani Smith will be a serviceable bottom6 player who can drop the gloves. Wouldn't be entirely against going out and signing a guy to help fill that role next summer, either, if there's a spot open for it.

 

[SoupGuru]

Larkin put himself in that spot. It sucks but the hit wasn't malicious. And Mantha had already boarded someone by that point without being called, if I remember right. And he's lucky he didn't get an instigator.

For every liberty they took with our players, we were taking liberties with their players. We were running around trying to hit people instead of playing hockey by that point.

We lost focus and we'll be exploitable if we don't learn from this.

 

[BinCookin]

When he comes back I'm listening to all offers for Mantha he has been a major disappointment. I was hoping/expecting him to get 35+ goals this year. I would take a first round pick for him if anyone would do that.

Unreasonable expectations? Yup.

he had 24G / 24 A last year.

If Mantha has a good year... he matches that, or gets 26,27,28 that type of improvement.
Lets not underestimate that Zetterberg had a lot to do with Mantha's production.

Also I wouldn't trade a Mantha for a 1st, Not unless it was a top 12 pick.

You are expecting too much out of our players.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Unreasonable expectations? Yup.

he had 24G / 24 A last year.

If Mantha has a good year... he matches that, or gets 26,27,28 that type of improvement.
Lets not underestimate that Zetterberg had a lot to do with Mantha's production.

Also I wouldn't trade a Mantha for a 1st, Not unless it was a top 12 pick.

You are expecting too much out of our players.

Those two sentences contradict themselves. If he is worth a top 12 pick I'm not "expecting too much" for him to score 11 more goals...

 

[AHall88]

It was a stupid fight.

So, you missed Larkin getting his head drilled into the boards right before Mantha smacked away on Nemeth.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Those two sentences contradict themselves. If he is worth a top 12 pick I'm not "expecting too much" for him to score 11 more goals...

They don't contradict themselves though.

BinCookin not wanting to trade a pick lower than 12 for Mantha doesn't mean that he's necessarily worth that pick or he'd draw that value. That is the pick value that would be required in Bin's eyes to make it a no-brainer to trade him. Same as Toronto realistically only accepting one offer for Auston Matthews (one that would never be offered, Connor McDavid). Or how literally no amount of assets would have moved Edmonton off of the 2014 #1OA, even if the overall value was better.

And "only 11 goals" is a 45% jump in his production on a worse team. But yeah... totally realistic.

 

[RedWingsDad]

It was a stupid fight.

I have a problem with fighting and cheap **** just to make yourself feel better when you're losing. That's what we were doing. Fight to change momentum, fighting to send a message, those are ok. I'm struggling to see how Bertuzzi and Mantha were trying to help their team. Well, they ended up costing their team, so great.

Eh, in addition to other things, fights are always about momentum when you boil it down - at least that is the net result, a momentum increase, or intensity increase that bumps up the tempo of the game. It makes for good hockey. Also, nobody is forcing them to fight (i.e. we aren't watching gladiators in ancient Rome) Get over it. Embrace it. Feeeeeel the fighting.

 

[Nut Upstrom]

I wonder if this is enough of a blow to Holland's delusional playoff hopes to push him into trading Howard.

More likely this begins the steady decline of Howard's numbers and his trade value with them. The time to initiate that trade is slowly passing Ken by.

 

[Dotter]

He shouldn't fight anymore. We need his offence

 

[Nut Upstrom]

Larkin put himself in that spot. It sucks but the hit wasn't malicious. And Mantha had already boarded someone by that point without being called, if I remember right. And he's lucky he didn't get an instigator.

For every liberty they took with our players, we were taking liberties with their players. We were running around trying to hit people instead of playing hockey by that point.

We lost focus and we'll be exploitable if we don't learn from this.

That's pretty much how I saw it; Larkin's head was below Nemeth's shoulder level and when Nemeth finished his check Lark's head got squeezed between the upper arm and the glass. I don't mind that Mantha initiated a fight to take up for his "captain," but it's that same dilemma about forcing a guy to fight after a clean hit - usually I am against that, but to protect certain players you step up when you don't like the hit, clean hit or not.

I love when Mantha fights, but this result is becoming a trend so, unfortunately, he needs to stop.

 

[Hammettf2b]

Megan called up
Red Wings Call Up Wade Megan

 

[Ezekial]

btw I don't think Mantha's hands are made of glass, I think he throws punches like a chotch.

 

[obey86]

this is why its stupid when good players fight.

 

[obey86]

When he comes back I'm listening to all offers for Mantha he has been a major disappointment. I was hoping/expecting him to get 35+ goals this year. I would take a first round pick for him if anyone would do that.

he was on pace for 27 goals this year, despite a really slow start. definitely had a chance at 30-35.

 

[Claypool]

btw I don't think Mantha's hands are made of glass, I think he throws punches like a chotch.

Oddly enough he was supposed to take boxing lessons over the summer but didn't.

 

[cjm502]

I came across this in the mlive article on Manthas injury.

Blashill said he’s spoken with strength coach Mike Kadar about Mantha’s off-ice routine during his absence.
“I want him to train as hard as he’s ever trained in his life,” Blashill said. “We get to have him in an environment for that time that you don’t get to have a guy during the summer because it’s not legal. So, let’s make sure when he’s coming back after that time, he’s ready to really get going.”

 

[Ezekial]

Oddly enough he was supposed to take boxing lessons over the summer but didn't.

Supposed to is a strong phrase, he was advised by his coach. But I thought the same thing, he should've taken them solely to learn how to not break your hand when you punch. He throws curly cues

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Oddly enough he was supposed to take boxing lessons over the summer but didn't.

I'd rather him take hockey lessons.

 

[Voodoo Glow Skulls]

Well, it will help the draft position.

And Mantha, stop fighting.

A big guy like you, come back out and lay the body.

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Is there any chance veleno makes the team this year?

 

[KasperTheGrittyGhost]

I have absolutely no problem with that fight. If you polled everyone that ever played hockey about bantam, I doubt you’d get many that’d say otherwise. You're supposed to stick up for your teammates, and that was a dirty hit by Nemeth.

 

[RoyalDoubleMcCheesie]

Didn't he hurt his hand at the end of season 2 years ago? And does anyone know if it is the same hand or not?

 

[Bondurant]

this is why its stupid when good players fight.

Generally speaking I would agree. I'd prefer to leave the heavy lifting to Witkowski but that guy isn't always on the ice. Sometimes there will arise a situation that has to be handled now. Mantha stepped up in such an occasion.

 

[Henkka]

Is there any chance veleno makes the team this year?

No. His job this season is to win the Memorial Cup.

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

No. He job this season is to win the Memorial Cup.

Got it! For some reason I forgot he was in the minors