Player Talk: Anthony Mantha

[KJoe88]

^

Draft and develop our own, don't care if the team has to suck for a little to get one.

Mantha is a core piece that should not be moved.

A high d-man pick + Mantha + Larkin + Mrazek and even added guys like Nyquist and Nielsen would equal a good core. Probably missing another center, though.

That said, I feel like Larkin mighy be a good line mate for Z and Mantha. Stick him in the middle and see what happens.

 

[14ari13]

We're starting to see the Mantha I saw in junior. No way he was going to fail IMO. Too much talent not to succeed. Time will tell how good he becomes.

Mantha is unreal. The combination of speed/skill/size/shooting abilities is lethal. I honestly think he is already our best player. I think he's too talented not to keep this up. If he continues to get ice time, he will continue to produce.

He will lead this team in goals this year, and will probably do so for many years to come, the kid is an all-around stud. I wonder what Jim Devellano has to say about Mantha now...

Eh. Nyquist had his hot run. Larkin too. Mrazek too. Who else? AA. Have I forgotten someone? Howard.
Mantha is good. I love his forechecking, I love how he protects the puck. But you folks are jumping the gun here big time.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Eh. Nyquist had his hot run. Larkin too. Mrazek too. Who else? AA. Have I forgotten someone? Howard.
Mantha is good. I love his forechecking, I love how he protects the puck. But you folks are jumping the gun here big time.

I don't know what any of those guys have to do with the level of excitement we should have over Mantha. If anything, the fact that he looks this good on a team where almost everyone is struggling is even more reason to think he's legit. He's not playing sheltered minutes on a dominant team, he has zero help from the PP, his numbers aren't unsustainable, he's not feeding off any dominant teammates.. and he has the pedigree of a top scorer.

 

[KJoe88]

Eh. Nyquist had his hot run. Larkin too. Mrazek too. Who else? AA. Have I forgotten someone? Howard.
Mantha is good. I love his forechecking, I love how he protects the puck. But you folks are jumping the gun here big time.

Nyquist is still young, but he's a complementary winger with good skill. A different player compared to Mantha.

PD hit he bullseye. If Mantha had a prime Datsyuk, he would be even better. He's been a beast on a very, very average team. Mantha is legit. Babcock saw it even before he played his first game. Remember his big fat smirk on the draft stage?

He's only going to get better. No one is jumping the gun. He's not Nyquist.

Also, Larkin is irrelevant. He's still unbelievably young - he's hasn't even started yet.

 

[Wingsfan 4 life]

Meh, I'd like to see how the rest year plays out for Mantha before annointing him any more or less than already said here. I have liked what I've seen of him so far, but 20 games is still low for me.

 

[Mijatovic]

Eh happens every time. People are only happy to trade when value is low. Which then becomes pointless.

I dont know what the answer is but if the opportunity came up for a true #1/#2 for Mantha, the team should take it and run.

 

[KJoe88]

Eh happens every time. People are only happy to trade when value is low. Which then becomes pointless.

I dont know what the answer is but if the opportunity came up for a true #1/#2 for Mantha, the team should take it and run.

Every team needs a Mantha type player to win a cup.

I wouldn't trade him if he ends up a 30+ scorer. I believe Mantha can be a consistent 40 goal guy.

 

[Reddwit]

Eh. Nyquist had his hot run. Larkin too. Mrazek too. Who else? AA. Have I forgotten someone? Howard.
Mantha is good. I love his forechecking, I love how he protects the puck. But you folks are jumping the gun here big time.

Not sure why these guys are here. The jury should absolutely still be out on all three of them. Larkin continues to find the back of the net despite not having a consistent role this season and he's 20, Athanasiou hasn't been given a long-term role yet, and Mrazek is a young goalie. Hell, forget Mrazek's age. Its enough that he's an NHL goalie to say you can't peg him as a player.

Mantha will undoubtedly hit a rough patch at some point, but he is still a genetically-blessed, highly talented, uniquely skilled individual. He doesn't fit the mold of the projects that were Tatar or Nyquist or Howard.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Just to put things in some perspective since I've seen a lot of comments about how a guy like Mantha can't compare with the other rookies around the league:

ES P/GP

Mantha: 0.64
Matthews: 0.61
Marner: 0.61
Nylander: 0.31
Laine: 0.54

Mantha is already top 10 in rookie scoring and that's while getting almost no production from the PP, which guys like Laine, Marner, Matthews and especially Nylander get a big boost from.

He's behind only Marner, Matthews and Laine in P/GP among rookies with >10GP.

Leads all rookies in +/-

 

[avssuc]

I wonder what dude will ask for in 17 months when he's an RFA? The new trend is to avoid bridge deals to save later, but I'm not sure he'd go for that, or that the Wings can afford that option.

 

[Mijatovic]

Just to put things in some perspective
ES P/GP

Mantha: 0.64
Matthews: 0.61
Marner: 0.61
Nylander: 0.31
Laine: 0.54

I like how you choose to put things in perspective by selecting a subset and cherry picking a stat. Not saying I dont like Mantha. I just hate qualified stats and American Sports LOVE their qualified stats.

 

[HIFE]

Just to put things in some perspective since I've seen a lot of comments about how a guy like Mantha can't compare with the other rookies around the league:

ES P/GP

Mantha: 0.64
Matthews: 0.61
Marner: 0.61
Nylander: 0.31
Laine: 0.54

Mantha is already top 10 in rookie scoring and that's while getting almost no production from the PP, which guys like Laine, Marner, Matthews and especially Nylander get a big boost from.

He's behind only Marner, Matthews and Laine in P/GP among rookies with >10GP.

Leads all rookies in +/-

We'll have to see if Mantha can keep up his .73 P/GP over the next 14-17 games he's behind these other 3 to stay in this discussion. I do believe he can.

Rookie talk doesn't move me much. Panarin at 24 was supposedly a "rookie" last year. It's wonderful Mantha is doing well and heating with confidence game after game but how would one honestly compare a 22 y/o with an 18 and two 19 year olds? Why would we even want to? Matthews, like McDavid, is a generational talent there is no shame admitting Mantha is not in the same category.

I say again the player evaluations from fans here have proven to be somewhat inaccurate and misleading. If you think about it mangement suffers from the same disease. Whether Kindl and Smith, Jurco and Pulkkinen, Tatar and Nyquist, Sproul and Ouellet- I enjoy the discussion but have learned to take evaluations (like from Malik) with a grain of salt.

 

[ricky0034]

We'll have to see if Mantha can keep up his .73 P/GP over the next 14-17 games he's behind these other 3 to stay in this discussion. I do believe he can.

Rookie talk doesn't move me much. Panarin at 24 was supposedly a "rookie" last year. It's wonderful Mantha is doing well and heating with confidence game after game but how would one honestly compare a 22 y/o with an 18 and two 19 year olds? Why would we even want to? Matthews, like McDavid, is a generational talent there is no shame admitting Mantha is not in the same category.

I say again the player evaluations from fans here have proven to be somewhat inaccurate and misleading. If you think about it mangement suffers from the same disease. Whether Kindl and Smith, Jurco and Pulkkinen, Tatar and Nyquist, Sproul and Ouellet- I enjoy the discussion but have learned to take evaluations (like from Malik) with a grain of salt.

the thing is there's as much of a gap in pedigree between say Mantha and Nyquist as there is between Matthews and Mantha

this is a guy that from the very start had a bunch of powerful positives and no real negatives aside from nebulous concerns about his "effort"

even before he was drafted he was part of impressive lists like guys who put up 50 goals in juniors in their draft year or prior in the past decade which other than him included like 7-8 players the worst of which was Joffrey Lupul and the rest of which was guys like Crosby and Tavares

edit:

Jeff Skinner
John Tavares
Steven Stamkos
Patrick Kane
Sidney Crosby
Joffrey Lupul
Anthony Mantha

that's the list from the 2000 draft up until the 2016 draft when Alex DeBrincat joined the list

that's a 7 player list in 16 drafts 4 of which were 1st overalls

 

[14ari13]

I don't know what any of those guys have to do with the level of excitement we should have over Mantha. If anything, the fact that he looks this good on a team where almost everyone is struggling is even more reason to think he's legit. He's not playing sheltered minutes on a dominant team, he has zero help from the PP, his numbers aren't unsustainable, he's not feeding off any dominant teammates.. and he has the pedigree of a top scorer.

Nyquist is still young, but he's a complementary winger with good skill. A different player compared to Mantha.

PD hit he bullseye. If Mantha had a prime Datsyuk, he would be even better. He's been a beast on a very, very average team. Mantha is legit. Babcock saw it even before he played his first game. Remember his big fat smirk on the draft stage?

He's only going to get better. No one is jumping the gun. He's not Nyquist.

Also, Larkin is irrelevant. He's still unbelievably young - he's hasn't even started yet.

I think the posters are bio polar here, either too high or too low.
Just look at Mrazek. I remember when he was playing great they were talking about giving him 5-6 M,
I thought he deserved 2-3. Now he can't win a game to save his life.

 

[Claypool]

Just noticed he passed Larkin in points with 15 fewer games. Mantha is a +10 and Larkin a -12

Wonder if they keep Larkin as the third line center the rest of the season.

 

[Vladdy84]

Glad they kept Mantha in GR for so long...

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

Just noticed he passed Larkin in points with 15 fewer games. Mantha is a +10 and Larkin a -12

Wonder if they keep Larkin as the third line center the rest of the season.

Larkin more then likely stays at 3rd line center until Helm gets back, Once Helm gets back he'll probably go back to the wing i would assume.

 

[Ezekial]

Glad they kept Mantha in GR for so long...

Maybe it lit a fire under his ass, effort on every shift has always been the Mantha knock.

 

[14ari13]

Just noticed he passed Larkin in points with 15 fewer games. Mantha is a +10 and Larkin a -12

Wonder if they keep Larkin as the third line center the rest of the season.

Larkin led the team in +/- last season, didn't he?

Maybe it lit a fire under his ass, effort on every shift has always been the Mantha knock.

Exactly. A pissed off mantha >>> a Mantha .

 

[Reddwit]

Just noticed he passed Larkin in points with 15 fewer games. Mantha is a +10 and Larkin a -12

Wonder if they keep Larkin as the third line center the rest of the season.

And Franz Nielsen leads the team with a -15, despite being heralded as a great two-way player. No doubt the fact that our goaltending has run the gamut from several softies a game to Vezina-worthy bail-out performances has something to do with it.

 

[Reddwit]

Maybe it lit a fire under his ass, effort on every shift has always been the Mantha knock.

If you ask me, half of that critique simply comes from the way Mantha carries himself.

 

[Ezekial]

And Franz Nielsen leads the team with a -15, despite being heralded as a great two-way player. No doubt the fact that our goaltending has run the gamut from several softies a game to Vezina-worthy bail-out performances has something to do with it.

Well Frans Nielsen had been taking the hardest matchups alongside offensive slugs most nights. At least one of Sheahan or Glendening were glued to his hip until Vanek and Nyquie moved onto his line.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Glad they kept Mantha in GR for so long...

Definitely, he's the prototypical player that needed time to adress his weaknesses. If he was brought up earlier he'd likely have a lot more bad habits still.

 

[Ezekial]

If you ask me, half of that critique simply comes from the way Mantha carries himself.

Idk look at Coreau's comment after the Leafs game

"He’s a great player and he plays hard now, he can shoot the puck, he can score and he’s becoming a big time player,â€

Coming from someone who has played quite a bit of games with him

 

[DanZ]

I don't see any problem with the way Mantha carries himself. He looks fast and hungry on the ice.