Should we explore trading Mantha for a young promising defenseman?

[Frk It]

I’ve always liked Mantha.... but would it make sense to move him for help on defense?

He clearly has a lot of talent and should be enticing as a trade piece. Personally I think it’s possible he is a guy who always has those stretches where he looks like an elite player, but I’m not sure he will ever do it with consistency.

If we remove him our future top 6 doesn’t look as good on the wing, but it could be worth it to add a quality young defenseman or promising prospect on the back end.

Personally I think you win more being strong down the middle and on the back end than anything else. Plus we are pretty good at drafting wingers for the most part.

Just wondering what everyone thinks — I am happy to keep him if nothing makes sense.

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[newfy]

I think they should be open to improving the blue line however they can. The wings have always drafted scoring wingers well, not so great on D. They should be thinking 3ish years from now. Can someone like Berggren replace what they think Mantha will be in 3 years? If so, then he would be a good piece to use to get a solid young D. You dont give away a player like Mantha for nothing but a young D would help a lot

 

[chances14]

I would do it for the right price. Wingers are a lot easier to replace than centers or dman

 

[TCNorthstars]

I think it is something to explore. Not sure of his trade value or who he might be able to pull though.

 

[turkleton85]

I'm frustrated by him at the moment, but he is still one of my favorite players. With the emergence of cholo and hronek this year, i don't see the need at the moment, since we're gonna suck anyways and can imagine manthas current trade value isn't high enough to get us someone with more upside than those 2 guys.

I'm still hoping he explodes in the next games and shows us the player he was the first quarter of last season.

 

[YpsiWings]

I would. On a team this bad there shouldn’t be anybody that is off limits. The problem is that young promising defensemen rarely move, and when they do it is for someone that is a lot more established than Mantha (Johansen, Hall, Duchene).

 

[Frk It]

Who are some realistic targets?

Could something like Mantha + for Trouba make sense for both sides?

Would people be open to trading for unproven guys with upside like Sanheim or Valimaki?

 

[ShanahanMan]

100%. Him and AA definitely don’t want to play here. They’re the Evander Kane’s of our team.

 

[FireBird71]

Need to have patience with the defensemen we have drafted and need to shed some of the bad contracts over the next couple seasons. Holland needs to not be the GM of this team and may have to remove Blashill. Would much rather try to sign guys who will be a part of the future..done with signing guys like Vanek for one year and Green for 2

 

[Fil Larkmanthanasiou]

I'd offer Mantha to Montreal for Domi and a first (Mantha has extra French value) and would drop down to a 2nd if they balked at that.
We have a enough young d-men with potential to work with at the moment.

 

[Heaton]

Who are some realistic targets?

Could something like Mantha + for Trouba make sense for both sides?

Would people be open to trading for unproven guys with upside like Sanheim or Valimaki?

The 'problem' with Winnipeg is they don't need wingers, they're STACKED on the wing. They could use a center or another defenseman for Trouba, which we don't have to offer.

 

[Sparty]

Yeah sure, if you can get the equivalent of Drouin for Sergachev you do it, but I think Marc Bergevin learned his lesson and there aren't probably isn't anyone else around who would do a deal like that.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Yes a team that cant score trade our best scorer from last year for a defenseman. Lol.

100%. Him and AA definitely don’t want to play here. They’re the Evander Kane’s of our team.

You wish they were Evander Kane.Kane is a good player theres a reason the sharks traded for him and gave him a huge contract

The MAIN problem with Detroit is we can't score. Not our defense that's the second biggest problem

 

[Frk It]

The MAIN problem with Detroit is we can't score. Not our defense that's the second biggest problem

Someone has to get your forwards the puck so they can score. Transitioning out of our end has been an issue for a long time. We are heading in a better direction there but could use another guy that excels in that area IMO.

 

[TheMule93]

At least wait until he's playing good to trade him. That way we can get a decent return.

The MAIN problem with Detroit is we can't score. Not our defense that's the second biggest problem

We've scored 11 goals and have given up 23 in 5 games

We are extremely bad in both regards. A defenseman will prob have a larger effect on both metrics compared to a forward who will primarily affect scoring

 

[Dexter Colt]

Typically, I think guys who have the talent, but for whatever reason fail to perform up to their potential, have up to around the age of 26 to get their shit together before they are done, so I'd imagine he has a couple of seasons left. However, getting said shit together usually does not happen with the team that brought them in. Whether or not it's due to a needed change of scenery and a kick in the butt, I would not condone the trading of his.

He reminds me a bit of Franzén without the peak, at least thus far. He has the tools to put up the numbers, but he's just so infuriatingly inconsistent. At least Franzén had a peak that was pure magic.

 

[Bench]

This isn't even a debate in my mind. If you can move a 2nd line winger for defensive help, that's a win. The free agent market on veteran scoring wingers is usually good enough to fill any immediate holes. On defense? Good luck.

 

[TheRatPoisoner]

Who are some realistic targets?

Could something like Mantha + for Trouba make sense for both sides?

Would people be open to trading for unproven guys with upside like Sanheim or Valimaki?

This is the problem for me. Can't really think of an realistic targets. With respect to Trouba specifically, I'd be inclined to wait until he hits free agency -- the team's not gonna be competitive by adding him before that time anyways.

Guess we could try for something similar to the Drouin-Sergachev trade where we roll the dice on a bluechip d-prospect -- that worked out pretty good for the Bolts. Target a guy like, I dunno, Fabbro maybe? (Not 100% sure how the Preds value him though or even if they're looking to add another winger). Far from a guarantee the Wings come out on top in a scenario like that, however.

Ultimately, i think the best thing to do is hang on to Mantha given that we're probably not gonna be happy with what the return would be. The guy had such a unique skill set. He could end up making the Wings look pretty dumb for giving up on him this early.

 

[TheRatPoisoner]

This isn't even a debate in my mind. If you can move a 2nd line winger for defensive help, that's a win. The free agent market on veteran scoring wingers is usually good enough to fill any immediate holes. On defense? Good luck.

Think it's that straightforward if you don't think Mantha has any untapped potential. Maybe I'm just being a massive homer in thinking he does though.

 

[ShanahanMan]

You wish they were Evander Kane.Kane is a good player theres a reason the sharks traded for him and gave him a huge contract

Oh I agree he’s a way better player than both of our scrubs combined. I just meant they hate playing for us similar to how Kane hated playing for WPG (or Panarin with Columbus)

 

[Sparty]

Guess we could try for something similar to the Drouin-Sergachev trade where we roll the dice on a bluechip d-prospect -- that worked out pretty good for the Bolts. Target a guy like, I dunno, Fabbro maybe? (Not 100% sure how the Preds value him though or even if they're looking to add another winger). Far from a guarantee the Wings come out on top in a scenario like that, however.

A trade like Mantha-Fabbro probably can't happen until the offseason because Fabbro is a college kid. Could you imagine giving up Mantha for a kid who can't even play until next year? I guess we'd clinch #31 pretty early, lol

 

[Shaman464]

Finding a good young defender is worlds harder than finding a decent scoring winger. If someone wants Mantha for a D-man I say take the deal and don't look back.

 

[Goalie guy]

Why is it always lets trade the players? The team can't score, cant break out of their own end, can't enter the O zone, it's not the players it's the system! Or rather lack there of! Every year for the last 3 it's the same shit over and over and over again Trashhill is the biggest problem here.

 

[raymond23]

Yes.

 

[jkutswings]

Explore? Yes. There's absolutely zero to lose by evaluating the market.

Expect? No way. I'm not saying the OP implied that, but in general, there are almost no players I would never consider shopping, and almost no players I would ever consider dumping without decent value.

If Mantha could be packaged for a guy with #3 or better potential on defense, that's a layup of a trade. But I don't see many teams eager to cough up that guy, so for now, just patiently keep tabs on things from until the deadline.