If Mantha only signs a short term deal, then I think it could make sense to move on from him. He could very well sign a one or two year deal again and hope to cash in on a big contract year. While I agree that having vets is an important part of building the locker room, if a player doesn't want to be here then they won't make for a good locker room presence.
At least publicly, Mantha has expressed interest in staying with Detroit long term, so there is no sense is moving on from a proven top 6 player who wants to be here. It sends a signal to potential free agents, within the org and outside of it, that we are not interested in winning, which is counter productive. If we were stocked at his position, then that is one thing, but we are threadbare at every position.
In short, there are no easy or quick answers that are worth pursuing. We don't have the talent, depth or depth of talent that makes selling actual assets easy. AA and Green don't count in my mind, because both were damaged goods (for very different reasons). The silver lining in all of this is that the Wings are one of the best positioned teams to take on contracts for draft picks and still have room to spend big in FA once they are ready to compete.
At least publicly, Mantha has expressed interest in staying with Detroit long term, so there is no sense is moving on from a proven top 6 player who wants to be here. It sends a signal to potential free agents, within the org and outside of it, that we are not interested in winning, which is counter productive. If we were stocked at his position, then that is one thing, but we are threadbare at every position.
In short, there are no easy or quick answers that are worth pursuing. We don't have the talent, depth or depth of talent that makes selling actual assets easy. AA and Green don't count in my mind, because both were damaged goods (for very different reasons). The silver lining in all of this is that the Wings are one of the best positioned teams to take on contracts for draft picks and still have room to spend big in FA once they are ready to compete.