The Athletic’s Chris Meaney examines “top breakout candidates” for fantasy hockey poolies this upcoming season, and Meaney believes that Anthony Mantha and his linemates are solid fantasy picks…
Anthony Mantha, DET — Mantha scored a career-high 25 goals last season, despite missing 15 games. He has 51 goals combined in the past two seasons and at least 17 in each of his past three seasons. Mantha will continue to see an uptick in ice time and his linemates (Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi), will continue to grow offensively. The trio were one of the most underrated lines in the final few weeks of the season and Mantha was a big part of that: 15 goals and 23 points in his final 26 games.
As is one Filip Hronek…
Filip Hronek, DET — There’s not a lot to like in Detroit and if you play with that silly stat called plus/minus, you probably want nothing to do with Filip Hronek. Which is too bad, because the Red Wings’ defenseman will open up the season on the top pair and it won’t take long to overtake Mike Green on the No. 1 PP unit. Hronek averaged 20 minutes per game and he picked up 23 points (five PPP) in 46 games as a rookie. The 21-year-old could have 23 points by the all-star break.
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