Slightly belated: Red Wings sign Anthony Mantha to 2-year, $6.6 contract

While I was at the grocery store, per the Red Wings:

RED WINGS AND ANTHONY MANTHA AGREE TO TWO-YEAR CONTRACT
… Former First-Round Pick Led Red Wings with 24 Goals in 2017-18 …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today agreed to terms with right wing Anthony Mantha on a two-year contract.

Mantha, 23, skated in 80 games with the Red Wings in 2017-18 and produced a team-leading 24 goals, while ranking among Detroit’s leaders with 24 assists (4th), 48 points (3rd), 52 penalty minutes (4th), nine power-play goals (1st), 190 shots (3rd) and a 12.6 shooting percentage (1st). He registered multiple points in a single game on 10 occasions last season, including four three-point games and a career-high four points (2-2-4) on March 6 at Boston. Mantha became part of Red Wings history during the 2017-18 campaign by scoring the first-ever goal at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit’s season-opening 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 5, 2017. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound winger has appeared in 150 games with the Red Wings since 2015-16, notching 87 points (43-44-87) and 107 penalty minutes.

The Longueuil, Quebec, native was drafted by the Red Wings in the first round (20th overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He also appeared in 132 games with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins from 2014-17, totaling 88 points (44-44-88), a plus-20 rating and 102 penalty minutes in 132 regular-season games and 15 points (6-9-15), a plus-six rating and 24 penalty minutes in 25 postseason games. Prior to turning professional, Mantha enjoyed a historic 2013-14 campaign in which he was named the Canadian Hockey League’s Player of the Year and the most-valuable player of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after racking up 120 points (57-63-120) in 57 regular-season games and 38 points (24-14-38) in 24 playoff games to help the Val-d’Or Foreurs capture the QMJHL championship. In 189 QMJHL games between 2010-14, Mantha totaled 260 points (129-131-260), a plus-42 rating and 185 penalty minutes. He also led Canada at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship with 11 points (5-6-11) in seven games.

Anthony Mantha, Right Wing
Born Sep 16 1994 — Longueuil, PQ
Height 6.05 — Weight 225 — Shoots L
Selected by Detroit Red Wings round 1 #20 overall 2013 NHL Entry Draft

— Regular Season —  —- Playoffs —-
Season   Team                        Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM  GP   G   A Pts PIM
————————————————————————————–
2010-11  Val d’Or Foreurs            QMJHL   2    0    0    0    0  —  —  —  —  —
2011-12  Val d’Or Foreurs            QMJHL  63   22   29   51   39   4   2   2   4   6
2012-13  Val d’Or Foreurs            QMJHL  67   50   39   89   71   9   5   7  12  13
2013-14  Val d’Or Foreurs            QMJHL  57   57   63  120   75  24  24  14  38  52
2014-15  Grand Rapids Griffins       AHL    62   15   18   33   64  16   2   2   4  16
2015-16  Grand Rapids Griffins       AHL    60   21   24   45   32   9   4   7  11   8
2015-16  Detroit Red Wings           NHL    10    2    1    3    2  —  —  —  —  —
2016-17  Grand Rapids Griffins       AHL    10    8    2   10    6  —  —  —  —  —
2016-17  Detroit Red Wings           NHL    60   17   19   36   53  —  —  —  —  —
2017-18  Detroit Red Wings           NHL    80   24   24   48   52  —  —  —  —  —
————————————————————————————–
NHL Totals                        150   43   44   87  107

Update: The Free Press’s Helene St. James confirms…

A bridge deal made sense for the Detroit Red Wings and Anthony Mantha.

Mantha was signed Wednesday to a two-year contract with a $3.3 million salary cap hit per year. Mantha led the Wings last season with 24 goals. A first-round pick from 2013, Mantha is considered one of the key pieces of the rebuild. At 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, he is one of the team’s biggest players, and he’s shown encouraging growth in his effort during the past two seasons. He was called out a couple times by head coach Jeff Blashill for not putting in enough effort on a regular basis, and has said he understands what a difference he makes when he is engaged.

The Wings have encouraged Mantha to use James van Riemsdyk (who just signed a long-term deal with the Flyers) as an example of the type of hockey Mantha needs to play to be successful — go to the net and create havoc down low.

The contract means that Mantha, 23, will once again be a restricted free agent upon its expiration. It gives him an opportunity to build his resume in advance of what could next be a long-term deal, and gives the Wings a chance to further evaluate Mantha before deciding how far to extend him past unrestricted free agency.

The deal comes a week after the Wings signed 23-year-old Andreas Athanasiou to a two-year deal. The Wings are at around $73 million, not counting Johan Franzen, who will return to Long-Term Injured Reserve when the season begins. The upper limit for 2018-19 is $79.5 million.

As does the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan…

Another one of the Red Wings’ core pieces is in the fold.

Detroit signed forward Anthony Mantha, who was a restricted free agent, Wednesday to a two-year contract.

The contract is worth $6.6 million, with a salary cap hit of $3.3 million per season.

Mantha, who turns 24 on Sept. 16, can still be a restricted free agent when the contract expires in 2020.

Mantha (6-foot-5, 221 pounds) has shown both an ability to score goals — and get into coach Jeff Blashill’s doghouse in his short NHL career.

…

Larkin, a restricted free agent, is expected to work out a long-term contract with the Wings, possibly in the five-year range.

Larkin, who’s from Waterford and played at Michigan, led the team in scoring last season and has gradually become a young leader on the team.

That would leave general manager Ken Holland with no contract issues for the start of training camp in September.

And MLive’s Ansar Khan…

The Red Wings on Wednesday signed Mantha to a two-year contract that has a cap hit of $3.3 million.

“He had a good year, we need him to take a step, he’s got that potential, that ability,” Holland said. “Once you play 100 games you get a good idea what this league is all about. He’s got a good idea what he needs to do in the summer to take his game to another level.”

The 6-5, 225-pound Mantha said he planned on doing power skating in the off-season. He also wanted to take boxing lessons, not to fight more but to be grittier.

“You can never get enough speed or edge work, so that’s going to be one thing, and work on some grit,” Mantha said on locker cleanout day.

Mantha turns 24 on Sept. 16. He will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights when the deal expires in 2020.

Published by

George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.

6 thoughts on “Slightly belated: Red Wings sign Anthony Mantha to 2-year, $6.6 contract”

  1. So there is 2.8 mil leftover for Larkin? It seems Holland has painted himself in Cap Compliance Corner again. Holland will need to move someone but now he will be in a weakened condition since every team knows the Wings will be above the cap.

    This should be interesting to watch unfold. Hopefully Holland can pull a good maneuver here.

  2. I see on CapFriendly Franzen’s numbers have not been applied to the LTIR. That’s a good thing.

    Nice contract for both sides. If only Holland was allowed to sign RFA’s.

    1. Teams can also exceed the cap by 10% over the summer. Then LTIR is applied at the start of the season.

      1. Good point. Holland’s managed the LTIR-dance for a few years now and I don’t really foresee him having problems with the same exact issue this year.

        I like the contract (certainly much more than AA’s) and I still hope he’ll develop more, but looking at the future Larkin’s more important and I’ve no doubt he and Holland will make a good deal.

        (Maybe I should note that I consider Holland’s work in the last five years to be very good, and by work I mean the contracts he’s negotiated, the drafts, the trades, et al. I feel like I should mention that because oftentimes there’s an assumption on-the-internet that everyone has the same views on the franchise… even tho’ everyone knows deep down that isn’t true.)

        1. I totally agree. Holland actually does some Cap Magic each year because he pays his players a respectable salary. It’s rare that we hear Holland described as cheap or demeaning because he’s not playing players what they are worth.

      2. Good point. Holland’s managed the LTIR-dance for a few years now and I don’t really foresee him having problems with the same exact issue this year.

        I like the contract (certainly much more than AA’s) and I still hope he’ll develop more, but looking at the future Larkin’s more important and I’ve no doubt he and Holland will make a good deal.

        (Maybe I should note that I consider Holland’s work in the last five years to be very good, and by work I mean the contracts he’s negotiated, the drafts, the trades, et al. I feel like I should mention that because oftentimes there’s an assumption on-the-internet that everyone has the same views on the franchise… even tho’ everyone knows deep down that isn’t true.)

Comments are closed.