The Score’s Sean O’Leary picked 5 players for fantasy hockey poolies to target as “sleeper” picks, and his praise for Anthony Mantha is effusive:
Mantha is coming off a career-high 25-goal season with Detroit despite being limited to 67 games, showing the high-end promise the Red Wings hoped for when they drafted him 20th overall in 2013.
The soon-to-be 25-year-old primarily spent his time flanking Dylan Larkin in 2018-19, and they put up solid results – a trend that should continue for another year as the Wings’ two core pieces keep developing as pros.
Mantha shot the puck more than ever last season, too, but still maintained his career-average shooting percentage of 12.6%, indicating he’s a candidate to produce consistently rather than a flash in the pan. He also netted seven goals in nine contests for Canada at the World Championship if you needed any more convincing that this is a player quietly trending toward becoming a premier NHL goal-scorer.
