Anthony Mantha
“There is no ghost so difficult to lay as the ghost of an
injury.”
-- Alexander Smith
It started in March 2017 with a fractured finger. For Anthony Mantha it was the first step of what has become a frustratingly injury-plagued career that has seen him play in more than 70 games in a season only once in his career. The finger injury was followed by groin, hand, “lower body,” knee, lung, and finally a shoulder injury from which he missed 45 games with the Washington Capitals in the 2021-2022 season. What makes it so frustrating is captured by the description of his assets at TSN.ca:
"Is a natural goal-scoring talent with great size and instincts for putting the biscuit in the basket. For a big winger, he skates very well, too. Displays great hand/eye coordination. Can play either wing position.”
His absence was a hole the Caps found difficult to fill this season.
Fearless’ Take… When he was in the lineup, Mantha was productive. His 0.62 points per game ranked fifth among forwards, and it leaves us with the question of whether he might have been even more effective if healthy for more of the season. He was just 0.05 points per game short of finishing third among forwards, behind only alex Ovechkin (1.17) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (0.99). He had a plus-7 even strength goal differential in the 37 games in which he played, tied for seventh among forwards and just two goals short of being fourth among forwards. He had a 53.8 shot-attempts-for percentage at 5-on-5 in only 37 games and just over 12 minutes per game at 5-on-5. It matters that Mantha is in the lineup, at least based on this season’s number. The Caps were 21-9-7 in the 37 games in which he played, earning 66.2 percent of available points. They were 23-17-5 when he was out of the lineup, earning only 56.7 percent of available points. And it was not as if he played against a bunch of stiffs in terms of strength of schedule. Of his 37 games played, he faced playoff teams 21 times. Mantha on ice was productive and could be a valuable top-six player.
Cheerless’ Take… In the six full seasons Mantha has played in the NHL, he dressed for 343 of 455 scheduled games, 75.4 percent of games played, and that includes playing in all 56 games of the 2020-2021 season, split between Detroit and Washington. He will be only 28 years old on Opening Night, presumably in his productive prime. But he has been brittle and needs to rid himself, to extent possible, of the injury bug that has plagued his career. And yes, cuz, he did dress 21 times against playoff teams this season, but he went 2-6-8, even, against those teams. He padded those numbers by going 7-8-15, plus-4, against non-playoff teams.
Odd Mantha Fact… Of 25 Capitals playing in at least 15 games, Mantha had the highest percentage of first goals of games of total goals scored (four in 37 games/10.8 percent).
Odd Mantha Fact II… Offensive engagement by Mantha and Caps success went hand-in-hand…7-0-0 when he scored a goal, 12-2-4 when he had a point, 16-4-3 when he had at least two shots on goal.
Odd Mantha Fact III… The Caps did not lose a game in regulation when Mantha skated less than 14 minutes in a game (6-0-3).
Game to Remember… April 16th at Montreal. The Caps headed to Montreal for a mid-April matchup after having been pasted in Toronto by the Maple Leafs, 7-3, two nights earlier. That loss ended a four-game winning streak capped with a 9-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. It might have left Caps fans wondering which team would show up against the Canadiens. Anthony Mantha would have a say in answering that question. He helped open the scoring for the Caps, assisting on a Nic Dowd goal 12:23 into the first period to put the Caps out in front first. Montreal tied the game less than two minutes into the second period, but then Mantha took over. With the teams skating 4-on-4, owing to coincidental penalties to Nicklas Backstrom and Josh Anderson, Dmitry Orlov circled out from behind his own net and sent a long pass up ice to Lars Eller just outside the Montreal blue line. His bump pass found a streaking Mantha, who skated around a Montreal defender along the right wing wall and barreled in on goalie Sam Montembeault. He fired from the right wing circle, and Montembeault managed to slow the puck down. It snuck past him and crawled to the goal line, but before he could smother the puck with his catching glove, Mantha swooped in and batted it into the back of the net at the 8:03 mark to give the Caps a lead they would not relinquish.
Mantha put the Caps up a pair of goals just 34 seconds later. With the teams still skating 4-on-4, Mantha started the play by poking the puck off the stick of Cole Caufield at the Caps’ blue line. The puck slid up to Eller, who fed Mantha hustling back into the play. He broke in alone on Montembeault and snapped a shot that beat the goalie cleanly under his glove to make it 3-1, Caps, 8:37 into the period.
In the third period, Mantha would close out his big night with an assist on an Orlov goal that put the Caps up, 6-3, on their way to an 8-4 win. It was Mantha’s sixth career game with four or more points and his first with Washington after recording his first five with the Detroit Red Wings.
Game to Forget… November 4th at Florida. After posting a pair of goals and five points in his first nine games of the season, Mantha looked poised to be a reliable contributor for the Caps in his first full season with the club after arriving from Detroit. He added to his point total with an assist on a Daniel Sprong goal 43 seconds into the second period to cut a 2-0 Panther lead in half. However, less than six minutes later his evening would end, suffering what was described at the time as an “upper body injury” but one that would cost him and the Caps 45 games after shoulder surgery. He did go 7-10-17 in 27 games after his return, which only made one wonder what his season might have been without having so much of it missed to injury.
Postseason… Mantha did not record a goal in any of the six games in the first round loss to Florida, but he did post four assists, three of them in the Caps’ two wins and one in the overtime loss that ended the Caps’ season. It was his second trip to the postseason of his career, both with the Caps. However, in 11 games over those two postseasons, he has yet to score a goal (0-6-6) on 31 shots.
Looking Ahead… Mantha has two more seasons on a contract with a $5.7 million cap hit. A durable player with as much productivity as Mantha has displayed on a per-82 game basis with the Caps to date (a 21-29-50, plus-6, pace pr 82 games) is not necessarily a bargain, but it is less so for a player whose games missed history is considered. Perhaps if he could shake the injury bug once and for all, his production will improve sufficiently to make him a bargain and worthy of a contract extension down the road.
In the end…
Anthony Mantha possesses the rare skill set that combines size, speed, soft hands, and a scorer’s touch that any team would find desirable. He is, when healthy, a bona fide top-six talent who would appear to have the potential to raise his game another notch or two. But the key phrase in the preceding sentence is “when healthy.” For the Caps to compete for a playoff spot, let alone a deep playoff run next season, his ability to avoid that injury bug will be of paramount importance.
Grade: B
No comments:
Post a Comment