The Detroit Red Wings need more from Anthony Mantha

Anthony Mantha was expected to lead the Detroit Red Wings in goals this season, but he is off to a quiet start.

The Detroit Red Wings need a better effort from Anthony Mantha on a nightly basis.  Mantha who posted 24 goals and added 24 assists last season totaling 48 points was expected to take a step forward this season.

The big power forward thru 6 games this season has 3 points.  He has one goal and a pair of helpers.  Over the last two games combined, he has been a minus 6.  In those games, he has failed to record 15 minutes of ice time.

Anthony Mantha needs to play 17-18 minutes a night; he is unable to produce offensively with any type of consistency recording fewer than 15 minutes of ice.  He accumulated 4 minutes of penalties in the Saturday matinee game in Boston which would cut into his minutes.  In Montreal, he was a minus 4, although recording an assist he didn’t seem nearly useful enough in the offensive zone.

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He is a first line winger in the NHL or is he?  He is definitely a first line forward on the Detroit Red Wings but is Mantha another forward we have overhyped?  Is he the next Tomas Tatar or Gustav Nyquist?  If that is the case, Mantha has already nearly plateaued.

It is much too early in the season and in his career to make those accusations, but I’m just reminding everyone about how excited we were about young Detroit Red Wings forwards in the past that were never able to take that next big step.

I will be honest I am disappointed with Mantha’s play over the first 6 games.  Yes, he is on pace for 41 points, but he is doing the “fly by” act much too often.  Mantha needs to lay the body down low in the corner and working his way to the net.  He tends to try and play more of a finesse game when he should be crushing guys down low.

The Detroit Red Wings gave Anthony Mantha a 2-year “bridge” deal this past summer.  A “show” me type of contract and I’m ok with that.  I hope he can take the next step, becoming a 30 goal scorer before Ken Holland gives him that 5 or 6 years “Tatar” type extension.

Mantha has started out the first 6 games skating to a minus 10 rating.  That is pretty ugly considering he finished the entire season last year as a minus 7.  The rating should improve once the top line starts playing like a top line.

Dylan Larkin has been a bright spot early on again this season, but the Wings as a team is struggling to score goals.  Gustav Nyquist has 5 points in 6 games all being assists.  Larkin has 3 goals and 5 points.  So the Detroit Red Wings top line has 4 goals in 6 games but has often struggled to find those types of shifts where they are getting tonnes of scoring chances along with constant pressure.

If Anthony Mantha wants to be that prolific scoring type winger that he can be, he needs to get those feet moving and be active on the body.  He needs to create his own time and space by being a physical force. The Detroit Red Wings need a better effort from the 24-year-old winger.

He has a snipers shot, and the Detroit Red Wings need to start finding twine before this losing steak finds it’s way to 10-12-15 games.  Sometimes a streak like this happens, and it feels like your skating on quicksand.  The harder you fight you end up sinking more.  It’s time Jeff Blashill leans on the top 6 forwards more and forgets about his fourth line as much, or he will find himself at the unemployment office soon.