Detroit Red Wings: Anthony Mantha needs to channel his inner Rick Nash

The big power forward for the Detroit Red Wings plays with an edge, but if he were to focus on directing more pucks towards the net, he could become a prolific scorer.

The Detroit Red Wings need forward Anthony Mantha to channel his inner Rick Nash next season and become an offensive force.   When Rick Nash burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old phenom with the Columbus Blue Jackets, he was expected to be the whole package.  A player who could bang the body and cause havoc down low along with scoring at will.

Nash, a true power forward who could out muscle his opponents on the end boards and wouldn’t be afraid to go to the net and deposit the loose change.  When Rick Nash was playing his game, he would streak in off the wing with speed and power like a locomotive daring a defenseman to impede his route to the net and more times than not Nash would find twine. Rick Nash owned a career shooting percentage of 12.1%, Mantha has an average of 12.6% so far in his young career.  What I’m saying to Anthony Mantha here is to SHOOT the puck!

Remembering Rick Nash in the early days of his career with the Columbus Blue Jackets, he carried that expansion team on his back with little to no team success from his rookie season in 2002 for ten years until he relocated to the New York Rangers.  Nash had an ok rookie season for an 18-year-old scoring 17 goals and totaling 39 points.

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His second NHL season was exceptional, in 81 games he scored 41 goals winning the Maurice Richard Trophy awarded to the league’s top goal scorer. That season he shared the award with Jerome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk. The Blue Jackets hadn’t won more than thirty games in a single season until 2006 and the first time they qualified for the playoffs was 2009, but look at them now; they just made history sweeping the 62 win Tampa Bay Lightning out in the first round of the 2019 playoffs which was the franchises first playoff series win.

Nash always appeared big on skates, and believe it or not Anthony Mantha is even larger.  Nash is 6’4 and played at 210 pounds, Anthony Mantha is 6’5, 225 pounds.   Nash decided to retire last summer due to a string of concussions he suffered.  He ended his career with 437 goals and 805 points during 1060 games played.

Mantha, especially early on in his career struggled to keep his feet moving and was often found watching the play rather than continuing to create space for himself away from the puck.  This past season it seemed Mantha was playing with much more confidence, part of that was playing alongside star forward and team leader Dylan Larkin.

Larkin elevated his game this season along with helping his linemates excel.  It doesn’t come as a shock that Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha became constant scoring threats this year playing on the top line with Larkin.  The trio appears to be the Detroit Red Wings top line for many years to come.

Rick Nash scored 40 or more goals three times in his career; he recorded 30 or more eight times throughout his 15-year career.  I don’t know if Anthony Mantha will ever score 40 goals, but he’s indeed shown the potential to do so this season.  He can be a streaky scorer if he can play with a more balanced attack and stay healthy he will become a regular 30 goal scorer and potentially reach the 40 goal mark at some point in his career.

He’s broken his hand twice already in his young career both during a fight.  Although I don’t mind a scorer fighting if the proper opportunity arises, if I’m Mantha knowing the history, I proceed with caution now.  I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more physical play from Mantha instead of the exchanging of fists.

In 67 games this season with the Detroit Red Wings Mantha recorded a career-high 25 goals and tied his career high in points he had set last season with 48.  Last year he recorded 24 goals in 80 games.  Something to note; this past season he had a CF% of 55%, well above average especially playing on a weak team.  To compare Dylan Larkin recorded a CF of 54.4% and Rick Nash’s career average was 51%.