SpikeDDS Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Reported in today's Freep that Anthony Mantha will make his pro debut on Friday, and Ken Holland is going to have a look. Keep one eye on this, because it will be interesting if we fall into the kind of injury-prone streak as we have the past couple of seasons. It wouldn't surprise me to catch him in a game or two this season in a winged wheel sweater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyercanuck Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 I thought Mantha would already be playing for the Griffins??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 I thought Mantha would already be playing for the Griffins???Injured in the preseason. Finally making his season debut. If he had not been injured he likely would have been on the Wings to start the year. A booming shot and a big boy. I am hoping he makes the Wings later and sticks soon. We have nobody like him on the team and he would be a good fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyercanuck Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 @yave1964 Ah I see. And hows AA doing? He's going to be a good one as well IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 @flyercanuck Athanasiou started slow but since Andy Miele got healthy and is playing a top line role with Athanasiou getting a chance to play without the opponents top defensive pair, and teamed with Pulkinnen he has really been doing great lately. I watch a lot of Griffin games (the wife is very patient with me, lol) and the kid seems to have speed to burn (pun intended) and an IQ that blows me away. I have watched him, studied him and Pulkinnen when they are on the ice, Athanasiou seems to be adjusted to the AHL already, some guys need a year or two, after a slow start where he seemed tentative but showed flashes, his confidence level is already there, he attacks the zone, reads defenses and a couple of nights ago against Lake Erie Athanasiou drew three men to him and found Pulkinnen all alone with a perfect pass and Pulkinnen who has one hell of a shot absolutely buried it. The Wings just keep pushing kid forwards up to the NHL, we have rebuilt over half of our starting forwards on the fly over the past 18 months, and kids like Mantha, Athanasiou and Pulkinnen will be right behind. Unbelievable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyercanuck Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 @yave1964 Loved watching him play for the Colts. He's the type of player that gets people up out of their seats. Fast and a great puck handler. Electric. Enjoy him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Injured in the preseason. Finally making his season debut.If he had not been injured he likely would have been on the Wings to start the year. A booming shot and a big boy. I am hoping he makes the Wings later and sticks soon. We have nobody like him on the team and he would be a good fit. Red Wings’ Devellano calls Mantha ‘very, very, very disappointing’ http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/04/red-wings-devellano-calls-mantha-very-very-very-disappointing/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs Perhaps it was a wake-up call. Perhaps it was just plain, old honesty.Either way, it’s hard to ignore what longtime Red Wings executive Jim Devellano had to say about winger Anthony Mantha, Detroit’s first-round draft pick from 2013. “Very, very, very disappointing,” said Devellano, per FOX Sports Detroit. “And I say that with a lot of sadness. Coming out of junior, we had such high hopes for him.” Mantha, 20, had 15 goals in 62 games for AHL Grand Rapids during the regular season. He has just one assist in five playoff games. On the bright side, Devellano did have some good things to say about the Wings’ young defensive prospects. Though even saying that, he was forced to lament that “none of them are the answer to Nicklas Lidstrom,” i.e. a future elite defenseman.“That’s our problem,” he added. “The only place you get those guys is (high) in the draft. And simply because of where we draft we don’t get those guys.” Granted, that’s not actually true, that top d-men are only available high in the draft. Shea Weber, P.K. Subban and Duncan Keith are all second-rounders. Lidstrom himself was a third-rounder. The Red Wings just haven’t drafted many defensemen with their highest picks in recent years. Xavier Ouellet was taken 48th overall in 2011. Before him, you have to go back to Brendan Smith, 27th overall in 2007. But it’s true that the Wings don’t appear to have a future elite d-man in the system, and you have to wonder how that will affect 1) their ability to compete for a Stanley Cup in the near future and 2) Mike Babcock’s willingness to remain with the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 @OccamsRazor Pundits have been saying for some time that Mantha would not translate to the NHL. I am far from writing him off, he is still a whale of a prospect but he started slow after his injury and never got on track. Next year I think will be much better. As for d-men, we have a ton of B level d-men on the farm, Oullet, Marchenko and Sproul are all 'ready now' players who could step in to 2nd or third pairing on the back end and do well. The problem, as was pointed out is we have no elite level d-men in the system, but hey, who does? Not too many teams have three guys the quality of ours right now. A deal needs made, we have offered money to everyone under the sun over the past few years to no avail, so a trade is a viable option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 On the bright side, Devellano did have some good things to say about the Wings’ young defensive prospects. Though even saying that, he was forced to lament that “none of them are the answer to Nicklas Lidstrom,” i.e. a future elite defenseman.“That’s our problem,” he added. “The only place you get those guys is (high) in the draft. And simply because of where we draft we don’t get those guys.”Granted, that’s not actually true, that top d-men are only available high in the draft. Shea Weber, P.K. Subban and Duncan Keith are all second-rounders. Lidstrom himself was a third-rounder. The Red Wings just haven’t drafted many defensemen with their highest picks in recent years. Xavier Ouellet was taken 48th overall in 2011. Before him, you have to go back to Brendan Smith, 27th overall in 2007.But it’s true that the Wings don’t appear to have a future elite d-man in the system, and you have to wonder how that will affect 1) their ability to compete for a Stanley Cup in the near future and 2) Mike Babcock’s willingness to remain with the club. I don't get a lot of this defense banter.....Jimmy D should no better....they will NEVER have another Nicklas Lidstrom in their system....no one will. He's a top 5 all time d-man...he should no better than to toss that out there. Secondly, I think DeKeyser is elite at what he does, skate and make the sure first pass. Not many teams have a young d-man as talented as Mr.Dekeyser. Thrid...I really like Ouellet AND Sproul as prospects. Both these guys are gonna contriubute starting next year...one of them probably full time. The prospects coming up are better than average....better than most teams have in their back pocket....I don't get that whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyercanuck Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Red Wings’ Devellano calls Mantha ‘very, very, very disappointing’ http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/04/red-wings-devellano-calls-mantha-very-very-very-disappointing/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs Perhaps it was a wake-up call. Perhaps it was just plain, old honesty.Either way, it’s hard to ignore what longtime Red Wings executive Jim Devellano had to say about winger Anthony Mantha, Detroit’s first-round draft pick from 2013. “Very, very, very disappointing,” said Devellano, per FOX Sports Detroit. “And I say that with a lot of sadness. Coming out of junior, we had such high hopes for him.” Mantha, 20, had 15 goals in 62 games for AHL Grand Rapids during the regular season. He has just one assist in five playoff games. On the bright side, Devellano did have some good things to say about the Wings’ young defensive prospects. Though even saying that, he was forced to lament that “none of them are the answer to Nicklas Lidstrom,” i.e. a future elite defenseman.“That’s our problem,” he added. “The only place you get those guys is (high) in the draft. And simply because of where we draft we don’t get those guys.” Granted, that’s not actually true, that top d-men are only available high in the draft. Shea Weber, P.K. Subban and Duncan Keith are all second-rounders. Lidstrom himself was a third-rounder. The Red Wings just haven’t drafted many defensemen with their highest picks in recent years. Xavier Ouellet was taken 48th overall in 2011. Before him, you have to go back to Brendan Smith, 27th overall in 2007. But it’s true that the Wings don’t appear to have a future elite d-man in the system, and you have to wonder how that will affect 1) their ability to compete for a Stanley Cup in the near future and 2) Mike Babcock’s willingness to remain with the club. It was the big knock on him in his draft year. He plays when he feels like it. There's no question the guy has NHL talent. But does he have the drive to put it to use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Surprised to see open talk like this over a prospect. Might bash his confidence and lower his trade value. On the other hand, might light a fire under his butt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 He plays when he feels like it. Sounds like a kid the Flyers drafted a few years back....whats his name... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Surprised to see open talk like this over a prospect. Might bash his confidence and lower his trade value. On the other hand, might light a fire under his butt I don't think any of this was by chance....they saw Mantha heading in the wrong direction, and made a decision as an org that lighting a fire under him was the best route to preserve his high prospect ranking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 @J0e Th0rnton@jammer2 And they took his top six role away for the playoffs and gave it to Tyler Bertuzzi who just signed. I still have lots of faith in Mantha and feel if he hadn't missed the start of the year and played catch up in his first year as a pro it might have been different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 @SpikeDDS@flyercanuck@jammer2 Tyler Bertuzzi got the game winner last night in the Griffins closeout game of the Rockford IceHogs, his fourth GWG in the playoffs only two off the all time AHL single season record. Anthony who?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyercanuck Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 @yave1964 He had a hell of a run with Guelph 2 seasons ago and was a beast in the playoffs. I hate your scouts and development program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 The 2014 draft (Dylan Larkin, Dominic Turgeon, Axel Holmstrom was our best in quite some time but Athanasiou in 2012 and Bertuzzi in 2013 give the Wings organizational depth that rivals about anyone. Not all five are gonna make it but love the chances with all of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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