Is Mantha done before he begins?

[yave1964]

The Anthony Mantha era may be over in Detroit before it even begins.

 

 Mantha was the Wings first round pick a year ago after a monster year in Juniors, the Wings taking the chance on him in spite of his having a reputation as being a bit of a dog and only wanting to play in the offensive zone. Kenny Holland now appears to be close to running out of patience.

  "I think that Anthony is going through what a lot of first year players go through in the AHL." Holland said diplomatically last week after both he and new Wings coach Jeff Blashill blasted his work ethic throughout the season.

 Mantha was far from a favorite of Blashills in Grand Rapids and did not respond well to the tough love approach from the organization. It is possible, even likely that Blashill would prefer to surround himself with his own type of players in Detroit rather than the nineteen year old malcontent.

 Mantha is saying all of the right things, however.

"I expected a lot more from myself," Mantha told The Detroit News in May. "It was a hard season to adapt, coming back from an injury."

Mantha suffered a fractured left tibia during the preseason. He scored only 15 goals in 62 games and showed a poor hockey IQ and never got in the flow in spite of being tried with several nice playmaking centers.

 At the deadline Holland balked at the final offer from Toronto which would have brought Dion Phaneuf to the Wings, the cost including Mantha. Now from multiple sources, Holland who is not the biggest trader on the planet is at least listening to offers for his prized yet uninspired teen. He also refused to deal his first round pick at the deadline, he is entertaining offers for the pick as well. 

 

 Might just be an interesting offseason in Detroit after all.

 

[flyercanuck]

Usually when players are selfish it's hard to change them. Good luck with him, he certainly has the skill.

[J0e Th0rnton]

Usually when players are selfish it's hard to change them. Good luck with him, he certainly has the skill.

Hard, but not impossible. it is like any other job. I have taken many a young lazy worker and instilled character and work ethic in them. Yeah, you fail half the time and can tell when they do not give a crap. But half the time, once they know their job is on the line, they shape up.

 

Hell, I myself was a lazy kid who did not being told what to do when I was 18(My first job). The right manager got me on track and I became one of those people who give 100% no matter what job I am doing. I try to improve my technique for whatever it is I am doing every single time I do it, even if I have done it 100 times before, just so I am faster every time I do it, or at least, perfect it.

[jammer2]

  Maybe now we know why a guy SO talented slpped to the Wings, cause if you were basing things on talent alone, he woulda, coulda, shoulda been a top 10 pick. I do believe this kinda stuff happnes a lot more often in the NFL than it does in the NHL....but it appears, at least on the surface that he was ignored by several teams because of work ethic and attitude. Seems like a lot of NHL teams will ignore that kinda thing, hope they can turn the kid around. Like fc said, dogs usually don't change their stripes.

 

 I must say, HORRIBLE move by Holland and Blaishill going public with all of this, they hurt his trade value. This kinda stuff goes around the league pretty quick anyways, but at least before it was conjecture....now they spill the beans and shoot themselves in the foot....rookie move guys! Shoulda kept this close to the vest.

[flyercanuck]

Hard, but not impossible. it is like any other job. I have taken many a young lazy worker and instilled character and work ethic in them. Yeah, you fail half the time and can tell when they do not give a crap. But half the time, once they know their job is on the line, they shape up.

 

Hell, I myself was a lazy kid who did not being told what to do when I was 18(My first job). The right manager got me on track and I became one of those people who give 100% no matter what job I am doing. I try to improve my technique for whatever it is I am doing every single time I do it, even if I have done it 100 times before, just so I am faster every time I do it, or at least, perfect it.

 

My biggest concern with him is not that he came to the Wings system as a selfish immature player, but that he still is after a year there. Bringing it up in public surely isn't the first, or second attempt at straightening him out. It's their last attempt i would guess.

[J0e Th0rnton]

My biggest concern with him is not that he came to the Wings system as a selfish immature player, but that he still is after a year there. Bringing it up in public surely isn't the first, or second attempt at straightening him out. It's their last attempt i would guess.

Until I know what is going on behind the scenes, I won't know.

 

He broke his Tibia and was out for several months. How his recovery and attitude toward pushing himself in recovery factor into this, I don't know. It is the big shinbone. I broke it once myself skiing, although I was in grade 6 lol. Was in a cast 2 months and then several months of physio. I was pretty young and they had to rebreak it 2 weeks in due to it setting wrong(That sucked)

[murraycraven]

"Pick Mantha!!!!!" - Mario99

[yave1964]

@jammer2@J0e Th0rnton@flyercanuck

 

When the Wings drafted him I was elated, it reminded me a bit of when Randy Moss fell to the Vikings not because of talent but because of attitude. I figured if anyone could correct attitude it was the Wings. And Mantha said all the right things. I thought we got a steal.

 Then the broken Tibia when the talk was he might actually make the Wings out of camp. He got off to a slow start, was lost, never got untrack. Blashill ripped him and rode him all year.

 I watch WAAAYYY to many Griffin games, Mantha never looked comfortable. A new league, coming off an injury with a coach who is pushing you, he looked lost much of the time. I remember a goal that he scored in March where he was hugged by his linemates, he was the only one not smiling. He got to the bench and Blashill leaned over his shoulder and was obviously displeased with something that Mantha had done, he was tearing into him, leaning over his shoulder and turning nearly red in the face while Mantha sat stoically staring straight ahead. The replay showed why, Mantha was 'behind the defense' for a breakway pass because he had not followed his man into the defensive zone. I don't think Mantha touched the ice again the rest of the night. 

 

  He is only 19. A full season in Grand Rapids (likely either former Oiler coach Todd Nelson or Toledo Walleye coach Derek Lalonde, both known as players coaches) with a softer approach may get him on track.

 My gut says the Wings aren't going to deal him just to get him off the roster, they may trade him but only if the deal is right. He isn't Martin Frk after all, just a teenage kid who had a disappointing first year in the league. I still expect him to remain a Wing, although my hopes are tempered a bit.

[WingNut722]

@yave1964

 

Looks to me like he's a one-way goal-scorer.  A Canadian Alex Ovechkin.  If he wants to solely be a goal scorer, that's fine, and there are plenty of teams that would have room in their philosophy for that, and would likely welcome him.  Not so in Detroit.  They expect most, if not all, their players to play smart at both ends of the ice.  And at the NHL level, when you have four other skaters expecting you to be someplace at a specific time, and you're not...the plus/minus starts to drop pretty rapidly.

 

Might be worth dealing Mantha, but don't fish out that draft pick just yet.  Besides, with Blash as the new Wings' bench boss, there may be enough bad blood that Mantha gets very little playing time anyway.   

[OccamsRazor]

The Anthony Mantha era may be over in Detroit before it even begins.

 

 

For your enjoyment....

 

Blashill: Expectations for Mantha in ’14-15 were too high

 

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/24/blashill-expectations-for-mantha-in-14-15-were-too-high/

 

Coach Jeff Blashill is making the leap from AHL Grand Rapids to the Detroit Red Wings, but top-end prospect Anthony Mantha probably won’t be following him in the short-term after, as Red Wings executive Jim Devellano put it, a “very, very, very disappointing” start to his pro career.

 

Mantha was taken with the 20th overall pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and followed that up with 57 goals and 120 points in 57 QMJHL contests in 2013-14. That left Mantha feeling like he could make Detroit’s roster out of training camp. Ultimately though, he recorded 15 goals and 33 points in 62 AHL contests.

“First of all, the expectation level on Anthony was too high, and in part that was his fault,” Blashill told The Detroit News. “When you have a career like that in juniors, the expectations are too high.”

 

The new Red Wings bench boss noted that untimely injuries sustained in September and then right before the playoffs were part of the problem, but the 20-year-old also has to develop good habits.

“I think Anthony still needs to learn to work as hard as you have to work, shift in and shift out, moving his feet, in order to utilize that skill set at the American league level and the NHL level,” Blashill added. “And it would have been impossible for him to realize he had to do that at the junior level, because he didn’t have to.

 

“Until you’ve faced a level where you actually have to, you’re never going to make those adjustments.”

 

Naturally he’s still optimistic about Mantha. Perhaps the 2014-15 campaign will prove to be an eye opening experience for him and if he can enter the season healthy, then that might go a long way towards him bouncing back.

If nothing else, expectations for him in 2015-16 will be tamer.

[Podein25]

I'd take a flyer on him if he came cheap. Talent and size don't grow on trees. He's just a kid still. Got off to a horrible start. Even if he does have a selfish player in him, he still wants to play pro hockey (presumably), so he has a chance to change.  Someone has to get that through to him. Maybe that person hasn't come along yet.

 

You never know.