It took until early November, but the Red Wings finally got their biggest remaining piece of offseason business done, signing winger Anthony Mantha to a four-year deal Tuesday.
The contract has an average annual value of $5.7 million, according to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.
Mantha is the first Red Wings player signed to a long-term deal under general manager Steve Yzerman, and the only one under contract past 2023. He was drafted 20th overall by Detroit in 2013, and made his NHL debut three years later.
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“Everyone knows we’re in a rebuild phase — him signing me to a four-year deal also tells me he sees me as part of the future of the team,” Mantha said Tuesday evening. “Part of the guys that’s going to help the team win, and that’s the pressure that comes with it.”
When healthy, Mantha was Detroit’s most dangerous offensive player last season, scoring 16 goals and 38 points in just 43 games. Over a full season, that would have put him on pace for 30 goals and more than 70 points. Mantha’s underlying impacts were also significant: He drove play at both ends of the ice, and did so against top competition, according to Dom Luszczyszyn’s GSVA model.
Chart by Dom Luszczyszyn
For those reasons, this looks like strong value for the Red Wings. Mantha’s recent injuries could be considered one reason for caution, but they were not recurring issues — he missed time for an injured knee, then a punctured lung, this past season.
If Mantha can stay healthy for the bulk of this deal, he should deliver top-line-caliber play (or close to it) for its duration, and could very well be Detroit’s top scorer. He has thrived playing alongside Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi, and even as recent top-10 picks Filip Zadina and Lucas Raymond continue to develop, Mantha’s diverse skill set as a scorer and playmaker should keep him as a go-to piece as the Red Wings try to turn the corner in their rebuild.
“We’re going to be contenders at some point,” Mantha said. “The rebuild needs a couple years to get there, and then the team’s going to be good. And that’s when the opportunity’s going to come: if it’s Year 2, 3 or 4, I’ll be around, and hopefully I can help this team.”
Mantha said one of his focuses right now is adding rebound goals around the net and boosting the team’s power play, which has struggled in recent years. He came back to Detroit in early September after spending the summer at his home near Montreal, where he worked out with goaltender Jonathan Bernier. Since returning to Detroit, he’s been training at Barwis Methods with Larkin, Luke Glendening and Darren Helm.
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From Mantha’s side of things, he now has certainty and security for the next four seasons. He was able to structure the deal in an advantageous way, backloading the final two years, which will shield him a bit from increased escrow in the short term. He will also get the opportunity to sign another potentially significant contract just before his 30th birthday, when he should still have good years ahead of him.
But Mantha’s prime years are now. He has proven himself as a piece of Detroit’s core for the present and the future, and his new contract reflects that.
In the short term, the Red Wings now have just under $10 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly.com, with only restricted free agent Dmytro Timashov unsigned. That leaves plenty of room for Yzerman to take on a contract from a cap-strapped team in order to obtain a draft pick or prospect if he so chooses, much like Detroit did earlier this offseason in acquiring Marc Staal and a second-round pick.
Long term, in addition to locking in a pillar of their rebuild, the Red Wings also maintained some future flexibility. They have now spread out the contract expiration dates for their entire NHL core. Next offseason, Tyler Bertuzzi will be a restricted free agent again along with young defenseman Filip Hronek. In 2022, Filip Zadina’s entry-level contract will end and he will be a restricted free agent. Larkin’s contract expires in 2023, as does forward prospect Joe Veleno’s. Defense prospect Moritz Seider’s contract could potentially expire then as well, if he plays 10 or more NHL games this season, but both he and Veleno will be RFAs at the conclusion of their ELCs.
That’s looking way into the future, but as the Red Wings continue to build toward contention, it will become increasingly significant. Mantha mentioned that Yzerman specifically wanted to avoid a three-year deal, for example, to prevent he and Larkin from becoming free agents at the same time.
That’s why locking in Mantha now was important: It ensures a building block is in place for the foreseeable future.
(Photo: Dave Reginek / NHLI via Getty Images)