The Pittsburgh Penguins were bounced by the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of their first-round matchup in dramatic fashion, losing a 1-0 game in overtime on a Cameron York goal. The seeing-eye shot found its way past Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs and was a microcosm of the series for one player, Anthony Mantha. York was Mantha’s man on the play, and Mantha was two steps too late covering the point, allowing York to fire the game-winning goal. Mantha was invisible in the series, putting up one assist in six games to go along with a -5 and 20 PIM. The worst part of his play was that Mantha looked disinterested at times, missed assignments, took lazy penalties, and found himself largely chasing the game after a magical regular season. All in all, the playoffs may have cost Mantha millions of dollars.
It was just a month ago that the talk was about Mantha getting a four-year deal, with some folks throwing out numbers in the $5-6MM range. It seemed not only probable a month ago but quite likely after the 31-year-old posted 33 goals and 31 assists this season in 81 games. Mantha had been playing under a one-year, $2.5MM (plus $2MM in incentives) “prove it” contract, in the hopes of securing a lucrative contract this summer. However, those types of numbers ($5MM to $6MM) could very well be off the table after Mantha had a poor playoff showing this year. In fact, in 20 career NHL playoff games, Mantha has never scored a goal, tallying just seven assists. It’s a steep decline in production for a player who has four career 20+ goal seasons and averages 50 points per 82 regular-season games.
Mantha will still get some of his money this summer, as NHL general managers are about to see a windfall of cap space they haven’t seen in close to a decade, and the GM fraternity can never seem to help itself when it comes to overspending on a mid-tier free agent who just happened to get hot at the right time. It’s a tale as old as time in the NHL, with some pretty famous examples of players having a good year in their UFA walk year, or even just a good playoff, before getting paid an amount of money that will never line up with their production.
Fernando Pisani, back in 2006, is a great example of this. After a Cinderella run with the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Finals, in which he scored 14 goals and four assists in 24 games, he was rewarded handsomely with a four-year, $10MM contract that offseason. Unfortunately, Pisani never topped 28 points in a season again in his NHL career. There were health concerns with Pisani later in his career, but in any event, reaching those levels again was not likely.
Ville Leino is another great example of a player heating up and cashing in. He turned a 19-goal, 34-assist season in 2010-11 into a lucrative six-year, $27MM contract that was an absolute disaster for the Buffalo Sabres and was eventually bought out in 2014. Leino had never scored more than 11 points in an NHL season prior to his 53-point breakout with Philadelphia , and would tally just 10 goals and 36 assists in 137 games spaced over three seasons with the Sabres.
Mantha will fall into the camp of players who eventually got paid for having a terrific season, but, unlike the Pisani and Leino examples, Mantha does have a track record of scoring in the NHL. However, there are also injury concerns and concerns about his ability to score consistently. He had some lean years after he was traded from Detroit to the Washington Capitals, including 2022-23, when he posted just 11 goals and 16 assists in 67 games. He followed that up with a 44-point campaign in 2023-24 but still had to sign a prove-it contract with the Flames in the 2024 offseason for just $3.5MM.
It’s going to be very tough to gauge how general managers around the league will value what Mantha brings and what he doesn’t. Mantha is a big man, and GMs always love size. However, he plays small and doesn’t always look like he is working hard, which is often true for big men in the NHL. Mantha has other attributes that make him an attractive free-agent target; he can skate well for a big man, handles the puck well, is a good passer, and can shoot.
All of that is great, but this is the knock that has followed him since he was scouted in junior. He doesn’t always seem engaged, and in many games, particularly the big ones such as the recent playoff series with Pittsburgh, you wonder whether Mantha can find the intensity and determination to reach the next level and become a playoff performer. Mantha was often viewed in his draft year as a boom-or-bust prospect, and now 11 years into his NHL career, he is still fitting that label. Mantha was a bust in Washington after a big trade from the Red Wings sent him there, but in Pittsburgh, he was an under-the-radar signing that was a huge win for the Penguins (minus the playoffs). What his next team gets is anyone’s guess, but the $6MM annual offer on a long-term deal that seemed so likely before the playoffs now feels like a reach for Mantha. However, all it takes is one GM fighting for his job to overpay, and Mantha could be a bust once again.
The answer to the headline is no, There are lots of unqualified GMs in the league, Stan Bowman is just one of many examples.
six playoff games .. zero goals .. one assist .. team high -5 .. sign or extend at your own risk
He was a liability all series. One of our MVPs, honestly.
Such a waste of talent
Mantha cost WAS both Jakob Vrana and a first rounder that turned into Wyatt Johnston. I can never ever like Mantha.
Mantha is extremely lazy and only plays when he feels like it. Watched him in Detroit and Washington. Has the talent, but not the heart. Reminds me of kuznetsov. Although, Kuznetsov had a-lot more talent than Mantha.
You may be right but watching him in this Pens-Flyers series was a real contrast to what we saw this season. That aggressive push to the net we saw all year showed up just once here and resulted in an assist on a goal. Not sure it was laziness as opposed to being seemingly and suddenly gun-shy.
He wasn’t alone in being a ghost and props to the Flyers defensive scheme, sure, but if there was one guy you’d point to as a real disappointment, it was him
Not as bad as Nylander though!!!
Your accurate description of Mantha sounded exactly like the knock on PLD
The talent is there,but the drive & motivation is severely lacking.
I usually don’t key in on one player during a game, but…all I kept seeing was Mantha.
Holy **** was he AWFUL during Game 6. Just awful.
He was slow to his man twice on the losing goal.
Let him walk. We already have his replacement in Soderblom.
Penguins can and must easily replace him with guys like Soderblom, Avery Hayes or Rutger McGroarty. Dubas must find an every day roster spot for all three of those kids as well as young guys like Brunicke and Pickering on the blue line. Kettles with an injury prone 25-26 season needs a bit more time as a pro and hopefully has a strong 26-27 season with SWB Penguins.
Fernando Pisani and Ville Leino catching strays over here, neither of whom played anything like Mantha and who haven’t been in the NHL for 12+ years.
Anyone seriously eying Mantha as a free agent should not have been surprised by these playoffs.
Regarding Mantha, most of the posts so far are spot on. Lazy, plays when he feels like it. When he was in Detroit, same thing. Maybe unfair, but it looks like he’s getting paid about $2.5M even if he stinks up the arena so why should he strain himself.
NHL should adopt a more direct pay for play contracts to flush out these “I’m here, pay me” players.
Perpetual prove it deals and still no heart.
I doubt it hurt him much. Everyone knows what he is, and both the reg season and 9layoffs are in line with that. We wasn’t suddenly getting a $70m deal even with the short supply of FA scoring.
I thought he had finally found a home with a strong regular season but zero points in the playoff round against a very beatable Flyers team even down 3-0; missing a wide open chance in OT and being late covering York on the game winning shot doesn’t cut it. In no way shape or form should the Penguins retain him as well as many other older well past 30 year old players. Penguins need to start rebuilding this summer and getting younger. Resigning a soon to be 32 year old, often injured forward who was a no show in the playoffs is a no brainer for Dubas. Or at least should be!
Not only was Anthony Mantha a no-show for the Penguins in the first round, he also lead the team in PIM’s w/ 20. He only took 43 penalty minutes in 81 games during the regular season. That is a sign that he couldn’t keep his composure and was lazy. Dubas can do better on the FA market if he wants to find another reclamation project or give a young Penguin their own opportunity for 3rd line minutes in ‘26-‘27.