Anthony Mantha Signs Two Year Contract with Detroit

The second of the big three Detroit RFAs is taken care of, as Anthony Mantha and the Detroit Red Wings have agreed on a two year contract.

According to Ansar Khan, the deal carries a $3.3M annual cap hit.

This is definitely a lower cap hit than I was anticipating for Mantha. Matt Cane’s salary projection model had his most likely deal at 2 years and $4.5M.

CapFriendly has Detroit at ~ $6.1M before this signing, which brings the cap space down to $2.8M. That is counting Franzen’s roughly $4M towards our cap, so take that into account.

For those of you who have been following our cap hit space, in my July 1 article, I didn’t realize that Detroit has $755k of bonuses from last season that will count against its cap hit this season. That was why the cap hit math in that article was off.

Dylan Larkin still needs to be signed, which would then leave 2 additional roster spots to be filled.

While Ken Holland has certainly signed bad contracts, he continues to do a real solid job of taking care of RFA deals. This looks to be a good deal for both sides.

The Red Wings press release follows:

RED WINGS AND ANTHONY MANTHA AGREE TO TWO-YEAR CONTRACT

… Former First-Round Pick Led Red Wings with 24 Goals in 2017-18 …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today agreed to terms with right wing Anthony Mantha on a two-year contract.

Mantha, 23, skated in 80 games with the Red Wings in 2017-18 and produced a team-leading 24 goals, while ranking among Detroit’s leaders with 24 assists (4th), 48 points (3rd), 52 penalty minutes (4th), nine power-play goals (1st), 190 shots (3rd) and a 12.6 shooting percentage (1st). He registered multiple points in a single game on 10 occasions last season, including four three-point games and a career-high four points (2-2-4) on March 6 at Boston. Mantha became part of Red Wings history during the 2017-18 campaign by scoring the first-ever goal at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit’s season-opening 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 5, 2017. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound winger has appeared in 150 games with the Red Wings since 2015-16, notching 87 points (43-44-87) and 107 penalty minutes.

The Longueuil, Quebec, native was drafted by the Red Wings in the first round (20th overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He also appeared in 132 games with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins from 2014-17, totaling 88 points (44-44-88), a plus-20 rating and 102 penalty minutes in 132 regular-season games and 15 points (6-9-15), a plus-six rating and 24 penalty minutes in 25 postseason games. Prior to turning professional, Mantha enjoyed a historic 2013-14 campaign in which he was named the Canadian Hockey League’s Player of the Year and the most-valuable player of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after racking up 120 points (57-63-120) in 57 regular-season games and 38 points (24-14-38) in 24 playoff games to help the Val-d’Or Foreurs capture the QMJHL championship. In 189 QMJHL games between 2010-14, Mantha totaled 260 points (129-131-260), a plus-42 rating and 185 penalty minutes. He also led Canada at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship with 11 points (5-6-11) in seven games.