Detroit Red Wings: Forty Goals in Anthony Mantha’s Future?
By Bob Heyrman
The Detroit Red Wings haven’t produced a 40 goal scorer since the 2009 season. That could be changing if Anthony Mantha has anything to say about it.
Going back to the final couple of weeks last season, Anthony Mantha was on a tear scoring 8 goals adding 7 assists totaling 15 points over the final 8 games of the season. It appears the big power forward for the Detroit Red Wings is picking up this year right where he left off.
In just his first two games of the season, he’s found twine five times along with adding a couple of helpers. I don’t care if it’s in your Sunday night beer league or roller hockey, road hockey, junior hockey, the American Hockey League, or the National Hockey League scoring 5 goals and totaling 7 points in the first two games is spectacular.
The knock-on Mantha during his first few professional seasons was his inability to give it his all each and every shift consistently. At times he’d coast around, and tend to be caught watching the puck rather than keep his feet moving, searching for an opening, or putting himself in a perfect position to receive a pass from a teammate.
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It was last season Mantha appeared to turn the corner from a maximum effort standpoint. He was often found chugging along down low on the Wings top line. Again going back to the end of last season and to the start of this season, Mantha is like a rhino on skates when he’s going right.
The power forward has a rocket of a shot, and like in the second game of the season against the Dallas Stars, when he wants to put his head down and drive to the net, not many defensemen can stop him or knock him offline.
As the scoring ability continues to impress, he’s reminding me more and more of former NHLer Rick Nash. Nash was a big power forward who could score in bunches along with putting his head down to take the puck to the net anytime he wanted too.
Marian Hossa was the last Detroit Red Wing to score 40 goals in a season. That came back in 2009 as the team advanced to their second straight Stanley Cup Finals visit. In that season the Detroit Red Wings had four 30 plus goal scorers. Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Johan Franzen all scored in the ’30s with Hossa topping out at 40.
It could be something to watch this season with this Wings team. I can see Anthony Mantha reaching 40 goals with Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou, and perhaps Tyler Bertuzzi, all reaching the 30 goal plateau.
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That would be a tremendous feat for a team not expected by many to make the playoffs. Don’t forget they potentially have another future, 30 goal scorer, developing in Grand Rapids in Filip Zadina. Injuries have prevented Mantha from reaching 30 goals in a single season so 40 might be pushing it but at the moment it looks to be in reach.