Red Wings: Anthony Mantha strikes a 4-year contract locking down core
By Tyler Kotila
The Detroit Red Wings have capped off the most important part of their offseason after reaching a 4-year contract with Anthony Mantha.
As the Detroit Red Wings have had an incredible offseason as it is, they continued the success with the latest contract announcement for forward Anthony Mantha. The Red Wings have struck a 4-year, $22.8 million contract with the forward, carrying an average annual value of $5.7 million.
Mantha has been a staple of this Red Wings offense when he is healthy. Injuries during the 2019-20 season kept Mantha off the ice. However, he has been a centerpiece of offense alongside Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi, who settled arbitration with the Red Wings just last week.
Ensuring that the Red Wings keep those three core forwards together will be crucial; locking up Mantha through the 2023-24 season helps that cause. Larkin is already locked up through the 2022-23 season, so next year this process will happen again with Bertuzzi.
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The money spent on Mantha is well-deserved; he is taking home the second most of any Red Wings forward, and rightfully so. In 2019-20, Mantha played in 43 games, where he totaled 16 goals and 22 assists for 38 total points.
He could have scored upwards of 20-25 goals, but injuries kept him off the ice, as mentioned above. The 6-foot-5, 234-pound winger is entering his sixth season in a Red Wings uniform.
Even though the Red Wings are struggling and putting a rough product on the ice, Mantha has still found ways to create offense.
With General Manager (GM) Steve Yzerman making moves in the front office, Mantha’s offensive skillset should come in handy as the team starts to take shape. He is likely to maintain his role as a first-line winger alongside Larkin and possibly Bertuzzi or even Filip Zadina.
The contract that Mantha just signed sort of “caps off” the offseason on a high note. The Red Wings were able to address needs, improve the team, keep things cost-effective and short-term, and ensure Bertuzzi and Mantha’s contracts are taken care of.
It was a great job by Yzerman this offseason, and seeing that they struck a deal with Mantha just furthers the point of this offseason is another example of why to trust the Yzer-plan. Heading into the 2020-21 season, the hope for a drastic improvement may not be too far off.
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The Detroit Red Wings have been able to lock in one of their top forwards for the next four seasons with this four-year contract that Anthony Mantha just signed.