from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

General manager Ken Holland felt Mantha learned from the tough love shown from the coaching staff, and took a major step forward in his career.

“The video work the coaching staff does with him, all the players on a regular basis, challenging him, and sometimes you pull the ice time back, sometimes you play them more when they’re really going good,” Mantha said. “Watching the veterans in the room, (it’s) all added up to where he is today.

“He had a good year, (but) we need him to take a step, he’s got that potential, that ability to take that next step. Once you play 100 games (in the NHL) you get a good idea what this league is all about. He’s a got a good idea what he needs to do in the summer to take his game to another level.”

Mantha scored 81 goals in 81 games (including playoffs) in his final junior season, a far different level of hockey.

“He scored lots of goals off the rush, he’d come down and shoot the puck into the net,” Holland said. “That’s not this league. There are guys who score 40, 40-plus, but it’s a hard league. He went to the American League and he’s learned to cycle more, learned to be heavier on the puck, learned to compete harder.

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