from Samantha Pell of The Washington Post,
Washington Capitals career. One day later, Mantha called the decision a “wake-up call.”
“I think I had a good stretch, a bad stretch,” Mantha said Monday. “It’s part of hockey, I don’t think I was playing terrible. Obviously the minutes were going down, so decision to play me [9:48] in my last game there so, you kind of knew it was coming.”...
“[Laviolette is] obviously not happy with my game,” Mantha said. “That’s pretty much it.”
Through 42 games this season, Mantha has nine goals and 14 assists, matching his totals from the 2021-22 campaign, when he played 37 games in an injury-shortened season....
He struggled to find consistency through the first half of the season and there were many nights he was unnoticeable on the ice. The Capitals tried to put him on the second unit of the power play, but he only recorded one goal and one assist while playing on the man advantage. Mantha was also placed on different forward lines as Laviolette searched for the right trio.
“I felt good, I mean body-wise, no injuries, I think it’s the first year in a couple of years that I played the first half of the season without getting injured,” Mantha said. “So I was pumped for that … [the scratch was] a wake-up call.”
...there were many nights he was unnoticeable on the ice.
So Vrana ends up in the PA program and Mantha is still a floater. It seems like both teams knew what they were getting rid of in that trade, and both were hoping that a change of scenery would change them. So far, not so much.
We all saw this coming, Mantha's career has taken off now that he doesn't have to listen to "blahblahblashill" every day....
Yet, it still appears Detroit lost this trade.
I don't think so Tre, the trade itself was still a win IMO.
Mantha is costing Washington $5.7MM, we got Vrana for $5.2MM, and also ate Panik's salary, so it's kind of a wash cap wise, neither have done much productive for their squads.
This trade was always about the 1st and 2nd round picks we acquired which it appears that Yzerman may have wasted. We traded the 1st and then some to move up for Cossa, and used the 2nd on Bushelnkov who appears not to be destined for the NHL. Holding out hope for Cossa but Wallstedt was the favored choice, and as of right now, appears to be the better of the two, we'll see where that shakes out.
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