Yep the 2013 Q draft class looks pretty strong out of the gate. Sprong, Noel, Brisebois, Gauthier & I'm sure others are all off to pretty good starts for 97s.
If you were watching the game how is Mantha's defensive & compete level coming along?
I only watched part of the game and went out for a walk as it was becoming a blowout. That said, Mantha doesn't spend a lot of time in his own zone to begin with. Even when he's on the PK sometimes you wonder who has the man advantage.
That said, I'll speak in general for his game without the puck. I won't lie, I'm a Mantha fan, so there's some bias to begin with here. I always thought his defensive game was fine for an offensive guy. Main problem I had was that at times he was all over the place in his own end. He's a good skater and he wants the puck. So it's not rare to see him go basically to the other side of the ice to get the pass from his d. That said, not as bad this year.
Honestly, I can't say I see him float around. When his line loses the puck he comes back to help his teammates. He'll put pressure on the other team when their D control the play.
One thing he won't do is play a consistent physical game. Personally, and that's probably where a lot of people will disagree with me. I have zero problem with that. Every game I watch him play there's always that moment when he could hit a guy and he just skates away and gets back toward the puck.
I'm not a big believer in finishing checks. I'm a believer in forechecking and forcing d-men to make plays. If hitting a guy helps you retrieve the puck then fine, if not, I think it's pretty useless.
Not long ago I watched him play against the Remparts and there was that moment when I thought. Oh well, if those people who don't like him would have seen that play they would all go:"kid is so soft" or what have you. Remparts D had the puck in his own end, Mantha skated towards him to force him to make a play. As the guy let his pass go, Mantha skated by and got back to the neutral zone.
It just so happens that he forced the D to commit a turnover and Mantha made it back out of the zone just quick enough so he could get the puck back. Then took a massive shot to beat the goalie.
That's just an example to show you that I really don't see him as a slacker. He's involved in the play and he'll force the other team to make plays but he won't go crazy and hit everything that moves. That's just not his game. If at the draft he went to a team that wanted him to play that game, then he would have had a much higher chance of busting because that's just not his game. I'm confident the Wings will simply let him play his game. Polish his defensive game and work with who he is as a player rather forcing him to be something he's not.
Kid just has a monster shot. On most goals, goalies simply have no shot to make saves. Again against the Remparts, on the PP, through traffic he rifled a one-timer top corner. When I saw him do that, I just had a quick smirk and went wow.
He finds the open spot really quickly. Personally, I have to problem with his competitiveness. He'll cut to the net, very good along the boards to protect the puck. Only knock for some will be the physical play. Anyways, personally I just love him as a player and love him even more for all the crap he took last year. Looks like a great guy too. Makes good interviews and only heard good things about him in Val d'Or.
That's insane loll, and that year he averaged 4 points per game
