Anthony Mantha’s first full season with Washington did not go as planned.
By the Numbers
| 37 | games played |
| 15.2 | time on ice per game |
| 9 | goals |
| 14 | assists |
| 53.9 | 5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage |
| 53.4 | 5-on-5 expected goal percentage |
| 57.1 | 5-on-5 goal percentage |
Visualization by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows lots of information for the player over the season. A short description of each chart:
- Most common teammates during 5-on-5
- Ice time per game, split up by game state
- 5-on-5 adjusted shot attempts by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- 5-on-5 adjusted shooting percentage by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- Individual scoring events by the player
- 5-on-5 adjusted offensive (black) and defensive (red) zone starts
Fan Happiness Survey
About this visualization: At three times during the season, RMNB shared an open survey with fans, asking the following question for each player:
On a scale from 1 to 5, how HAPPY are you to have this player on the team?
1 means VERY UNHAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
2 means UNHAPPY
3 means NEITHER HAPPY NOR UNHAPPY
4 means HAPPY
5 means VERY HAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
The numbers above show the average score for the player in each survey period.
Exit Interview
Peter’s Take
Right off the bat, I’ll tell you one thing we’re not doing: We’re not comparing Anthony Mantha to Jakub Vrana, who scored 13 goals in 26 games for Detroit after a similarly injury-ridden season. We’re not doing that. That’s a thing for people not us to do.
In November, Mantha suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery, costing him more than half of his season and magnifying Washington’s already dire injury situation. On the whole, Mantha failed to hit double digits for the first time since his first season, though his five-on-five goal rate was near his career best.
Mantha implied his shoulder is just fine during his breakdown-day interview, so I think we should expect a return to form next season, which would be a boon given how much uncertainty there will be. Mantha was brought in to deliver dependably secondary scoring, and delivery will be due.
According to Orson Welles
Manthony on RMNB
- First, and most importantly, Millie’s birthday is coming up on August 2.
- Ha, I just noticed that Ian wrote a story about Vrana having a lower salary-cap hit than Mantha.
- Mantha started the season on the top line.
- But that ended on November 4 when Mantha got hurt in a game with the Florida Panthers.
- Mantha got surgery and then went on injured reserve.
- He didn’t return to the ice until February and wasn’t cleared for contact until the end of the month.
- Mantha finally came back on March 3.
- Mantha and his partner Caitlyn are expecting a baby girl. As long as they don’t forget about Millie.
- Mantha came up big in Game Three.
Your Turn
How much do the Caps need out of Mantha next season? Doesn’t it feel like it’s more goals than Mantha’s ever scored in a season?
Read more: Japers Rink
