Anthony Mantha Signs a 2-year deal Worth $9.5M ($4.75M) with the New Jersey Devils
In the most Seinfeld voice ever: “The Devilllls.”
The New Jersey Devils make a splash by signing Anthony Mantha, who was widely viewed as the coveted unrestricted free agent (UFA) of this year’s class. Unfortunately for Mantha, going to market didn’t net him nearly as much money as many expected, even compared to other UFAs.
New Devils GM Sunny Mehta is making a splash by addressing the team’s need for depth scoring. After the failed offer sheet for Barrett Hayton of Utah, which came in $666K below the first-round compensation threshold if left unmatched, Sunny prioritized a player who can definitely provide the scoring depth the Devils have been looking for.
Mantha is coming off career highs in all the major statistical categories, which makes it kind of crazy that he only landed $4.75M per year. Especially with the Penguins still having $13M in cap space, I have a hard time believing he couldn’t have gotten between $5M and $7.5M annually to stay on the second line and feed Evgeni Malkin. My only thought here is that he believed he could get more, realized he was wrong, panicked, and now he’s a Devil.
Mantha is currently slotted to play on the second line in New Jersey alongside Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. He generally played left wing last year, but PuckPedia has him on the right side in this projected line combination. Good chemistry out of camp, combined with a full season of a healthy Hughes, could make this contract look like highway robbery, with all three players having the potential to eclipse 85 points. That kind of production could easily launch the Devils into a divisional playoff spot, with the only real “lock” at this point being the Carolina Hurricanes atop the Metropolitan Division.
It’s been quick work by Sunny Mehta, who has already made some great moves, and while I don’t expect too many more, additions like this could cement him as the Devils’ GM for a long time.
