Red Wings sound off on facing former teammate Anthony Mantha

The Detroit Red Wings pulled off one of the NHL Trade Deadline's more notable moves last season, acquiring forwards Jakub Vrana and Richard Panik along with a 1st and 2nd round draft pick from the Washington Capitals in exchange for underachieving forward Anthony Mantha.

The move so far has worked out in spades for the Red Wings, as Vrana scored eight goals (four in one game against the Dallas Stars) and three assists in the 11 games he appeared in with his new club, and showed that he can be the kind of impactful player that helped the Capitals to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2018. GM Steve Yzerman then saw fit to reward him with a three year contract extension. 

The only speed bump so far has been that Vrana suffered a shoulder injury early on in training camp, requiring surgery that will keep him out of the lineup until at least January. 

Meanwhile, Mantha began his tenure with the Capitals on a tear, scoring in each of his first three games with his new team. However, he didn't contribute anything offensively during the final ten games of the regular season, nor in any of the five playoff games against the Boston Bruins.

They face another for the first time tonight, and for Detroit, it certainly will be a strange experience facing the player they though would be donning the Winged Wheel long term. For captain Dylan Larkin, who was flanked by Mantha on the team's top line, he expects his old teammate to be highly motivated. 

“I expect him to be highly motivated,” Larkin said of Mantha. “When we’ve seen that out of him, we know he can be a dangerous player.”

Of course, Mantha was a dangerous player for the Red Wings when he was on his game. However, he was plagued by inconsistency, culminating in a meeting with head coach Jeff Blashill and being made a healthy scratch last season prior to the trade. 

“I think certainly he was a big piece of our group and really good friend to a number of our players, so that’s always different for those guys,” Blashill acknowledged. “But I also think it’s a new season and it’ll be more about getting opportunities for guys who are good friends with him to say hi and then competing against each other."

“So, I don’t expect it to be a real big deal.”