Canadiens Named Best Fit for 33-Goal Scorer to Fill Top-6 Role
· Yahoo Sports
The Montreal Canadiens could make an intriguing free agent signing to bolster their offense.
Visit tr-sport.click for more information.
Montreal has been relatively quiet this offseason, and the Canadiens could still use another forward who can add some secondary scoring. So, NHL analyst Josh Wegman of theScore named the Canadiens the best fit to sign Anthony Mantha.
“Mantha was also listed among my pre-July 1 predictions, where I had him joining the Habs. Nearly two weeks after the initial free-agent frenzy, it still makes too much sense. The Canadiens haven’t added a single notable forward this offseason, and Mantha’s size and two-way game would be a great fit on the second line with Ivan Demidov. Mantha may not get the lucrative long-term deal he once sought, but he might find comfort in the familiarity Montreal has to offer. He’s a Quebec native, and Canadiens GM Kent Hughes was once his agent,” Wegman wrote.
Mantha is from Quebec, so he’d be a fan-favorite and add some secondary scoring to the Canadiens’ offense, which is a need.
The 6-foot-5 forward also adds some size to the lineup, but despite scoring 33 goals last season, he remains a free agent. Mantha has been inconsistent, as he had 4 goals the year before, recording 33. However, if he can be a 20+ goal scorer for the Canadiens, he fits in nicely, and it likely wouldn’t be too expensive considering he’s still a free agent.
Canadiens Building Off Last Season
Montreal made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, and the Canadiens are looking to build off that.
Canadiens president of hockey operations, Jeff Gorton, believes this past year proves Montreal is a destination for players.
“I think it’s an opportunity for us,” Gorton said at the end of the season of the environment in Montreal. “To play that way and go on this run, I think our fans showed the rest of this league, the players in the league, how impressive of a place this is to play. And if you’re a National Hockey League player and you’re looking around, this would be a place I would think would be at the top of their list based on what we just showed them.”
Despite being a destination, the Canadiens haven’t been active in adding talent, and instead, have focused on re-signing their own.
The Canadiens have over $13 million in cap space.
Mantha Handed Concerning News
Despite Mantha having a stellar offensive season last year, his free agency hasn’t been very strong.
However, NHL analyst and former NHLer Carter Hutton felt like Mantha’s inconsistency was an issue.
“I think at his age and his inconsistency that we’ve seen in the past, it’s probably buyer beware. I guess if you’re Anthony Mantha you’re just sitting here waiting to kind of see where the dust settles, too, in a sense,” Hutton said on DailyFaceoff Live. “There’s still going to be a lot of cap space for a lot of these teams, and even if he’s going to have to take a one-year deal, he can probably pull in a pretty good number, and then it’s off the books again to help support some players and some teams, and be a guy that can maybe be that second-line scorer. But I think teams are cautious when you talk about Anthony Mantha and his lack of ability to be consistent.”
With that, Mantha might need to sign a one-year deal to prove he can do it again.
Like HEAVY's content?Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Canadiens Named Best Fit for 33-Goal Scorer to Fill Top-6 Role appeared first on HEAVY.