Brutal news for Anthony Mantha this offseason

Anthony Mantha needs to face free agency. The veteran forward has to since he informed Catherine Savoie of RDS that the Vegas Golden Knights will not re-sign him. Mantha was traded by the Washington Capitals to the Golden Knights at the trade deadline and collected three goals and 10 points in 18 games with Vegas. He however failed to record a point in the postseason, which could be one of the reasons why the Golden Knights are passing up on him.

“Vegas made it clear that they were not going to get me back under contract,” he said on the air of RDS (translated from French).

“I’m excited for free agency, but at the same time I’m stressed as everything comes into play,” he added. We’ll see, whether it’s July 1st or a little later. Hoping to have good news.”

Mantha enters free agency after playing out a four-year, $22.8 million contract signed with the Detroit Red Wings back in 2020 before he was moved to Washington in 2021. When the Capitals flipped the forward to Vegas, they retained 50 per cent of his cap hit of $5.7 million.

On paper, Mantha, who was selected 20th overall by the Red Wings in the 2013 draft, looks good. He is a three-time 20-goal scorer and has topped 50 points twice, but last did so in 2017-28 with Detroit.

There was a fit for Mantha in Vegas at first, but with all the moves made at the trade deadline plus only a 6.2 million in cap space this summer, including LTIR relief, with 20 players already under contract for next season, it was impossible to hold on to every pending free agents.

Including Mantha.