The Pittsburgh Penguins are off to a shocking good start. Nine games in, the Penguins are 6-2-1, and have not lost in regulation in nearly two weeks.
Goaltenders Arturs Silovs and Tristan Jarry have both performed brilliantly in net so far, their defensive unit has had its moments, and the Penguins have enjoyed a ton of depth scoring from their forwards.
One of those forwards is Anthony Mantha.
He was one of the few free agent signings made back in July by general manager Kyle Dubas, during what was a pretty quiet summer roster-wise for the club.
The team inked him to a one-year, $2.5 million deal in the opening days of free agency, bringing the 31-year-old to his fourth team in three seasons.
But, much like the rest of Dubas’ signings, which included guys like Parker Wotherspoon and Justin Brazeau, Mantha has far and away exceeded both expectations and his price tag to open the year.
Through nine games so far this season, Mantha has four goals and four assists for eight points. He tallied an assist in each of the team’s first two games of the season, and scored his first goal of the campaign during the first game of the team’s California road trip.
His hot start continued last night in Pittsburgh’s 5-4 shootout loss to Columbus. Even though the Penguins only earned one point in the standings in this one, Mantha picked up a pair of points and was a +1 in 14:35 of ice time.
Less than a minute into the game, Mantha picked up an assist on a goal by Ryan Shea. On a quick rush up the ice, Mantha carried the puck into the zone and pulled up, waiting for some of his teammates to join him in the zone. Then, he found a trailing Shea on a cross-ice pass, and watched as the defenseman ripped one for the opening goal of the game.
Later in the first, Evgeni Malkin found Mantha just as the Penguins were crossing the Columbus blue line, and a seemingly harmless shot from the winger found its way to the back of the net.
It was his third goal in the last four games, fourth in his last six, and it gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
This eight-point start is tied for his second best start through his first nine games over his decade-long NHL career; only in 2019-20 did Mantha have a better start, where he racked up seven goals and four assists (11 points) in his first nine games with the Detroit Red Wings.
Evaluating Mantha’s play at the nine-game mark is, admittedly, an odd place to start. But with his performance last night, Mantha has now already surpassed his point total from last season.
Last season, after Mantha signed a one-year, $3.5 million deal in Calgary, the left-shot registered four goals and three assists for seven points in 13 games with the Flames. He was a +6 and had 11 penalty minutes, and scored both a power play and shorthanded marker during his time in Calgary.
Unfortunately for Mantha, an ACL injury sidelined him in early November, and eventually kept him out for the rest of the season. He ended his very brief 2024-25 season on a 25-goal, 44-point pace over an 82-game season.
Just for reference, 44 points from Mantha would have slotted him between fifth-place Evgeni Malkin (50 points) and sixth-place Matt Grzelcyk (40 points) on last year’s Penguins team.
Similarly, 25 goals would have ranked Mantha between third-place Bryan Rust (31 goals) and fourth-place Malkin (16 goals).
If the Penguins were getting that kind of forward for a million less than what Calgary paid, I think they would have been pretty happy. Instead, Mantha is on pace for around a 35-goal, 70-point season based on his first nine games.
Obviously, we shouldn’t really expect him to sustain those rates. Mantha’s career highs are 25 goals and 48 points (both set in 2018-19), but it speaks to the unexpectedly impressive start for the 31-year-old.
He’s fit into a really awesome second line alongside Malkin and Brazeau, who have drove a large chunk of Pittsburgh’s offense so far. At 6′ 5 and 240 pounds, Mantha’s size has played very well with the other two tallest forwards the Penguins have.
But that line isn’t just intimidating opponents with height, they are pushing the puck and generating a ton of offense. Malkin ranks first on the team in points at 14, Brazeau ranks third at nine, and Mantha is tied for fourth at eight. Mantha’s presence on that line is undoubtedly a part of Malkin’s resurgence to open the year.
The Penguins have several pieces that figure to be important members of the roster later in the year. Ville Koivunen, who started the year in the NHL and is currently playing for the team’s American Hockey League affiliate, and Rutger McGroarty, who started the year out indefinitely with injury, fit into that category.
Head coach Dan Muse has shown he isn’t afraid to take some players out or mix up some lines when he needs to, but with how well Mantha is playing, it’s really hard to justify taking him off that second line. Unless his production just plummets, he has to stay there.
At the time Mantha signed here, I wrote mostly about how easily tradable this contract was at the next trade deadline. A one year deal for a winger on a cheap cap hit, his contract looked very similar in merit to the one the Penguins handed to Anthony Beauvillier the season prior.
For their partnership, Beauvillier eventually landed with playoff-bound Washington, and the Penguins got a second round pick in that trade. Nine games in, it’s still incredibly possible that the Penguins regress, and Mantha is out the door at the deadline for (hopefully) a similar return.
But for now, much like many other things happening on the ice for the Penguins, it’s fun to sit back and enjoy the unexpected success Mantha is having in black and yellow.
Fifth Avenue Sports 
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