Well, well: for those Devils fans who were already (foolishly) spouting that the Devils were going to be “rolling out the same roster as usual,” he has made a big signing in free agency after all. Anthony Mantha, coming off a 33-goal, 34-assist season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, has signed with the New Jersey Devils for two years at an average annual value of $4.75 million.
Previously, I had not considered Mantha a great free agent target because I had been under the impression that he was eventually
going to command a lot of money from someone. And while $4.75 million is not chump change, it is not in line with the projections of Mantha making over $6 million that had been floating around given his recent productivity. Per PuckPedia, this leaves the Devils with $3.85 million, which is enough to continue making additions to the roster as long as the front office has plans to move current players out. This is, after all, the same amount of money per season that Mehta had earmarked for the Barrett Hayton deal. If the Devils decided to run this roster into the season, though, they would be projected at $17.6 million in deadline cap space.
Historically, Mantha is not a guy expected to produce 60 points, as his prior career high was 48 points in 2018-19 for Detroit when he was 24 years old. After some lower-scoring years in Washington, Mantha has become an offensive factor once more, though there may be some concern. First, Mantha has been shooting at over 20% for three seasons in a row, and another area of concern may be that he be likely barred from first unit power play usage given the Devils’ present roster. However, the latter is not truly a problem for Mantha. Only seven of his 33 goals and 13 of his 64 points came on the power play in 2025-26. In two of the last three seasons, Mantha has scored 20 or more even strength goals. A more real concern is that Mantha does not have a good defensive reputation and does not really improve offensive generation of scoring chances. He is a finisher, first and foremost, and should be used as such.
On the flip side, this deal is absent of any trade protection. This means that, if the Devils see further overhaul in the 2027 offseason, Mantha is easily tradeable. We will see, though. If Mantha continues to produce 40 or 50 even strength points in the regular season and continues to show up in the playoffs, I doubt he would be on the chopping block next summer.
Sheldon Keefe will also have to decide who Mantha plays with. Does he load up the Hischier line as a bigger scoring line, leaving shutdown duties to Cody Glass? Does he give Hughes and Bratt their first ever big winger? Or does he use Mantha on Glass’s line to keep up scoring on that line while Gritsyuk shifts up the lineup? I could see Mantha fitting anywhere in the lineup, especially since he is a good skater. Per NHL EDGE, Mantha ranked in the 81st percentile in top skating speed and in the 69th percentile in 20 MPH speed bursts last season while also ranking in the 98th percentile in shot speed. The Devils might not be adding a bruiser despite Mantha’s size, but they are adding a player with a lot of physical tools.
I would enjoy this one, Devils fans. This is a team that needs more finishers to put the puck in the back of the net, and Sunny Mehta has gotten one for them here. And, contrary to the way we have previously expected the Devils front office to get things done, Mehta relied on neither overpayment nor trade protection to get the deal signed. It’s another breath of fresh air, and I look forward to seeing how Mantha changes things for the Devils against teams that might normally shut them down by clogging up the middle of the ice.
But what do you think of this contract? Did you think the Devils would be in on Mantha? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
