[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Healthy scratch isn't so bad, people make the big deal about it but with a young player it happens, even in the AHL. I remember TJ Brodie with the couple healthy nights in the press box, in the minors.

Beyond that Mantha had a broken leg to start the season. Not going to widely speculate here but if it is off ice issues I'd take a chance on him regardless. Big scoring talent. Needs to work on his skating and own end play, but what big guy coming out of juniors doesn't.

I google news stories on Mantha after reading the story on Devellano's comments. Seems like it was an intended message to Mantha that he's got to earn the spot. He wasn't understanding the need to push the pace, but improved near the end of the season


Edit: Here's a decent newer story:

http://www.foxsports.com/detroit/sto...victory-052915

"It's important for him, like it is with all young players, to hit the gym and come back strong, more prepared, more determined," Holland said. "The problem some guys have is they don't respect how good the AHL is. When you get into a pro hockey league and you're not prepared and you get behind, it's a long way back.
"Now the year goes on, you lose your confidence or the coach loses confidence in you and all of a sudden you're not playing a lot of minutes, or with the best players, you start to question yourself and things start to spiral away from you. . . It's hard to get your confidence back."
The Wings have made no secret of their expectations of Mantha -- same as they are for every player they acquire with a precious first-round draft pick. Earlier this month, Senior Vice President Jim Devellano said publicly the team was disappointed, but Holland tempered that remark a bit in an interview with FOX Sports Detroit this afternoon.
"Ultimately, it's player development," Holland said, underscoring a core value of one of professional sports' most consistently successful franchises. "It's about patience and the organization communicating to the player the areas we think he needs to improve on and the adjustments he needs to make -- and at the same time supporting him, letting him know he's important to the future of the Detroit Red Wings.
"We want him to be good, and when a player is struggling we're not going to pile on. At the same time, we're not going to be a soft landing place for him, either."

Professional sports, after all, is about competition at its highest level. If you're not ready to compete all summer long and every day of the winter -- even in hockey's minor professional leagues, someone is going to take your job.
"I think I underachieved a little bit, obviously," Mantha said. "I would have liked to have scored 50, 60, 70 points. That was my goal at the start of the season.
"I just need to work on my strength for sure, getting quicker on my feet. And I need to keep pushing, play harder and shoot the puck more each game."