The Capitals winger is on pace to finish with 26 goals, the most since 2018-19.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — Anthony Mantha smiles to himself, reflecting as he wonders aloud about a question I ask after an upbeat Washington Capitals practice: what would the winger, finally hitting his stride, tell his past self, the one that just a year ago, was the subject of trade talks and sitting out most games while struggling to find consistency.
"That's a good question," he notes, putting his head down.
Then, he looks up with a smile.
"Keep grinding, keep going," he decides. "When there's a harder slump, there's always a good one coming up ahead. You need to chase it."
The message has rang true for the 29-year-old, who is finally having fun playing hockey again, regaining his confidence and emerging as the player that the Capitals traded for two years ago.
It wasn't an overnight process, though.
It took a lot for Mantha to rediscover his passion, the enthusiasm for the game that makes him an impact player. At this point last year, his confidence was admittedly lower, as he was snakebitten on offense and facing healthy scratches.
After finishing with just 11 goals and 16 assists last season, Mantha was the subject of critiques and trade talks over the offseason, with some citing inconsistency and questionable effort with lowered trade value.
It fueled Mantha to work harder in the offseason, as he worked to lose weight and focused on nutrition in order to get faster and start building his game back up to where he wanted it to be.
"It's all a process at the end of the day," Mantha pointed out. "You need to build off of the negatives and the positives from the last year, and then you try to bring new things into this year."
Another change saw Mantha get a new head coach. Mantha didn't necessarily thrive under head coach Peter Laviolette, though he never pointed to not seeing eye-to-eye with the former bench boss. But with Spencer Carbery taking over, he had the chance to start fresh.
But as is the story at the NHL level, there are no handouts. Mantha started the year pencilled in as a healthy scratch, and he knew he'd have to put in the work to wipe the slate clean and get that top-6 opportunity he was looking for.
"I knew early in the season, it wasn't going to be given to me coming off last year," Mantha said. "I've been working hard to get to this spot I'm in right now."
So, to get to that point, Mantha pushed himself out of his comfort zone on and off the ice. He met with Carbery multiple times, taking his advice to heart and not just focusing on finding consistency offensively, but finding it in all areas of his game. That also meant focusing on his game away from the puck.
It was enough to impress Carbery, who gave him the chance to work with Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas on the second line. In the end, that combination has stuck, providing great chemistry and finding an identity on the top-6, with Mantha leading the charge.
"What I've seen that sticks out to me the most is a player that at the beginning of the year, I had a ton of conversations with him, talking about expectations and things inside of his game that we needed to see. Sometimes those conversations — especially for someone who's been in this league for a long time — are sort of like. 'Yeah, okay, appreciate it, I'll go play my game,'" Carbery explained. "Not that they would ever day or anything like that, but what I've seen that's really impressive is that he's been working all year and trying to do those little things that I've talked to him about. The little details inside of his game... what I love and I watch for when there are mistakes — because there's gonna be mistakes — he knows it and he catches himself.
"That tells me he's doing everything he possibly can to do those things... he's trying every day to ingrain those details and do what we're trying to ask him to do, from a structure standpoint. It's been great to see him have some individual success inside of that."
For Mantha, it's part of being a more mature player and taking accountability.
"That's just me being mature enough to realize when you're doing a bad play, you're not blaming it on anyone else," Mantha said. "You're trying to learn from it and moving forward with it... year after year, you gain experience. You see more things happening."
Now, Mantha's seeing all of that work, all of those conversations, film sessions and practice, pay off in the form of production.
Through 21 games this season, Mantha has broken out for seven goals and three assists, including goals in back-to-back games and points in three straight. He has the third-most goals on the team and is on pace to score 26, which would mark his first 20-goal season since 2018-19 in Detroit.
For Mantha, he credits his linemates with his resurgence, with sophomores McMichael and Protas making the most of their chances, but he also explained that he's been able to rediscover the fun in his game that made originally made him a highly-touted prospect.
"That's the key for me, for my mental, for my game to be where it has to be, I need to be having fun, and right now with Mikey and Pro, that's exactly what's going on," Mantha explained. "It's just creating a lot offensively, and then the chances are actually going on."
But what's the difference between this season and last season with regard to having fun? For Mantha, it's doing the right things and getting that trust and time with the puck.
"Success plays a part, obviously," he added. "If you're not having any success as a team or as a player, it's hard to go out there and have fun. You're angry, you're not making the right plays, you're never really playing with the puck. Right now for us, Mikey, Pro and I, we're actually playing a lot with the puck. We're trying to make plays, we're creating offensively, we're playing good defensively, and it just makes the game more fun and more enjoyable."
His team also recognizes a change in his approach, and for Carbery, he's seen Mantha do a complete 360.
"He's playing at a really high level," Carbery said, adding, "You can just tell. He's got the confidence building, he's smiling, he's enjoying practicing, coming to the rink. He's a confident player right now."
Now all that's left to do is keep the momentum going and remain consistent.
"You need to push yourself every day, and I think that's what's paying off right now," Mantha said.