#2 Top six audition?
The right side of the top six will be up for grabs and three people will be vying for those two spots. The right side of the first line and second line will come down to the likes of T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson, and Anthony Mantha. Whoever doesn’t get the top six spot gets bumped to the third line.
During the second day of training camp, Mantha was on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov. Maybe it means something. Maybe it doesn’t. But it’s pure insanity trying to predict the lines after just the second day of training camp.
Mantha was brought in for the physicality as well as the offense. His offense was there in the beginning as he scored in four straight games. After that, Mantha went silent. Maybe giving him time on the top line will help boost his numbers. We only really got a small sample size of Mantha last season so we’ll see how he looks with a full season with the Caps.
Only Tom Wilson to of that trio will play in the first preseason game tonight against the Boston Bruins. Again, I wouldn’t quite read too much into Mantha being on the top line quite yet.