Capitals give Anthony Mantha the wake-up call he needed

Anthony Mantha has been scratched from the Washington Capitals lineup for the last two games. It is a wake up call that he needs as his production went down prior to the scratch.

Mantha has a salary cap hit of $5.7 million for the next two seasons. He had one goal in his past 11 games. The 28 year old was demoted to the fourth line on Friday night against the Nashville Predators.

He missed both the Caps game against the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Philadelphia Flyers. They’ll see the Flyers again on Saturday night.

The Caps made some moves to activate Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson which included placing Joe Snively on waivers and sending Aliaksei Protas to the Hershey Bears. Snively cleared. Nicolas Aube Kubel is the only other scratched forward besides Mantha.

“(Peter Laviolette is) obviously not happy with my game. That’s pretty much it,” said Mantha.

Mantha had nine goals and 14 assists through 42 games which matched his total from last season, where Mantha played in just 37 games after shoulder surgery.

Mantha was acquired from the Detroit Red Wings during the 2021 trade deadline and after surgery last season and a lengthy rehab he entered this season with high expectations.

The six foot five, 234 pound winger couldn’t live up to the expectations and his game fell flat. And this came at the golden opportunity of having two teammates in Backstrom and Wilson recovering from their respective injuries.

Mantha was inconsistent throughout the first half of the season and there were games where he was just a passenger on the ice and not a player.

The Caps tried to improve his production by moving him to the second unit of the power play but he only registered one goal and one assist. Mantha was moved up and down the lineup but there was no fit on any line.

Mantha told the media:

"“I felt good. I mean body-wise, no injuries — I think it’s the first year in a couple of years that I played the first half of the season without getting injured. So I was pumped for that. … [The scratch was] a wake-up call.”"

Mantha admitted that he had his fair share of scoring chances but was unable to finish. He also said he didn’t believe he was scratched because of a lack of production.

The Caps will have to figure out the right lineup in their rematch on Saturday night with the Flyers. Whether that involves Mantha or not remains to be seen.