Sit Anthony Mantha vs Blackhawks in fantasy matchup

The Washington Capitals take on the Chicago Blackhawks tonight. For more information on how to watch and bet on the game, head over here. Learn more about why you should start Evgeny Kuznetsov here. Read on to learn why to avoid starting Anthony Mantha tonight.

For starters, Mantha was a healthy scratch for two Caps games in the last week. Those came last Friday at home against the St. Louis Blues and Sunday on the road against the Minnesota Wild.

Let’s look at how Mantha did during the game before and his game after the scratches. First the Caps had a win over the Buffalo Sabres last Wednesday where Mantha skated just 9:58 and was a -1.

Mantha played a little more in Tuesday night’s overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, skating 15:58 but posted a plus minus of -2. Mantha’s -2 tied the team lead that night with T.J. Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

So far this season, Mantha has recorded 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points in 62 games. Those 10 games he missed were all scratches. There were no injuries for Mantha this season compared to last year but even last year he was better.

Mantha had a plus minus of plus four last season. This season his plus minus is -7. No surprise there. He has also averaged 14:19 minutes of ice time. For comparisons sake, let’s look at who the Caps traded in exchange for Mantha. That player is Jakub Vrana.

Vrana has six goals and two assists for eight points. That seems like less than Mantha but Vrana has played in less games. He’s been out due to spending time in the player assistance program and spending time in the minors before finding a home with the St. Louis Blues after the Detroit Red Wings traded him.

Five of Vrana’s six goals have came in eight Blues games. So yeah. Not a good trade by any means.