Grading Anthony Mantha after a disappointing season with Capitals

Anthony Mantha is next up on our Washington Capitals end of season player report card series. We knew this day was going to come. And honestly giving harsh grades sucks because I hate to be the bad guy in these things. These players have families.

But I have to be fair and unbiased (okay maybe a little bit bias since we are a Capitals blog). But I have to grade fairly and that’s what these report cards are for.

The good thing about Mantha is he knows how to get hot. The problem is he only gets hot in spurts. Once that hot streak ends he gets cold and then unnoticeable.

So let’s get to the stats. Mantha had 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points in 67 games. He was hurt for a bit but it wasn’t as bad as the previous seasons. The other games he didn’t play, he was a healthy scratch. In some cases, rightfully so.

So the good thing here is he had the most goals in his time in a Capitals sweater. But let’s break this further down. Mantha had four goals in his first 13 games after the Jakub Vrana trade. Of course that was the four straight games with a goal streak before he went cold.

The next year he had nine goals. Which is actually pretty impressive considering he had shoulder surgery so props there. 11 goals. Meh. And I say this for a good reason.

There was one game where I had to give Mantha this grade. And people will think I’m saying this because I’m just some angry Caps fan that lost the game to the Penguins. But nah.

But it WAS that bad don’t get me wrong. Watch this turnover in center ice to Evgeni Malkin that buried the Caps playoff hopes (they weren’t going to make it anyways).

Grade F: Unfortunately half of Caps twitter was right. And I’m actually on that side of Caps twitter. They shouldn’t have traded Jakub Vrana. But I also knew it was going to happen. That stare down on that OTGWG from V was what did it.