Early Wednesday morning, the New Jersey Devils made their biggest free agent splash of the 2026 offseason, inking 31-year-old winger Anthony Mantha to a two-year, $4.75 million AAV contract. As per PuckPedia, the contract comes with no trade protection.
The Mantha signing is easily their most notable move in free agency, with the other transactions in free agency mostly serving as AHL padding, perhaps other than Vladislav Kolyachonok. It marks New Jersey's first move since Barrett Hayton's offer sheet was matched.
Mantha logged a career high in goals and points last season while playing on the Pittsburgh Penguins' third line, accruing 33 goals and 64 total points. 26 of those 33 goals came at even strength, as did 51 of those 64 points. By all accounts, this is a player who thrives at producing at 5v5, ranking second on the team behind only Yegor Chinakhov in points per 60 minutes. That's right -- last season, Mantha scored more points per hour than Sidney Crosby.
From an underlying perspective, there's quite a bit to like yet again. According to HockeyStats, Mantha has put up an expected goal share (xGF%) of at least 50% in 11 of his 12 NHL seasons, most recently outputting a 50.6% xGF% in 2025-26. The 6'5, 234-pound sniper has a propensity for winning his minutes, marking yet another player Sunny Mehta acquired that fits that bill.
Perhaps more importantly than even winning his minutes, Mantha has averaged 25 goals per 82 games through his career. Yes, his 33-goal campaign was a bit anomalous simply looking at raw goal outputs per season, and yes, Mantha has endured his fair share of injury woes, but this is a player who puts the puck in the back of the net quite consistently when he's healthy. As a finisher, he immediately presents as the Devils' best shooter from a talent perspective, having scored 179 goals on a career individual expected goal (ixG) total of just 141.94.
His last three seasons admittedly do skew that a fair bit, having scored 25.92 goals above expected in his last three campaigns, but he has still finished at an above-expected rate for most of his career. In fact, he has scored below expected in a full season just two times.
Anthony Mantha has a chance to give the Devils the scoring threat they've been after for years
In particular, Mantha thrives in jamming the dirty goals in the back of the net. He has a bit of a reputation as a player who doesn't fit the prototypical playstyle of a player of his stature, generally avoiding scrums and grinding along the boards despite his hulking frame. That said, this doesn't mean he is averse to attacking loose pucks near the net and, subsequently, scoring on those opportunities.
Additionally, Mantha ranked in the 89th percentile for getting shots off in high-danger areas of the ice this past season, as per AllThreeZones.
These two traits -- high-end crash-the-net play and volume shooting off of high-danger passes -- make Mantha a potentially perfect fit to play top-six minutes alongside Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, the two most dynamic playmakers on the roster. That duo is more than capable of doing the vast majority of facilitation while Mantha cashes in on high-danger looks and rebounds. Off the rush, he can act as a pass outlet for those two after they break into the zone, and in the cycle, he can act as a rebound hound and one-time threat from in tight. This is exactly the archetype of player the Devils have been looking for for that role.
Some may argue that his aversion to physical play is a bad thing, particularly as it relates to puck retrievals. The thing is, Hughes and Bratt are puck magnets regardless of who they play alongside. Would the added physicality be nice? Sure, but that isn't going to prevent 86 and 63 from having the puck -- even on the forecheck, they were some of the most effective players on the team not through playing crash-and-bang hockey, but by intelligently baiting their opposition into turning the puck over in a location they can easily access. It should be a non-issue, and the rest of Mantha's skills make him a great complement.
All in all, the Mantha signing was an excellent value-get by Mehta and company, and one that looks like it could make a legitimate impact in the Devils' top six.
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