Penguins forward Anthony Mantha provides veteran guile along with offense

The morning of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ first game of the preseason on Sept. 22, no one knew what to do.

Given that it was the opener to the exhibition schedule and the contest was on the road against the Montreal Canadiens, the Penguins were sending a lineup mostly composed of youngsters.

And the vast majority of them weren’t quite sure of how to dress for the flight that afternoon.

A longstanding league-wide dress code was relaxed this past offseason and it allowed players to wear whatever they liked for traveling or arrivals into an arena.

But Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is something of a traditionalist and he prefers to dress to the nines on such occasions. And given his importance to the franchise, his preferences can morph into unofficial team policies.

The players the Penguins were sending to Montreal that afternoon were mostly NHL hopefuls on entry-level or two-way contracts. And several members of this motley crew didn’t have ties — just suits — for the flight.

None of them dared to ask Sidney Crosby if they could skip wearing a tie.

But Anthony Mantha dared.

As one of the few veterans the Penguins were sending to Montreal that day, Mantha — with a decade of NHL experience on his resume — had enough capital to approach Crosby — who wasn’t even going to Montreal — to seek a suspension of the non-rule regarding ties being “required” for that day’s traveling party.

“He said it’s OK!” the 31-year-old Mantha bellowed as he barged into the dressing room at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. “Suits, no ties!”

That news led to several 20-somethings offering looks of relief akin to being excused from the burden of writing a doctoral thesis on botany.

“Our captain wanted us to wear a suit and tie, which got changed to a suit/no tie,” Mantha said Oct. 25 when asked to relive the episode. “Just a clean, casual look. The kids, if they don’t have their ties, they were going to go buy some before going to fly out. I just went up to Sid and I asked him, ‘Hey, is it OK if some of the guys don’t have ties for tonight’s game?’ He said, ‘Yeah, no worries.’

“It’s only asking the right questions. It’s nothing stressful. Nothing out of my comfort zone. I would have had to gone home too … grab a tie, then fly out. It was just to make things clear and make sure everyone was on the same page.”

Such veteran gravitas is part of the package the Penguins brought in when they took a chance on Mantha as an unrestricted free agent signing July 1.

As a member of the Calgary Flames, his 2024-25 season came to an end just over a year ago on Nov. 5 due to a severely injured right knee that required surgery.

That provided him plenty of time to rehabilitate and get back to the form that has made him an occasional 20-goal threat over his career, to say nothing of earning a new contract.

The Penguins had actually kicked his tires during the 2024 offseason but he opted to join the Flames instead.

With the opportunity to get Mantha again and at a frugal rate coming off his injury, Penguins management signed him to a one-year contract with a base salary of $2.5 million. And in pursuing him again, the Penguins suggested he could play on a line with All-Star center Evgeni Malkin.

Hitherto this season, Mantha has been on Malkin’s line almost exclusively. And before an undisclosed injury sidelined him Nov. 5, Justin Brazeau, another offseason signing, had been stapled on that line for the first 12 games of the campaign.

The arrangement has worked out marvelously for Mantha, who is second on the team with eight goals, to go along with six assists over 19 games.

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Goal: Anthony Mantha (5)
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“It was kind of talked about at the moment of the signing,” Mantha said. “Teams are trying to sign free agents and I was one of them. They’re telling you what they see by signing you. They really just told me maybe probably (skating on a line with Malkin). But we didn’t quite know the (entire) line and with (Brazeau), it just connected from the start.

“It was a line that came together quick.”

With Brazeau’s injury, changes were made to the line as Tommy Novak was promoted from the third line and that union led to another moment of cagey veteran guile for Mantha.

During a 2-1 road shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 8, Novak was flattened by rugged defenseman Brenden Dillon on an open-ice hit. Mantha (6-foot-5, 240 pounds) challenged Dillon (6-4, 225), one of the toughest players in the NHL, to a fight in order to avenge Novak. But during the process, Mantha appeared to wait, recognizing Penguins forward Blake Lizotte had generated an offensive rush. Once Lizotte got his shot off, Mantha dropped the gloves and halted play to tangle with Dillon.

“He’s a great guy,” Novak said. “I’m happy that he stepped up there. … Just a guy that stands up for his teammates. A great teammate, great player. I’m happy he did that.”

Defending a player the size of Mantha doesn’t appear to be an enjoyable endeavor.

“It’s hard,” said Penguins defenseman Connor Clifton (6-0, 190). “You’ve got to be more patient. … You’ve got to kind of control their hips and when they move left to right, then you’ve got a chance to jump him. Really, if they’re square to the boards there and you’re on their back, there’s not much you can do. Especially for a big guy like that, if they get to the net, if you don’t get an early box-out and they get right there, they’ve already established position. It’s hard. They can sneak behind you. They can get a piece of (a shot) pretty easily with their stick.”

Mantha has done that to a certain degree this season with a handful of goals near the crease.

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But a more pressing statistic to him would appear to be games.

Given that he was limited to only 13 contests last season, his current contract contains a performance bonus that awards him $250,000 for every 10th game he plays. He can make up to $2 million extra if he plays in 80 of the possible 82 regular season games.

For obvious reasons, he has a clear pursuit in mind.

“I want to play all 82 this year,” Mantha said. “It’s been almost impossible throughout my career to play the whole season. That’s my mentality. I’m taking care of my body. Trying to do the right things at the right time. It’s part of my contract. Am I paying attention? Obviously, I am but it’s not something I solely focus on.

“It’s going to come. As I stay healthy and play great hockey, it’s going to come.”

A new contract will come this upcoming offseason as well. Should he stay healthy and maintain the rate of production he had established, Mantha could command terms with multiple years.

Now on his fifth team in 11 seasons, the veteran has been in the NHL long enough to understand the value of stability.

“It’s to set up my family for life,” Mantha said. “That’s my goal, playing for another contract, however many years it may be. Moved the family around a lot lately. Obviously, I would love to go and try to play for a two-, three-year contract. At my age, I’m not going to go for the seven- or eight-year (contract) because that’s not realistic. But a two- three-year (deal) is my target.

“I’m going to do everything I can to get there.”

Note: The Penguins had a scheduled day off Monday.