During this year’s Dads Trip, which began in Montreal, Anthony Mantha’s father Daniel Pronovost brought up the bad luck his son had at Bell Centre last year.
“He got hurt here in his 13th game, right in that corner,” Daniel said, pointing to the area where Anthony tore his ACL as a member of the Calgary Flames, and missed the rest of that season.
Mantha went from not being sure he would get a contract this summer to having a career year with the Pittsburgh Penguins, leading the team with 31 goals and counting.
With Mantha being the best free agent signing of any team this offseason following an intense rehabilitation process that had him questioning his future, the Pittsburgh chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association selected the 31-year-old forward as the 2025-26 team nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.
It is awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.
“I think it's the first time I got nominated for something in the NHL. So, obviously, that's awesome,” Mantha said.
“There were some doubts (I could get here). I was kind of mentally preparing myself for a PTO (professional tryout contract). When it happens, and you play 13 games, and Calgary was kind of a prove-it deal – that's kind of where the head goes to. And I knew I still had some in me. Obviously, I knew I was going to work to get back. And here we are.”
Initially, the prognosis wasn’t bad. Mantha did an MRI, which showed no swelling. The team told Mantha he might be out for a week.
“And then when they hit you with, ‘yeah, you're done for the year,’ that's probably the low point,” Mantha said. “And then after that, it takes couple weeks to kind of refocus and get your head right and get to work, get to rehabbing. Just working to find a deal, get a deal, and have a career year.”
Mantha has been vocal about working with Toronto-based mental coach Matt Caldaroni for the last several years. It started when he underwent shoulder surgery during the 2021-22 season, which Mantha spent with Washington. He had the procedure that November and returned to action in March.
At that point, Mantha said he had “kind of lost the passion, maybe, for hockey. I was getting injured every other year, and it was just taking a toll mentally and physically. We kind of worked on loving the game again.”
So, when this most recent injury happened, Mantha was constantly communicating with Caldaroni throughout the entire process.
“Our sole focus was to be the best version of myself this year, and that was from Day 1 of rehabbing all the way to the start of this year,” Mantha said. “And obviously, I think I'm there right now. Obviously, best results of my career for stats-wise, but I think just also as a person and as a dad of three now. So, it's pretty cool.”
Dan Muse also had a goal for Mantha.
He had been named head coach about a month before the Penguins signed Mantha to an incentive-laden one-year deal at the start of free agency. “Those games played bonuses, they kind of go a long way of them having some confidence in me and taking care of my body,” Mantha said.
Once Mantha was officially in the mix, Muse gave him a call.
“The first conversation we had was, he wanted to get me to 30 goals,” Mantha said with a smile.
The four-time 20-goal scorer ended up hitting the mark for the first time on March 31 against Detroit, the team that drafted Mantha in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
“After the game, he came up to me, and he's like, you talked about it the first time. I was like, yeah, we did,” Mantha said. “And so, that was a boost of confidence, obviously... Credit to the coaching staff, obviously, for not either yelling at us or taking us down if something happens, and that's where we're at... This year, you see me out there, I'm laughing and I'm having more fun than I think probably my whole career.”
But while the individual success means a lot, Mantha is focused on an even loftier goal.
“I think the sole focus for myself and this team is to get into that playoff feeling great,” Mantha said.
