Prospects aiming to show Wings they’ve got game
His youthful looks and red hair giving him sort of a Ron Howard from Happy Days look, Evgeni Svechnikov is confident that happy days are ahead for him.
Anthony Mantha is even more certain that they are here for him and that he’s ready to take a bite out of the NHL.
They’re two of the biggest pieces of the future of the Detroit Red Wings, and this could be the year that right-winger Mantha, 22, Detroit’s top pick in the 2013 NHL entry draft, finally makes his mark in the Show.
Left-winger Svechnikov, 19, Detroit’s first draft choice in 2015, is at a different stage of development, but as a first-year pro, is ready to turn heads and show people signs of the bright days ahead.
“He’s a very powerful player,” said Detroit farmhand Mitch Callahan, who played briefly with Svechnikov at the end of last season with AHL Grand Rapids. “He’s fast, he’s strong, he has good skill. He’s the real deal.
“He’s going to be a real good player and a future NHLer for sure.”
For Mantha, that future could be right now. The Wings are giving the 6-4 forward every chance to make his mark during training camp, playing him on a line with Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou in training camp and so far in pre-season play, hoping he will force their hand to keep him much in the same manner Larkin did last season.
“We’d like to play him a minimum of five exhibitions, and put your best foot forward,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said.
In the past, Mantha’s commitment was sometimes questioned, but this summer, he devoted himself to literally eating his way to the NHL, working with a nutritionist and devouring eight meals a day, bulking up to a stout 220 pounds.
“At first your body can’t really eat that much, but after two or three weeks in I got used to it and I was craving food every two hours,” Mantha said.
With the added calories have come added pace in his game.
“I’m also stronger, so I have a feeling I can move even quicker than before,” Mantha said.
Blashill was suitably impressed by what he saw from Mantha when he arrived in camp. “He’s bigger than he was,” Blashill said. “As soon as I saw him, I thought he’s really put the work in, so that’s really a great thing and then I was curious to see what he looked like on the ice. Sometimes when you put more body mass on you’re a little more clumsy, and he’s not at all. I think he’s as fluid as he was, but he’s got more body mass and he’s just as quick and fast.”
Svechnikov scored in Detroit’s first exhibition game and Mantha netted in the second one, so both are already on the board.
For Mantha, who scored twice in a 10-game stint with the Wings last season, his intention is to keep giving the Wings reasons to keep him around.
“I need to be strong, I need to play my game and I need to show them that this year I came here with a mentality of staying up here,” Mantha said.
Svechnikov, who will eventually be assigned to Grand Rapids, knows that his task this season is to take the step up from junior as smoothly as he can.
“Junior hockey and pro hockey, there is a big difference,” Svechnikov said. “I try to learn as much as I can as quick as I can.”
Blashill anticipates that as was the case when Mantha jumped from Val d’Or of the QMJHL to Grand Rapids in 2014-15, there will be some pitfalls along the way for Svechnikov as he moves up from QMJHL Cape Breton.
“The year you’re turning pro, that camp’s a huge year,” Blashill said. “It’s a huge, huge year to really start to make a statement and really catapult yourself into the American League.
“The American League is really hard, and sometimes guys take it for granted and they fall way behind. Sometimes guys have great camps, go to the American League and play great and keep going.”
They may be at different stages of the game, but both Mantha and Svechnikov’s main goal is to show the Wings that they’ve got game.