The New Jersey Devils reinforced their winger core today by signing Anthony Mantha to a two-year pact with an annual cap hit of $4.75M. That leaves them with just under $4 million in remaining cap space with a full lineup of 13/7/3.

The Devils are missing Sefan Noesen for the beginning of the season, so this helps fill that hole, while still leaving a bit of opportunity for someone to claim a spot lower in the lineup before Noesen returns and really fills up the group.

Mantha and Dawson Mercer will likely split the top-two RW spots, which would likely ensure that Mantha keeps his 15+ minutes of ice time from his successful 64-point campaign last year. Last year Mantha was fairly sheltered, and started 63% of his zone starts in the offensive end. If he ends up on Jack Hughes' line, his shot rate might drop, but at least he would keep his offensive zone time. It would also be an upgrade in linemates, as Mantha hardly played with Sidney Crosby last year, and instead bounced around in the middle six. The deployment with Hughes seems more likely than tossing him into a more responsible role alongside Nico Hischier.

Mantha did see about 50% of the available power play time with the Penguins last season, which could end up actually increasing with the Devils, as their top unit last year was running out Connor Brown at the end of the season, and Mantha could very well take over that slotting.

One other statistical note for Mantha, is that he has shot over 20% in each of the past three seasons, which is starting to seem like more of a trend. He could be in trouble though if the shot volume drops due to playing alongside other high-volume shooters, and if the shooting percentage drops as well, then we could see a drop similar to what happened to Timo Meier when he joined the club – still useful, but not providing the same peak value.

All considered for Mantha, there are some pros and cons to the move, likely enough on each side to keep him in the 60-point range.

Mantha's addition likely doesn't greatly impact the expected production for his future linemates, but it would push a couple of the other wingers out of some extra top-six minutes and power play time.

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Arseny Gritsyuk