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Blashill calls out Mantha

November 23, 2017, 10:43 PM ET [18 Comments]
Bob Duff
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Talking one time about the trick to motivating players, Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman, who guided the Detroit Red Wings to three of the record nine Stanley Cups he won as a coach, felt it was a matter of getting inside the player’s psyche.

“What makes one player tick, ticks another player off,” Bowman explained.

Evidently, current Wings coach Jeff Blashill is of the opinion the publicly embarrassing Anthony Mantha is an effective method to motivate the Detroit right-winger.

While talking about carrying too many passengers in back-to-back home losses to the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers, Blashill specifically called out Mantha for criticism.

“It’s a hard league if you don’t show up with shift to shift intensity every single night,” Blashill said. “We’ve got some young guys that have really helped in our success when we’ve had success. With those types of minutes comes big-time responsibility.

“Anthony Mantha’s got to be way better, way better. It’s not OK to just be a passenger when you’re given the opportunity to be an impact player. He’s not alone, but certainly he’s a guy. I said to him at the beginning of the year for us to be great, you’ve got to be great. I think he’s gone through large stretches of being great. He hasn’t been great the last two games.”

When Mantha arrived at the rink for practice on Wednesday morning, the first person to greet him was Blashill.

“He talked to me this morning,” Mantha said. “Through his eyes, if I show up every night we can be a winning team and it's the same for other guys like (Dylan) Larkin and AA (Andreas Athanasiou). If we come out every game, I think it's so much better.”

Mantha does have a reputation for taking nights off. He did so in the AHL with Grand Rapids and last season, was scratched by Blashill when he grew weary of Mantha’s lack of effort.

While not happy to be called out in the press, Mantha didn’t dispute the assessment of his performance that was given by his coach. In fact, he supported it.

“I know that my game is not really where I want it to be the last three games,” Mantha said. “I think my last good game was against Calgary and after that I think I'm just floating around a little bit too much.”

For certain it’s tough love, but Blashill wouldn’t shine the spotlight on Mantha if he didn’t believe his player was capable of so much more than he’s shown of late.

“Sometimes as a person you have to be slapped in the face a little bit to make sure you get the understanding, and I want to make sure that he in particular understands the responsibility that comes with these minutes he's been given,” Blashill said.

“If I didn't think he was good enough to be a great player, I wouldn't do it. I didn't think he was good enough to be a big impact on our team I wouldn't do it. But I think he's all those things.”

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