Anthony Mantha is a star in the making, and he deserves to be paid like one. With his ELC expiring this year, Mantha is in need of a contract extension this upcoming off-season. By the looks of it, he’s shaping up to be getting a big pay day this summer. An elite talent like Mantha is someone that needs to be locked up long term as soon as possible. A bridge deal just doesn’t make sense in this case. At 23-years-old, a long term deal sets him up to be in the middle of his prime, and he can then cash in for one more big paycheck,as  opposed to going long term in a year or two, which would complicate his next contract extension.

“I think he can be a superstar in this league,” goaltender Jimmy Howard said following the hectic 8-2 victory against Calgary on Wednesday. And, believe me, Howie isn’t wrong. Mantha has shown he has the ability to take over a game, as we saw in the two previous match-ups with the Flames (recorded 3 points in each game, as well as a Gordie Howe Hat-trick). His great play has also shown on the score sheet, as he currently sits T-17th in points (19 points) and T-6th in goals (10 goals) league-wide. Although, his ridiculous 20.4% shooting percentage has to regress. For Example, Paul Byron came out of no where in 2016-17 with a 22.9% shooting percentage (!!!!) (it’s currently at 14.3%), but that doesn’t mean Mantha can’t keep it in the range of elite players. Mantha has always been a prolific goal scorer going back to his junior days, where he scored 81 goals in 81 games en route to being named CHL player of the year back in 2013-14.

Goal scoring isn’t everything he brings, however. He’s demonstrated some impressive play-making abilities, such as:

But don’t forget about his filthy mitts:

And he’s clutch:

Point is, he’s special, these types of players don’t grow on trees. So now the question is, what’s he worth? In terms of AAV, I think we could see something along the line of $6M-$6.5M. His best comparables include Jonathan Huberdeau, Mark Scheifele, and Filip Forsberg, among others. These comparables are best off of point production, signing age, along with other lingering factors. The three aforementioned players all make within the range of $5.9M-$6.125M per year. as for term, I think 6 years should be the starting point, as it will carry him into his early 30s.

All in all, Mantha deserves the big bucks. It should be interesting to see how the Wings find cap space to make this type of signing work, with other important pieces like Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou needing extensions as well. One thing is for sure though, Big Tony is gonna have a lot more spicy meatballs on and off the ice!

Oh and also, I wonder how much longer this tweet from our good friends over at Leafs Nation holds up…

Because…