Anthony Mantha’s start with the Devils didn’t look much like the summer buzz that came with his free-agent signing. The early expectation was obvious enough: a player coming off a 33-goal season might slide in next to Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt and help complete that top line.
That’s not how it played out. But once the Devils changed the mix, Mantha became part of a stretch that has them 9-2-0 in their last 11 games.
The turnaround has been tied directly to where he’s skating now. Since moving to the third line, Mantha has produced five goals and four assists for nine points in that 11-game span, giving the Devils exactly the kind of secondary scoring they’ve needed.
The opening five games were rough across the board, and Mantha was part of that slow start. In those games with Hughes and Bratt, he didn’t show up on the scoresheet at all. He managed six shots on goal, took seven penalty minutes, and finished with no points, which did not match the hope that surrounded his arrival.
“There aren’t many players who can keep up with them,” Mantha told NJ.com about Hughes and Bratt, and he wound up being one of the players who couldn’t make that fit work right away. The linemates themselves were still finding their rhythm, and the combination never really caught.
The switch with Arseny Gritsyuk changed things for both players. Mantha jumped into a third-line role and responded immediately, scoring and adding an assist in his debut there in Detroit. Gritsyuk, meanwhile, took off in the next game against the rival Rangers and began a five-game scoring streak.
Since then, Gritsyuk has piled up seven goals and 10 points in 11 games on the Hughes line, while Mantha has stayed right on his heels with five goals and nine points on Rodrigues’s wing. Before the swap, the two combined for just two points, both from Gritsyuk, over five games.
Mantha’s latest surge got another boost against St. Louis, where he posted two goals and an assist.
That pushed him to five goals and nine points on the season, which works out to a 26-goal, 47-point pace over 84 games. Strip out those first five scoreless outings, though, and his line since the move jumps to a 38-goal, 68-point pace.
For now, the important part is simpler than the projections. Mantha has found a spot that suits him, and all nine of his points have come at even strength.
If that scoring touch starts carrying over to the power play, the Devils could get even more out of the veteran than they originally imagined. Either way, it’s a strong sign of depth scoring.
In Other News...
Devils Fans Just Got A Reminder Of What The Hellebuyck Trade Cost
The reminder came in the form of Alexander Command, a 2026 draft pick the Devils sent to Winnipeg as part of the deal for Connor Hellebuyck. For New Jersey, the trade was always about landing a highly regarded goaltender, and that kind of move naturally comes with a price that can linger well beyond the day the deal is made.
Command has already spoken positively about his new team, and there is a sense that he could make the jump to North America soon. For Devils fans, though, his name is still tied to what it took to get Hellebuyck in the fold, a familiar reminder that even the biggest upgrades often come with future pieces headed the other way. [Read more 🡒]
Luke Hughes Just Gave Devils Fans A New Rivalry To Watch
The Devils overtime win over the Islanders had the kind of edge that can linger beyond one night, and Luke Hughes was right in the middle of it. He logged significant minutes in a game that swung hard in New Jerseys favor after the team fell behind 4-2, then watched Jack Hughes finish the comeback with the winner in overtime. For a team trying to build momentum early, it was the sort of game that felt as much about attitude as it did about the final score.
Luke Hughes also found himself in a rare fight with Matthew Schaefer, a moment that seemed to give New Jersey a jolt when it needed one. The Devils responded with more energy after that exchange, turning a rough position into a win that should only sharpen the attention on the next meeting between these teams. For now, it gives Devils fans a little extra reason to keep an eye on the Islanders, because the tone of this matchup changed in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Moving On From Ondej Palt Still Looks More Important Than Ever
The Devils decision to move on from Ondej Palt has only aged more favorably as the roster around it has changed. New Jersey brought Palt in on a five-year deal in the 2022 offseason, then later sent him to the Islanders along with draft picks in a move that was as much about reshaping the books as it was about the player himself. In return, the Devils landed Maxim Tsyplakov, who eventually became part of another trade, underscoring how much roster churn has flowed from that original pivot.
From the Devils perspective, the bigger story is what the deal allowed them to do next. Palt has not made much of an impact on Long Island, while New Jersey used the move to open up cap space and create the kind of flexibility that can matter over multiple seasons. Even as the pieces from that transaction have continued to move elsewhere, the Devils willingness to cut bait looks more and more like a front-office decision that helped set up the rest of their roster-building plan. [Read more 🡒]