The Calgary Flames will be without the services of forward Anthony Mantha for the remainder of the season after he suffered an ACL injury against the Montreal Canadiens.
Mantha, who will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, will undergo surgery on Thursday and is hopeful to be back to 100% health in time for training camp next season. The 30 year old took a check from Habs forward Emil Heineman towards the end of the 1st period in the November 5th matchup.
He would ultimately leave the game and would not return. Both Calgary and Mantha’s camp had been seeking out multiple opinions on the injury, but the decision was made to correct the issue via a surgical procedure rather than attempt to rehab it.
Mantha joined the Flames on a 1 year, $3.5M contract this offseason, and recorded 4G, 3A across 12 games so far in 2024-25. Originally selected by Detroit 20th overall in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, the Longueuil, QC native has bounced between clubs the last 3 years with stops in Washington, Vegas, and Calgary.
Heading into free agency, Mantha will look to secure a long term deal to be able to put down some roots for the latter half of his NHL career. However, the injury certainly complicates matters as teams are less likely to commit term and dollar value to a player whom they won’t be able to see in game action until the puck drops in 2025-26.
Calgary is next action against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night at 8:30pm ET.
Photo: Daniel. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.