from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
The contract takes the 26-year-old Mantha two years into free agency, which is good, but it also avoids locking the Wings into an exorbitant deal, which is even better. It was only last month that Yzerman extricated the team from one such fiasco, Justin Abdelkader's deal.
The $5.7 million annual average value, or salary cap hit, recognizes that Mantha is a key rebuilding block, but keeps the hit below Dylan Larkin’s $6.1 million AAV. Four years says Yzerman believes in Mantha, but there’s room to grow.