In the past, when Mantha has struggled and remained stationary on the ice rather than consistently moving, Blashill has taken to scratching Mantha or limiting ice time.
Blashill didn’t necessarily do that in October. Blashill feels he might be learning different ways to get Mantha engaged and feeling good about himself.
“Maybe I’m learning him better, too,” Blashill said. “In the end, he wants to be real good. Sometimes players need a kick in the butt and sometimes they need confidence, and it’s easy to just say you’re going to use the stick, but the stick doesn’t always work.