Something new for this one today. We got an email from reader Greg who wanted to open discussion on a couple points so I figured we’d give that a go today.
Is there anything to be made of Mantha not filing for arbitration? It seems Yzerman has said publicly he is confident they will get a deal done. But what is the motivation for not filing for arbitration versus Bertuzzi and many others in the NHL filing for it?
As a player optimist, I think the thing to read into Mantha letting the arbitration deadline pass without filing is good faith in a deal being done quickly, but the cutthroat read on it is that it allows him leverage that 26 other RFAs (including Bertuzzi) did not claim.