Flames' Mantha embracing 300-shot challenge from Huska on 'show-me contract'

CALGARY – Shortly after signing with the Calgary Flames this summer, Anthony Mantha was asked by Ryan Huska to do something no Flame has done since Jarome Iginla did almost two decades ago.

No, not carry the franchise on his shoulders.

“The coach and I talked a lot over the summer and he wants me to shoot almost 300 pucks,” said the 30-year-old right winger.

“That’s the message he’s sending me. To shoot 300 pucks in this league you need to have ice time, you need to have some power-play time and those extra big minutes at 4-on-4 and 3-on-3. 

“Hopefully I jump into that role, and I embrace it, and make it happen.”

To put in perspective how lofty a target that is, only four Flames players have recorded 300-shot seasons in the 35 years since the club won the Stanley Cup.

The last one to do it was Iginla in 2007-08 when he recorded his second 50-goal season on 338 shots (a 14.8 per cent shooting percentage).

The good news is that Mantha scored 20 goals last year on just 90 shots (a whopping 22.2 per cent) before being traded to Vegas at the deadline.

If he took 300 shots while duplicating his career-high in shooting percentage, he’d threaten Lanny McDonald’s franchise record of 66 goals.

We digress.

For a veteran who has eclipsed 20 goals just three times in his career, no one is expecting Mantha to start challenging franchise records.

But with him signed expressly to play opposite Jonathan Huberdeau, the opportunity will likely be there for him to eclipse his personal best in shots at the very least.

Has he taken 300 shots before?

“Not even close,” he laughed.

“Halfway there, maybe.”

His previous high was 198 in Detroit six years ago when he had a career-high 25 goals.

The Wings’ former first rounder (20^th overall in 2013) then spent four years battling a bevy of injuries in Washington where he watched serial shooter Alex Ovechkin fire from every angle.

Asked what he learned from watching the man who once posted 528 shots in a season, the six-foot-five, 234-pound Mantha smiled.

“Shoot the puck,” he said.

“What Ovi had with (Nicklas) Backstrom in his prime, it would get on his tape and he would just fire.

“That’s how you score goals. If you don’t shoot, you don’t score.”

No one is expecting him and Huberdeau to replicate that magic, but the signing was made with the belief that Mantha’s shot would compliment Huberdeau’s penchant for passing. 

“If Huby gets it right on the tape why would you not shoot it?” said Mantha.

“Obviously he’s a great passer and he’ll make those plays at any moment. Even if you think you’re not going to get the puck through it’s going to end up on your stick.

“You just need to be ready.”

Mantha met Huberdeau several years back when the two would skate together in Montreal during the off-season.

While contemplating the Flames’ one-year, $3.5 million offer, Mantha reached out to Huberdeau.

“I texted him a couple times before I signed here and got to know how it was here, and what he was thinking, and if it was a good idea to sign here,” he said.

“Obviously I’m here now so they were good chats.”

Three days into camp, the left-shooting right winger has remained on a line with Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil, whose speed and size should theoretically help drive a line the Flames will count on for significant offence.

“When you look at coaching against him over the years there were nights where you would watch him play and say, ‘my gosh, this guy is the best player on the ice,’” said Huska.

“He’s got a rocket of a shot.

“We feel if he has a mindset where, ‘I’ve got to get up to 300 shots, which is a lot of shots,’ he’s going to score some goals, because he’s naturally talented that way.

“I’m hopeful he kind of grabs hold of that and he is selfish when it comes to shooting the puck.”

Huska said he knows 300 shots is a huge ask, as only nine players in the league did it last year, and Al MacInnis, Theo Fleury, Val Bure and Iginla are the only ones in the Flames’ 300 Club since 1989. 

The coach said he’d settle for three shots a game, something only Nazem Kadri was able to do last season with 277

“He’s going to be in a position where we’re going to need him to be a threat when he is on the ice,” he said.

“If he’s going to play with Huby, Huby is a pass-first guy as we know so I want him to be ready to shoot,”

If he can, the reward will come via a beefier new deal.

“This is 100 per cent a show-me contract,” said Mantha of his one-year audition.

“That’s how I see it and how I focused over the summer. Two years ago wasn’t great (11 goals on 119 shots), last year was way better for me, and this year is going to be way better.”