Player Review: Josh Manson

As part of the AnaheimDucks.com annual Player Reviews, we will be featuring a different Ducks player throughout the coming weeks, in numerical uniform number order. Each review will include key stats, a highlight from last season and an outlook for 2016-17.

By Kyle Shohara AnaheimDucks.com

With a humble and respectful approach to the game, a low-key demeanor and tireless on-ice work ethic, Josh Manson won over fans throughout the course of his first full season in the National Hockey League. Manson appeared in 71 games last season, recording 15 points (5g/10a) with a +11 rating and 74 penalty minutes over that span.

The 24-year-old ranked second on the team and led Anaheim defensemen in hits (158), and also paced team blueliners in plus/minus, ranked second in penalty minutes, tied for second in appearances and tied for third among team d-men in goals. He was an anchor alongside Hampus Lindholm, and often served as a safety blanket when the high-flying Swede opted to turn on the afterburners. But the Prince Albert, Saskatchewan native was much more than just a stay-at-home defenseman.

Manson is a blend of old-school and new-school. His physicality and shutdown qualities, in addition to his no-nonsense approach in the defensive end pays homage to the days of old, when burly, lumbering “defensive defensemen” still roamed the ice. But in today’s NHL, defensemen have to be mobile, they have to skate, and they have to be able to move the puck out of the zone and up the ice. For a big man [he’s a chiseled 6-3, 215], Manson can do …

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