Anthony-Mantha

Anthony Mantha led the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 50 goals last season before the Detroit Red Wings made him the 20th overall pick in the NHL entry draft.

(Val-d'Or)

Deep down, forward Anthony Mantha reluctantly understands he's almost certainly destined to start next season playing junior hockey in Quebec.

But that doesn't mean Mantha won't have his sights set high when his first NHL training camp begins in September.

The Detroit Red Wings'' first-round choice in last month's draft will be heading to Traverse City with every intention of opening the 2013-14 campaign Oct. 2 at Joe Louis Arena against the Buffalo Sabres.

"I came here with a positive thinking trying to make the team because that's what every hockey player wants to do," Mantha, the 20th overall pick in this year's NHL entry draft, said at the club's annual Development Camp. "If it's not this year, then the next year I'll come back with the same thinking of trying to make the team.

"And If not, I'll go back to junior and have my best season yet. I'll try doing my best to come back to the next camp and try to make the AHL or the NHL the year after. It's really a process of growing up right now and it's a great moment."

So it's the NHL or bust this season?

"For sure it is," Mantha said. "If you go around the room and ask every player, I'm not sure there's one that will tell you that's not their goal."

Mantha is obviously not short of confidence.

Then again, why should he be? He was the only 50-goal scorer in this year's NHL draft after leading the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 50 goals among 89 points in 67 games for Val d'Or.

It's easy to see what the Red Wings like about Mantha, who is 6-foot-4, 190 pounds.

"I score lots of goals," he said. "I'm a good (penalty killer) and power-play guy."

Mantha might be confident in his abilities but the odds of opening the season in Detroit certainly aren't in his favor since seeing a first-round draft pick break in with the Red Wings straight out of junior hockey is unprecedented over the last 20-plus seasons.

The last time a first-round pick played for the Red Wings the season he was drafted was 1991-92, when Martin Lapointe opened the season in Detroit after being the 10th pick in the 1991 entry draft.

Lapointe skated in the second game of the '91-92 season but didn't appear in another Red Wings' game for two months and played in just four games that season. He also spent 31 games with Laval of the QMJHL before joining Adirondack for the AHL playoffs.

The last first-round pick who was a regular for the Red Wings the year he was drafted was Keith Primeau, who was the third overall pick in 1990 and appeared in 58 games as a rookie. But Primeau also played spent time in Adirondack, playing six games in the AHL.

There are two reasons why first-round picks don't step right into the Red Wings lineup like they do with other clubs.

Many years, the Red Wings don't have a first-round pick because they traded it away to bolster the lineup for the playoffs. And it's not exactly easy for youngsters to earn a roster spot with a franchise that hasn't missed the playoffs in 22 seasons.

The last time the Red Wings missed the playoffs was 1989-90, the season before Primeau was drafted.

"For them, it's a slow pattern," said Mantha, who will turn 19 during Red Wings training camp. "They want guys at 20 in the AHL. Play a year or two in the AHL and then go up to the NHL the year after. That's great to know. I'm just focusing on that right now."

Mantha is considered a strong skater who has an outstanding shot with an obvious nose for the net. But his consistency, effort and intensity level have been questioned by critics.

"It is fair," Mantha admitted. "This year, I worked on it and it wasn't perfect. Every hockey player is not perfect and I'm working really hard on it right now. It's going the right way.

"It's really my 'compete level' every day (that needs improving). Being intense, winning my one-on-one battles."

Training camp for the Red Wings is Sept. 12-18 at Centre Ice Arena.