This post is part of Detroit Red Wings day at PHT…

Anthony Mantha’s been here before.

Two years ago, yours truly wrote a “Looking to make the leap: Anthony Mantha” piece. At the time, Mantha was a 19-year-old phenom attempting to make the jump from junior hockey to the Red Wings — who were still waiting to hear if Daniel Alfredsson would return for a second season.

Yeah, Daniel Alfredsson.

Yeah, it was a long time ago.

And much has happened since, especially for Mantha.

The 20th overall pick in 2013 broke his leg shortly after that piece went live, an injury that stalled his progression and resulted in a difficult year with AHL Grand Rapids. At the end of the ’14-15 campaign, Detroit senior VP Jim Devellano said Mantha had been “very, very, very disappointing,” and Mantha acknowledged he had to work on “a lot of aspects of my play.”

A two-time 50-goal scorer in the Quebec League, Mantha proceeded to watch his name surface in trade rumblings, then failed to crack the Wings roster out of training camp last September. Mantha’s disappointment was compounded when Detroit’s newer, shinier young phenom — Dylan Larkin — became the first 19-year-old to make the team since Mike Sillinger did it in ’90-91.

Head coach Jeff Blashill admitted expectations for Mantha were probably too high, and the club seemed committed to taking a more patient approach with his development.

Until Mantha started changing people’s minds, that is.

Everything seemed to come together for the 6-foot-5, 204-pounder last year. He scored 21 goals and 45 points in 60 games for the Griffins, and started pushing for a recall by scoring his first professional hat trick in February.

At the time, the Wings were still preaching patience. But that all changed in mid-March, as GM Ken Holland made the decision to bring Mantha up and give him his NHL debut.

The results were a mixed bag. Mantha had two goals and three points in 10 games, but his ice time steadily diminished (he received 14:45 in his first contest, and just 6:27 in his last one.) And as the season came to a close and the Wings were in danger of missing the playoffs, Mantha was dropped from the lineup and returned to Grand Rapids.

Mantha’s pedigree and raw ability should put him in position to make the Wings out of training camp this year, but it’s no slam dunk. Fellow prospects like Andreas Athanasiou and Tomas Nosek will push for spots as well, and it’s important to remember that Mantha is waiver eligible — meaning he can go up and down without Holland having to worry about losing him.

But if there was ever a time for Mantha to really make the leap, this is it. He’ll be 22 by the time the season starts, and has had a good taste of NHL hockey.

Now all he needs to do is stick around.