When NHL fans talk about generational talents, they are often referring to players such as Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby or Erik Karlsson – elite performers who leave no doubts about their greatness. At age 22 and with just 70 NHL appearances under his belt, it will take time before Detroit’s Anthony Mantha can potentially put himself in that mix. However, he is very much a once-in-a-generation player, if you look at things from a different point of view.

The province of Quebec has a long history of supplying NHL teams with talented scorers. Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, Marcel Dionne, Guy Lafleur, Luc Robitaille; the list goes on. However, La Belle Province and its top developmental league, the QMJHL, has not been quite as prolific in recent years.

Crazy Stat: More players were selected out of US High schools (19) then the QMJHL (15) — Scott Herbst (@herbst20) June 24, 2017

The scouting community’s distaste for Quebec-bred players at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft is not a fluke nor a recent development. Earlier this year, hockey analytics pioneer Rob Vollman downgraded the QMJHL’s NHL Translation Factor, indicating that the QMJHL’s quality of competition is weaker than that of the OHL, WHL and European junior league.

For a draft-eligible prospect, hitting that milestone point-per-game pace in the QMJHL just doesn’t mean as much as it does elsewhere in the world. That’s one of the rare things old-school NHL scouts and numbers-savvy draft analysts can agree with right now.

Among full-time NHLers 25 years old or younger, Jonathan Huberdeau (24 years old), Jonathan Drouin (22 years old) and Mantha (22 years old) are the only Quebec-born forwards to average more than 0.5 points per game.

The Florida Panthers’ Huberdeau, who leads the select group with 0.653 Pts/G, has had the benefit of skating alongside young star Aleksander Barkov and future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr in top-line minutes. As Micah Blake McCurdy’s three-year recap above illustrates, Huberdeau has put up legitimate top-line results at 5vs5, but alongside the best players on his team.

Drouin, now of the Montreal Canadiens, padded his scoring stats by passing the puck to Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos on Tampa Bay’s power play – 34 of his 95 career points (0.579Pts/G) have come on the man advantage. At 5vs5, Drouin’s electrifying offensive skill set does not materialize into above-average results. He is actually a slight drag on Tampa’s shot and goal generation while playing sheltered minutes alongside second-tier linemates.

Statistically speaking, Mantha is by far the most interesting player of the trio. While we may have already seen the best out of Huberdeau, who could not find himself in a better situation, and Drouin, whose output really hasn’t justified the hype, the 6-foot-5 Mantha will have much more to give considering his impressive on-ice shot and goal impact in his brief time at the NHL level. If we reserve the scope of search to Quebec natives, then Mantha’s projectable size and promising NHL production really do make him a one-of-a-kind player in that 21-25 age cohort. Basically the farthest thing from “very disappointing”.

Maybe the thing tainting the Red Wings’ earlier views of the lanky Longueuil native is his unusual build. When you watch him on a shift-by-shift basis, you can’t help but notice that he has a case of Big Guy Easy syndrome. His footwork is rarely frantic, and he seldom goes out of his way to drive his 221 pounds into the midsection of an oncoming opponent. Justin Abdelkader, he certainly is not.

But engaging physically and mucking it up is beside the point for a skilled big man such as Mantha. His long arms and legs are useful insofar that they put him in a better position to beat opposing defenders with finesse, as demonstrated by his mastery of the “10-foot game.”

The marvelous part is how small Mantha manages to make himself when fishing for the puck. It’s a rare gift for such an imposing player to also be so slippery and difficult to check in traffic. Mantha’s genius is his understanding that more power or more effort is not always the solution. Sometimes, you need to wait a split second for a seam to open up in that small area. His more-than-adequate stride and edgework get him there, and his silky-soft hands take care of the rest.

Speaking of hands, Mantha’s ability to corral hard passes and shoot off the catch is a skill worth developing for any aspiring scorer. Whether you’re 4-foot-6 or 6-foot-4, the less you need to stickhandle before getting the puck flat and ready, the more offense you’ll be able to create. If anything, the ability to finesse a bouncing puck and releasing it quickly is even more important for taller players such as Mantha, as their longer arms and sticks are easier for defenders to tie up.

The thing to understand about Anthony Mantha is that he’s not a towering brute who happens to have some scoring skills, nor should he aspire to be one. Instead, consider him hockey’s answer to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a prodigious giant who willfully chooses artistry over blunt force trauma.

Stats: hockey-reference.com, quanthockey.com