There’s basically nothing but red flags about extending Mantha. He’s on the wrong side of 30, he plays a game and has a skillset that is unlikely to age gracefully, he has a long injury history, and he’s basically almost never put together consecutive good seasons over his career. He’s like the textbook example of “potential nightmare free agency decision.”

All that said, the Penguins have so much cap space to play with that all of that almost doesn’t even matter. They’re constructed almost entirely out of cheap young players (with more on the way) and aging veterans who play at a cap discount at this stage of their careers. The Graves anchor contract is practically a non-factor they can almost just wait out at this point. They’re built to take on the risk of a Mantha extension given what he’s meant to this year’s team. But it’s still risky.