NHL insider Frank Seravalli and agent Dan Milstein are trading shots online after Seravalli reported that Milstein had contacted multiple teams to gauge interest in an offer sheet for Anaheim Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov.
According to the reporting, the Ducks were told an offer sheet for Mintyukov was coming and then locked him up on a five-year extension with a $7.2 million AAV. Seravalli later stood by his account, saying Milstein had reached out around the league to stir up interest.
Milstein fired back on X with a sarcastic message aimed at Seravalli:
“Busted wide open. Turns out my day job is calling GMs and begging for offer sheets on my own guy, then hiding it so well that apparently nobody noticed except some insider.
Appreciate the investigative work, really. Pulitzer season is coming,” he wrote on X.
Seravalli answered in kind:
“Hi Dan, I wasn’t criticizing you, merely reporting a fact that you called team to team to solicit an offer sheet for your client. #YouGetAGoldStar Did I strike a nerve?
By the way, I never knew that you could be considered a best selling author by self publishing. Bravo!
wrote Seravalli on X.
The Ducks’ offseason has also drawn attention from Elliotte Friedman, who believes general manager Pat Verbeek is starting to lose his hold on the franchise after the Philadelphia Flyers’ record-breaking $18 million AAV offer sheet for restricted free agent Leo Carlsson.
If Anaheim matches that sheet, Friedman said the club would be left with roughly $9-10 million in projected cap space for next season.
“He (Pat Verbeek) didn’t see this coming. He has lost control, unfortunately for him, of the structure of his organization. Who knows where this goes, but the Ducks might never be the same again,” Friedman said.
That would leave the Ducks in a tight spot as they deal with the Cutter Gauthier extension situation and still need help on the blue line. Anaheim has until July 10 to decide what to do.
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