Anaheim came within reach of a real offseason headache with Pavel Mintyukov.
The Ducks defenceman drew enough attention this summer that at least one club was prepared to take the offer-sheet route, according to his agent Dan Milstein. That was exactly the kind of scenario Anaheim wanted to dodge after already dealing with Leo Carlsson agreeing to an offer sheet with Philadelphia a few days earlier.
Mintyukov eventually stayed put, signing a five-year, $36 million contract with the Ducks. He turns 23 on Nov. 25.
Milstein said the interest around Mintyukov was real, and that the defender’s preference was to remain in Anaheim. In an exclusive interview Wednesday on DFO Insider with Jeff Marek and TFP’s David Pagnotta, Milstein confirmed how close things came to landing elsewhere.
“Yes. We had a couple of good things going, but the priority was obviously to stay in Anaheim, and to be fully transparent, we really didn’t have any good conversations or any contract conversations with Anaheim leading into the offer sheet conversation,” Milstein explained.
“And so when we were close, Pavel wanted to stay with Anaheim, I just called (Ducks GM Pat Verbeek) and said, 'hey, Pat, I’m going to have something coming in here shortly. And, can we talk about a contract?’
And so we basically got together, we got the deal done in a matter of two days, and, basically that’s what happened.”
Drafted 10th overall by the Ducks in the 2022 NHL Draft, Mintyukov has started this season with two goals and four assists for six points in 12 games.
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For Anaheim, the debate centered on how the penalties were handed out after the fight, especially with Helleson involved in his first NHL bout. Podkolzin was hit with an instigator minor, a fighting major and a game misconduct, while Helleson came away with only a roughing minor, leaving the Ducks with a result that felt as notable as the fight itself. [Read more 🡒]