The Anaheim Ducks have missed the playoffs in the past six seasons and are one of several teams previously near the bottom of the standings looking to climb out of the gutter and play more meaningful hockey down the stretch in the 2024-25 season.
Most of their future core gained valuable experience in 2023-24 and are already in the roles they project to maintain as the team transitions toward contention, so their road there could be less bumpy.
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The projected forward core rightfully garners a sizable amount of attention with Leo Carlsson (19), Mason McTavish (21), Trevor Zegras (23), and Cutter Gauthier (20) constructing a formidable top-of-the-lineup in Anaheim for the foreseeable future.
The Ducks sent Jamie Drysdale to the Philadelphia Flyers in a trade to acquire Gauthier and selected Beckett Sennecke with their third overall selection in June’s NHL Draft, further bolstering their projected core up front.
The Ducks now have six recent top-10 draft selections in their organizational depth chart, but only one of them is on the blueline; Pavel Mintyukov.
Mintyukov (20) played in 63 games during his rookie season, scoring four goals and 28 points while averaging 18:51 TOI per game.
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Mintyukov was second on among Ducks blueliners with 122:21 TOI on the power play and added 61:19 on the penalty kill, good enough for sixth on the team among defensemen.
Throughout the 2023-24 season, the Ducks were plagued by injuries to players they hope to rely upon heavily in the future and Mintyukov was no exception. He missed 19 games in his rookie season and suffered two significant injuries; a separated shoulder in Jan., knocking him out of the lineup for over a month, and a bone bruise in late March, causing him to miss the team’s final eight games.
When healthy, Mintyukov was a difference-maker on the Ducks’ blueline in his first season in the NHL. From opening night, he was poised beyond his years and faced little-to-no adjustment period, seamlessly translating what makes him a special player to the highest level of the sport.
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Simply put, Mintyukov dictates tempo and influences every play when he’s on the ice. He eliminates neutral zone threats regularly, either timing his pressure on outlets perfectly to force turnovers or seal the wall against a rush. He baits puck carriers into mistakes with an…