Pavel Mintyukov would be an intriguing call for the Penguins

Elliotte Friedman dropped another written version of 32 thoughts.

There wasn’t by way of Penguin-specific information, but this note stood out:

8. After back-to-back healthy scratches, word filtered that Ducks defenceman Pavel Mintyukov would like to be moved if he’s not going to play. He has fallen behind Jackson LaCombe and Olen Zellweger on the left side of Anaheim’s defence. Ian Moore, who had a strong camp, was elevated in Mintyukov’s place. This is the 10th overall pick in the 2022 draft, so Ducks GM Pat Verbeek will not be rushed into anything. Something to keep an eye on.

The Penguins and Ducks have been natural trading partners lately as cross-conference teams. Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek is no stranger to fielding calls from the 412 area code, though all recent transactions came from Jim Rutherford (like Daniel Sprong for Marcus Pettersson) or Ron Hextall (Rickard Rakell for futures, dumping Brock McGinn) and not Kyle Dubas it should be noted.

Mintyukov, still 21, is a dream player for a team to seek, perhaps doubly so for a team like Pittsburgh with huge weaknesses on the left side. Mintyukov already has almost 150 games under his belt, can move the puck and has some offensive chops. His defensive game hasn’t come around as quickly, which could be a contributing factor about not yet finding a niche in the lineup with the Ducks.

As Friedman pointed out, Verbeek knows what he has in Mintyukov. Just because the player is growing uneasy with his role and ice time doesn’t mean a manager has to leap to send him out the door immediately. Blueliners capable of exiting the zone like this (and playing well in the offensive zone for chances, goals and setups) are exceedingly valuable. A team would likely have to offer a premium piece in return, and the Pens could always balk at offering up a Rutger McGroarty or Will Horcoff type of young asset that they have that would be at the center of the talks, with surely Ben Kindel growing into a near untouchable area on the board.

21-year old NHL caliber plus puck movers rarely become available, it’s certainly worth the Pens’ time to find if there could be a trade match given the state of their blueline. Of course, that applies for any number of other teams as well, which works towards Anaheim’s favor if they are going to make a move in the hopes of upgrading out of the situation. It’s probably not a “get your hopes up” type of suggestion but it stands to reason that Dubas should find out what is going on and what he might be able to do about it.