Surprising Turn Of Events For Pavel Mintyukov & Ducks

In a stunning and sudden turn of events, the Anaheim Ducks have staved off a pending offer sheet for young defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, as they're coming to terms on a five-year deal for the RFA, at around $7.4 million AAV.

Hearing Pavel Mintyukov and the Anaheim Ducks are getting an extension done.

It will be in the Brandt Clarke range, which is 5 x $7.4M

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 5, 2026

It was only two days ago, hot on the heels of the Leo Carlsson offer sheet, that there were several credible reports that Mintyukov was about to sign an offer sheet of his own. 

Earlier in the day on Sunday, according to Frank Seravalli, the Ducks were notified that an offer sheet was pending with Mintyukov. GM Pat Verbeek, feeling the pressure, obviously decided to make a move and pony up more than $7M per year to keep the 22-year-old Russian d-man around for the next half-decade.

Mintyukov signs 5-year extension after early-season trade talk

It's a surprising outcome, as earlier in the season, there was talk about Mintyukov wanting to be traded if he wasn't going to play regularly. He was the victim of several healthy scratches in the first half of the year. He eventually settled in, and finished the year with 22 points and 112 blocked shots in 73 games. 

This all adds an intriguing new twist to the Leo Carlsson saga. As noted by David Pagnotta, if the Ducks choose to match the Philadelphia Flyers' $18M AAV offer sheet to Carlsson, that would give Anaheim less than $10M in cap space, which would not be enough to sign their other big restricted free agent, Cutter Gauthier.

If the Ducks want to keep all three of those young players, they will have some roster surgery to do in short order.

Anaheim has five days left to make a decision on the Carlsson offer sheet.