Ducks sign Pavel Mintyukov to five-year contract

The Anaheim Ducks are at least getting one of their restricted free agents locked up, as according to insider Frank Seravalli, the team is signing defenseman Pavel Mintyukov to a five-year contract with a $7.2 million cap hit.

At this point in time, not much else is known about the contract, beyond Mintyukov getting a $3 million signing bonus in the first year.

The extension comes in the wake of the threat of an offer sheet, as according to Seravalli, the Ducks were notified of a pending offer sheet with Mintyukov. Who the signing team was is not known, but ultimately the threat motivated Anaheim to nail down an extension with the defenseman.

Mintyukov was an RFA after the conclusion of his three-year, entry-level contract with a $918,333 cap hit.

This extension also comes in the wake of another offer sheet the Ducks had to worry about, as star center Leo Carlsson signed an offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers, with the contract being a five-year deal with an $18 million cap hit. That opened the door for teams to target other Ducks’ RFAs to further mess up their salary cap situation.

After the Carlsson offer sheet and Mintyukov extension, the Ducks find themselves with $9,973,395 in salary cap space according to PuckPedia, while still needing to sign Cutter Gauthier and four other RFAs locked up. Gauthier will be the only player of note to re-sign, but with Carlsson’s new contract will certainly up Gauthier’s asking price well beyond what the Ducks have left.

Mintyukov has yet to truly breakout in the NHL after a solid rookie season, as he’s stagnated since then production wise, with 2025-26 seeing him produce eight goals and 14 assists for 22 points in 73 games. His production was non-existent in the playoffs as well, as he went pointless in 12 games.