Player Discussion Pavel Mintyukov

[Vipers31]

You guys had the exactly argument of saying Zegras was not ready. He's too skinny, he lacks confidence. He needs to eat twinkies.

I kept saying just let the damn kid play. he will build off the confidence there at the NHL level instead of playing with amateurs and 3rd rate level players. Then BAM...he takes off, probably being our best player. He oozes with confidence and it appears the game even slowed down for him.

There was no point at all to keep Zegras in the AHL. That kid was ready out of the bat. You never know exactly what you get until you try it. Trust me. You play the kid with vets and learn from vets is much more beneficial than learning with other kids.


he had the neidermeyer brothers under his wing. He said out of all things that gave him the most confidence was having the neidermeyers look out for him.

Everybody’s fine with giving Minty as much time to develop as Zegras had.

 

[bracer028]

Everybody’s fine with giving Minty as much time to develop as Zegras had.

doubt it. People on here want to bury their players in the AHL for at least 5 seasons it seems.

 

[KyleJRM]

On the contrary, I've been huge about aggressively promoting guys like Zegras and Drysdale.

I'm just not convinced it's warranted in this specific case this fast.

 

[KyleJRM]

Zegras made his NHL debut at 19 years, 336 days (and proceeded to score 1 goal in his first 19 games).


Mintyukov will be that old roughly three weeks into the 2023-24 season.

 

[Vipers31]

doubt it. People on here want to bury their players in the AHL for at least 5 seasons it seems.

It really doesn’t seem like that, at all - it seems like they are rightfully opposed to just throwing them to the wolves, regardless of whether physically, mentally or simply skillfully ready. What Paul said is exactly right: when you play guys in leagues they aren’t ready for, they tend to make mistakes, which they then try to cut out by neutering their game. They learn to make fewer mistakes, but they also unlearn to take calculated risks and utilize skills that are there, but were still too raw to be executed against this level of opposition. Give them some time to learn how to utilize their skill more efficiently, and the risk of having guys completely stall at the next level decreases greatly.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Norris winner Makar didn't go straight to the NHL, Colorado let him develop more.
Detroit let Seider develop for 2 full years and now look at how incredible he is.
They didn't Fowler/Drysdale them.

Let Mintyukov develop like Seider and Makar did.

 

[Rybread86]

Norris winner Makar didn't go straight to the NHL, Colorado let him develop more.
Detroit let Seider develop for 2 full years and now look at how incredible he is.
They didn't Fowler/Drysdale them.

Let Mintyukov develop like Seider and Makar did.

Its all a matter of when they player shows you they are ready. Some guys are ready right away, some take 1, 2 ,3 years before they mature and develop enough to be NHL ready.

Drysdale was an anomaly. The covid season really screwed things up and pushed him into the AHL and then onto the main roster. I believe in regular circumstances, Drysdale would have been in the minors that entire covid season.

There is no "one size fits all" approach to bringing guys along. McTavish looks like hes just toying with kids in the minors, but if he gets to camp and the men make him look out of place, then the AHL would be the best place to start him (I think hes AHL eligible now?).

But along those lines, some kids get stuck in the middle and teams have to make decisions. Not quite NHL ready, way too good for the minors, but dont qualify for the AHL due to age? Well, you either send him down to the minors for the entire season where it may just be a waste of time, or you take a risk and push them into the NHL and hope they dont sink.

 

[KyleJRM]

I'm fine with promoting guys aggressively. I'm not at all convinced it's hurt Drysdale or that Fowler would have turned out differently.

Hedman made his NHL debut at 18y/289d and played 74 games with 21 minutes of ice time per night that first season.

I'm just not at all convinced that Mintyukov is on that level. You can give him a year to acclimate to a pro environment and promote him next season and that would *still* be fast and aggressive.

 

[Paul4587]

You guys had the exactly argument of saying Zegras was not ready. He's too skinny, he lacks confidence. He needs to eat twinkies.

I kept saying just let the damn kid play. he will build off the confidence there at the NHL level instead of playing with amateurs and 3rd rate level players. Then BAM...he takes off, probably being our best player. He oozes with confidence and it appears the game even slowed down for him.

There was no point at all to keep Zegras in the AHL. That kid was ready out of the bat. You never know exactly what you get until you try it. Trust me. You play the kid with vets and learn from vets is much more beneficial than learning with other kids.


he had one of the neidermeyer brothers under his wing. He said out of all things that gave him the most confidence was having neidermeyer look out for him.

Zegras wasn’t ready. He was pushed around his first rookie year and only started producing right at the end of the season. We did the right thing easing him in with AHL time and then giving him a bit more playing in the middle later in the season.

He also wasn’t our best player last year. That was Terry. Zegras was great offensively but absolutely lost in his own end.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

 

[Mr Rogers]

 

[ohcomeonref]

Minty plays hockey good.

 

[mightyquack]

As hilarious as the last 2 pages were, I've nuked them. If the poster could come up with less creepy analogues about things you wish you did 20 years ago, that would be great thanks.

 

[All Mighty]

 

[bsu]

Love seeing defensemen on breakaways........

 

[DavidBL]

Anyone see those athletic rankings for players under 23? Minty not treated so well there. I think he was like 10th in our own system and over 150 when all players were ranked. I think Pronman is not a fan. Not sure if wheeler did any of those.

 

[Kalv]

Anyone see those athletic rankings for players under 23? Minty not treated so well there. I think he was like 10th in our own system and over 150 when all players were ranked. I think Pronman is not a fan. Not sure if wheeler did any of those.

I am a bit cautious about him as well. So far he just looked like with a 2nd pair potential. He is quite old, only 2 months younger than Zellweger, for example

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Anyone see those athletic rankings for players under 23? Minty not treated so well there. I think he was like 10th in our own system and over 150 when all players were ranked. I think Pronman is not a fan. Not sure if wheeler did any of those.

to be fair to Proman, he's got Minty ranked 8th in his Ducks' team ranking.

1. C Zegras​

2. C McTavish​

3. RD Drysdale​

4. LD/RD Zellweger​

5. C/LW Gaucher​

6. RD Helleson​

7. C Lundestrom​

8. LD Minty​

And Pronman thinks Minty is a top-4 guy/middle pairing player. Minty should be ranked above Gaucher, though, imo. But when you look at Minty's EP page, he's got only one offensive season, which was last season. The most he's scored anywhere in the previous two years (D-2 and D-1 seasons) is 6 points at international play.

An extra year in the OHL is going to help the Ducks know more about Minty's game, floor, and ceiling as well as solidify that offense as upper echelon type. Minty's still new since he lost a COVID season two seasons ago.

 

[bsu]

Gaucher shouldn't be above Mintyukov on any list. Same with Helleson.

 

[bsu]

 

[bsu]

 

[bsu]

 

[Kalv]

His offense is in Mint condition

 

[Mr Rogers]

I probably wouldn't be able to tell whether Mint/Zell were forwards or dmen if I blindly watched them without any context.

 

[Deuce22]

I probably wouldn't be able to tell whether Mint/Zell were forwards or dmen if I blindly watched them without any context.

The best defense in hockey is when you possess the puck in the opponent's zone. That is what I love about these two. They are able to enter the offensive zone with possession and maintain it.