Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Will the Penguins be players for a young defenseman on the trade market?

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

After back-to-back scratches in Anaheim, it appears 21-year-old defenseman Pavel Mintyukov could be on the market, so should the Penguins go for it? Hunter and Patrick begin the show discussing potential deals the Penguins could offer the Anaheim Ducks for 21-year-old, first-round pick Pavel Mintyukov, but will those potential deals be enough to pry him out of Orange County? (0:00) Next, with some extra time off, the Penguins are shifting their practice focus to things like 3-on-3 overtime and the shootout. While it may seem minuscule, with so much time on their hands, refining a part of their game they have struggled with in recent years is the right move. (12:14) Finally, comments from defenseman Ryan Graves about his role and expectations this year have many asking: Are the players throwing some shade at the former head coach? (21:53)Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!RugietVisit https://rugiet.com/LOCKEDONNHL to get 15% off your first order. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.MonarchTake control of your finances with Monarch. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at https://monarch.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelDownload the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A young defenseman on a Western conference team is potentially available for trade, and Pat and I are going to discuss that right after this. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co's Patrick Daping and follow him on all social media platforms at Sendin Perwet. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins.

And you can follow the show's Instagram at Locked On underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this, your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. Pat, Elliot Freeman releases 32 Thoughts blog late last night in one of the Thoughts that he had centered around Anaheim Ducks defenseman, Pavel Mintakov, who has been healthy scratched for the last couple of games. He's behind Jackson Lekombe, all in Zellweger, both young defensemen who are already fairly good. Ian Moore has been elevated in Mintakov's place. Remember people, this is the 10th overall pick in the 2022 NHL draft, and it sounds like Mintukov does want a change of scenery.

And at first glance, this does make a lot of sense. the penguins. This is someone who was only 21 years old. He played 63 games during the 23, 24 season, four goals, 28 points in those 63 games. Last season played in 68 games. His production went down a little bit, but he still had five goals in 19 points. This year, he's played in 18 games, but again, he's had the back-to-back scratches, three points, all assists in 18 games. This is someone that can play on the left side, which is an area of need still for the Penguins, a very much a big need. He is only 21 years old, so this very much fits the profile of player that Kyle Dubus would love to go after. It makes sense. However, Pat, I don't know if the penguins have the

package to get this done. Personally, I'm not sure the ducks are going to want to do features here, because look at the start they're off to. They are very much in the playoff race. I think they'd want to do a player for player swap, but I'm not sure the penguins want to move some of their young pieces to get this player. For example, I've seen people throw out Owen Pickering. And while it could make a little bit of sense on the surface, why would the ducks make that trade? Because they're trying to undo their logjam on the left side, not just add another

left-handed defenseman to that side. They would probably want back a forward. And speaking of that, I have seen people say, Vili Khoevenin, don't think the penguins want to do that. I'm not trading a Rutgers or Gordy for him either. not no other really big top forward prospect i'd be willing to do someone lesser than that but again it's kind of on the penguins terms where it's like you know take our lesser prospect for someone who we think could be an everyday player so i'm just not sure the penguins have the right

match even though on paper it makes so much sense from an acquisition standpoint the only two prospects that i could see fitting the bill for anaheim in this trade are two of the other three first round picks from this year in Horkoff in Zonan. And I don't think Kyle Dubus and the Penguins want to part with them, especially not Horcoff right now because he leads the NCAA in goals. And he went from someone that we looked at as, okay, he's going to be a bit of a project. It's going to take a while to he might be two years away from being an NHL player or at the very at least getting a cup of coffee at the NHL level.

So I don't see them wanting to part with either of those prospects. And I don't think that they should because you look at where the ducks are right now. You look at where the penguins are right now. And Zonin and Horkoff fit right into this team's timeline for where they want to go. And both of them, even Zonan with all of the injury problems, still has a ton of promise. I already talked about Horkoff and how good he has been to start the college hockey season. You brought up Pickering, and like you said, that would just further their logjam. He might have more of an opportunity to get into Anaheim's lineup, but it wouldn't

solve their problems. So I think on the surface, this could make sense. But the biggest hurdle that I see right now is while the ducks aren't in win now mode they are very much playing with house money right now with how good of a start they've been off to they are in win soon mode in the next year or two they're going to want to be a solid playoff team and hopefully take that next step into becoming a real contender in the Western conference. And when you look at what the penguins have, and this is going to sound silly to say, the only player I can really see them having any interest in

is Ricard Raquel, who used to play for them. And he's hurt right now. And I also don't think that what they would get in Pavl Mintikov is exactly what they would want to get for Ricard Raquel. So it's tough. The fit is definitely there for the penguins. The problem is I don't really see a package that ends up working to make this happen.

And I'm not moving a first round pick or anything like that. The penguins are in no position to move. First, I also don't know if they would move a second to try and get him either. I think from the penguins perspective, go ahead. I'm with you in the sense that I wouldn't move a first for him, but I wouldn't be against either a conditional second in the next two or three years that maybe becomes a first if say he hits a certain production level or the penguins go a certain length. Because if either or of those things happen in a trade like that, it means,

you got what you gave up essentially. If he pushes your team closer to playoff contention or even actual contention or he hits a certain benchmark of production at the NHL level, then you essentially got a first rounder in that regard. But that is, again, so far, I think, not so far, but far away from what I think Anaheim is looking for that I still don't think that's enough to get it done. Probably not.

And I'll push back a little bit. I probably still wouldn't do a second, just considering where they're at. I think the penguins would probably prefer to trade, you know, one of the veteran pieces that they have. But again, I don't think the ducks may go for that either. I think they may try to do a young player for a young player swap. Pat Verbeek can be really patient with this. It's only back-to-back healthy scratches.

He can really take his time. He's not going to be in a rush. So he can maybe wait. for the right package to come along again i think for the penguins the fit is very much there if he hits he can be someone that can be a mainstay on the left side for years to come and he's had the production already in the n hl but just not sure they have the the pieces that anaheim well i'll say this i think the penguins have some good young pieces they just don't want to trade them in this and rightfully so like i've seen people throughout brunick for example

I don't think the penguins are obviously going to do that. They very much have a plan for him. I think the penguins would want to do this deal on their terms, where they give up a veteran, something like that. But I still don't think that's good enough to get it done. I think the ducks would want a younger player coming back. And I'm not sure with where the penguins are at. They want to do that.

And hey, I get it. I also think if you really break this down, you said Verbeek is patient, and I agree with that. I don't think that he's going to panic in side, oh my God, Mintikov wants out. We got to get rid of them. We got to move them now. You have control of a young player. And this is an emotional moment. You're a young player who they think is going to be a big piece of the team. You struggle a little bit. They pull you out of the lineup. And it, it stings. It's not a good place to be for a young player. But in two weeks,

he could get back into the lineup, perform well, or at the very least, he could have a conversation with the coaching staff and management where they say, listen, we're not down on you. We're not saying that you're a bust now and he might figure it out. And then on the other side of that, the season can continue. The ducks can continue to be right there in the mix in the Pacific Division. And maybe Verbeek decides maybe I need a little extra piece here to push me into playoff contention. And you still have him. And they can say, all right, now is the time to strike.

and maybe by then the penguins aren't as doing as well or the penguins aren't really all that worried about do we make the playoffs? Do we not? And if they come calling and they say, hey, we want, say, Ricard Raquel or Anthony Mantha or something like that that gives them a little bit of extra juice heading into March and April, you can make that deal then. I think if you're Kyle Dubus at this point, you call Verbeek and just say, hey, you know, I'm interested in this. I don't think you're going to move them now. I don't think you have to move them now, but if you're going to revisit it, you've got my number. Let's talk. Yeah, that's fair. And hey, maybe the Ducks could potentially want a veteran back. Again, I personally think they would

want a young player back for someone like Mintukov, but that's also just my opinion. So maybe that changes. It's something at least worth keeping an eye on throughout the season because I do think he could really help the penguins. And if he really hits, he could be someone that could be on that left side for years to come. That's the talent level and the skill set is very much there for this player to be a dude in the NHL. But I think that I'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, I was at Penguin's practice again today, and they

were working on a lot of past regulation things on Thursday, including three on three and three overtime and a shootout. I'm going to discuss what I saw today coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about a our first sponsor, and that is Ruggiat. Let's be real. Making excuses doesn't solve anything. We've all heard them before. It's just stress. I'm tired, or it happens to everyone sometimes. But when it comes to her performance, sometimes your body just needs a little extra support. And that's where Ruggiat comes in. Ruggiat.com offers fast acting, doctor prescribed treatments for ED,

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And don't forget to use our code locked on NHL. so they know we send you. That's Ruggiat. Stop making excuses and start making moves. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Pat. Penguins had another long practice today. They've been really working out the details over these last few days going into their next game.

Finally, God willing, on Friday, it's been another very long break. But, hey, I guess it's been good that we've been able to. to recharge because December is going to be hell on earth with the schedule that this team has and we're going to be busy previewing and recapping games and all this other stuff. So I guess in a way, it's nice having a break, but also I'm just ready to watch more Penguins hockey at this point. I think everyone listening to the show is ready for that too. But today, another long practice, a lot of five on five works, more six on five work. But at the end of practice, Dan Mews decided to work on some three-on-three drills and some shootouts.

So it was almost like a mini three-on-three scrimmage. So the two teams were separated on their separate benches. And they were really practicing overtime because Dan Mews has seen that they have struggled a little bit. I mean, they've only lost one game at least in the three-on-three session. They've lost three others in shoot-outs. And I'll get to that in a second. But you can really see that Mews is trying to work out some of the kinks with three-on-three-on-three-old. on three. I saw them be, you know, a lot quicker in overtime. This was also just a practice.

So we have to see if that translates over to game action. But they were quicker. They were more decisive with their decisions. It was fun to watch. And then after that, Pat, they did something that I want them to do once a week during practice. And that's end a practice with a shootout. Team Murshov won it. Evgeny Malkin had the funniest celebration on the bench after a goal, just banging a stick along the boards and just screaming so loud. It was really funny. But I like that Dan Euse has been able to see that, you know, the shootout has been a pretty big weakness.

I think everyone knows that. This goes back, not just this year, but the last few years. He has seen that it is a weakness and he's having his team practice it at least. So these last couple weeks, once a week. And I want that to continue, especially because they've bled a few points in the shootout so far. There aren't many things from the Dan Bilesma era that I want to come back. But I wouldn't be against Mustache Boy making a return. to the Penguins organization because as you said, as everyone knows, they are dreadful in the

shootout. And while it's not that big of a deal in the regular season, it's still a thing that you have to be able to do. And as we have seen, they are unable to do it. I also really like the comments of Brian Rust after practice where he was asked about working on this stuff. And he kind of had the same mentality as Dan Muse in the sense that he said, hey, we're in a time of the schedule where we have the ability to work on this. We're not preparing for three games and four nights or anything. We've got a little bit of extra time where we can focus on other things. We don't have to be just getting ready for games and preparing for certain opponents.

So it's smart by the coaching staff to try this out. And I do think that at the end of the day, this team should still be really good in three-on-three overtime. There aren't a lot of excuses for them not to be. You look at the top of their lineup specifically. There's really no reason for them not to be great at three on three when you've got Sidney Crosby, Fgeny Malkin, Brian Rust, Ricard Raquel when he's healthy, now Ben Kindle, Eric Carlson, Chris Latang. This should be a team that when you take the two extra skaters off the ice for overtime, they should be dominant and they just aren't. Yeah, I hear you. think it's kind of been what's the word i'm looking for i mean i would i would go with disappointing

yeah all the reasons i just laid out you look at all the talent that they have at the top of the lineup and we can make our critiques of what they do during the the full 60 and they're very real and very obvious but when you get into the pond hockey part of the game they should be able to dominate that and like i said they just haven't been right i think they've just been a little lethargic in o t which you know see what you want about at the end of sully's tenure they did play pretty well in three on three overtime last year it it looked like that him and his staff were improving in that area just because for a time it was not good and they were bleeding points especially in three on three overtime they got a little bit better towards his final season so far this year you know musing

his staff are working out some of the kinks i'm glad that they were practicing that today even in the shootout i saw a player like crystal tang usually his patented move is you know forehand backhand. Hell, he went backhand forehand today. So he had another move to his repertoire. So I like seeing that. Ben Kendall had a little bit of a nice move. Didn't score, but it was still a nice move. I thought Archer Shilov was a little bit better. I was watching him more intently just because we all know his struggles and

shootouts so far. And hey, he definitely looked better. It's practice. Let's say that. But it was at least a little bit better. So I wanted to see them keep doing that once a week. because they've already played three shootouts this year. They're probably going to play at least a few more, and you don't want to just be bleeding points for the sake of it because you're just so bad at it.

Yeah, we can hate shootouts all we want. And yeah, they suck. I hate them so much. Pat doesn't like him either. You'd be hard-pressed, I think, to find a lot of NHL fans that like them. But if they're still part of the game, you've got to practice them at least sometimes.

And I'm glad that DMUs is doing that over the last couple of weeks. Yeah, and the thing is you need the reps. That's just the end all, be all of it is part of the reason that they were so good at them in the early part of the Crosby-Malkin era was that they practiced them at least once a week, if not more. And whether you want to admit it or not, that was part of the reason that they were so good at them because they just continued to get the reps and practice. That in Mark Andre Fleury being an absolute sicko on breakaways always. And that's exactly what I was about to say. for better or for worse, he was facing breakaways in practice once or more a week and just getting those reps in helps you get better at them. Same thing goes for the shooters, especially when you

play against a goalie as good in shootouts as Mark Andre Fleury, you have to find ways to beat them. And then when you go play goalies and teams that don't practice it as much, you catch them off guard and you're able to beat them. The opposite has begun to become a thing. in Pittsburgh with how little they have been practicing them. The other part of this that I really think is going to be big is that it kind of builds on what has been a really positive part of this season, is that you see the confidence building, you see this team starting to believe in themselves, and yeah, we're not expecting them to go full Sydney Crosby stone face competitive all the time 24-7.

you have a little bit of fun at the end of practice with a shootout. You can talk some crap to your teammates. You can try some things out. Guys will be going back and forth. And that just helps with team camaraderie. You know, you'll see a guy who you don't expect to go in and score a goal. And it hipes everybody up.

So I think even just away from needing to get better at it, it's just another way to bond as a team. Have a little shootout competition at the end of practice, healthy competition, fun competition. and it helps you in an area of the game where you've been pretty poor as of recent years. Right. And now hopefully they won't be too caught off guard when they have another shootout at some point the season or two or three or if they have more than that potentially.

So I agree with you on that. And hell, you know, the losing team had to do pushups on the ice after before they all stretched. So it was fun. You saw of getting Malcon getting pretty hyped up on the bench. Even Eric Carlson was getting hyped up as well. They were having fun. but I can also tell that everyone is excited to get back into game action just because they've been off for a while.

My dogs went crazy when they're hearing that because they're also ready for games as well. But that's going to do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, Ryan Graves had a couple of some spicy comments to Jason Mackie today of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Pat and are going to break some of those comments down right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our final sponsor. which is Fandall. The NBA is back, and there is no better place to get in on the action than Fandall,

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He's trying to get back into game shape for this weekend, dealing with a little bit of a fractured rest. It was limited in practice today. You can place a bet on him, any Steelers player going up against the Bears in the Windy City. And right now, Fandall is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fandle.com to sign up and play your game with Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. all right we're back here on this episode of the locked on penguins podcast i am one of your host hunter hoodies joined by my co's patchdamp and pat ryan graves the penguins defenseman had a little bit to say to jason macky of the pittsburgh post gazette today he got these quotes put them on

twitter and as we know ryan graves if we call a spade a spade and pat and i are always objective on the show graves has been better since coming up from wilkesbury did not have a good couple of seasons, the bar was literally on the floor, did not even make the team out of camp. But since coming up from Wilkesbury after starting the season with the baby penguins, he has actually been fine. He hasn't been a train wreck in his own zone. One of his keeps in the offensive zone actually led to a goal for the penguins. Sometimes, or a lot of times I should say, I'm not really noticing him, which is also a good thing. So he's starting to at least play a little bit better. And what Graves said to Mackie was this. The last few years,

I have really tried to fit a mold. Now the staff has said, Be you, be what you have been your whole career. The last quote, though, this is the one that's eye-opening. That's freeing to be able to play your style of game. That is now the second Penguins defenseman to say this over the last week or two.

The first one was Eric Carlson. Now Ryan Graves is saying this. Pat, I don't want to read a lot into it, but it still seems like to me that's yet another shot at the former Penguins head coach. And, hey, I don't blame them, considering that Graves was especially really bad his first couple of years. I mean, what we're seeing this year from Carlson is even better than what we saw his first

couple of seasons. And, you know, will Ryan Graves keep this up? I don't know. I still got to see a lot more here. I'm glad that he is playing better. I want him to play better. But he still has a long way to go after what we saw for the first couple of. years. But again, Pat, that's the second defenseman to make a very eye-opening quote about

the former head coach of this team. For those who may not remember, here was the Eric Carlson quote. We have good individual players and now we're finally starting to feel good as a team. The roles are starting to slot in. You know what is expected of you. You do the things you're good at and not the things that someone tells you to do that you can't do. Here's how I'm going to interpret. at this because our listeners know you know hunter i'm a big mike sullivan guy i always have been but that doesn't mean that i think he's perfect or above criticism or can't be critiqued i know his shortcomings and i think now we're really starting to see what happened near the end and i blame some of it on management i also blame a good bit of it on mike sullivan himself

I think Mike Sullivan was very married to the way he wanted the team to play. He wanted them to play a high pressure, fast-paced system. And the Penguins just didn't have the personnel to run that anymore. Half because the team got older. The team made some head scratching moves that didn't really fit into the type of mold of player that Mike Sullivan needed to play his system. But I also look at it as Mike Sullivan needed to adapt. Mike Sullivan needed to admit that the team he had at his disposal was no longer the type of team that could play the system he preferred.

And does this mean that he's at fault for Eric Carlson's first two seasons being kind of disappointing? I don't think so. I think the kind of system that Mike Sullivan likes to run actually should have benefited Eric Carlson and for whatever reason it didn't. same goes for Ryan Graves, but just not in the same way. Ryan Graves just had not played well. Ryan Graves was just a disaster. He was not good defensively, and a lot of his game is predicated upon being a,

at least dependable two-way defenseman. And most of his defensive play, if not all of it, his first two years of penguin, was disastrous. So if you can't get that together, other everything else is going to fall apart but to bring it all full circle i think we are starting to learn that the final couple of years of mike sullivan was one of very heavy stubbornness that and it was time for a change even you know before the end of this season you know when

they made the change overall i think it was it's been pretty evident when you read some of these comments when you see the fast start that they're off to how refreshing Dan U's hockey is, the change probably should have happened a bit sooner than it did. Obviously, you know, we all know what Sully did. We don't need to rehash all that at the end of the show because we've done it so many other times. But again, it's evident that this was a change that needed to happen sooner than it did. But again, pretty eye-opening comments. I don't think Graves will be the last to say something like this.

That's now, again, two defensemen that have said this in the last couple of weeks. And we can only hope that the good vibes continue to keep going. Penguins have two more games this weekend before Buffalo next week. And then, you know, you have December coming up and it's going to be pretty busy. Ryan Graves is going to be selling that I'm going to keep watching pretty intently since coming up. He's been fine. And I've said it on social media. I've said it on the show that he has been better.

And I hope it continues. I really do. But we have to see the bar is still really low, considering what he did for the first couple of years. but if he can keep improving that's only going to get better especially Pat maybe if he keeps improving and this is a big maybe they can get something for him way down the line

but that's very much wishful thinking right now if nothing else he plays up to his deal I know that's putting the cart so far ahead of the horse but you're also doing the same thing you're saying that maybe they can get something for him in a trade but that means he's going to have to at least get close to or play up to his deal. If he can figure that out down the road, we're in good position. But at the end of the day, I'll finish with this for this, this segment.

This is going to be the challenge for Dan Mews moving forward. And it's not solving all of these problems because he's a head coach in the NHL. He's not a miracle worker. but he can't fall into the same trap of, I had success of doing this, so I'm going to continue to do this one thing. You have to be adaptable. You have to be willing to make adjustments. And I will add this just to make sure that I don't get these comments.

Mike Sullivan adjusted plenty. He made a lot of changes throughout his entire tenure as the Penguins head coach. The problem was a lot of the basics stayed the same. and those basics weren't working anymore. Yeah, I mean, you saw that at the end of his tenure with the way they were defending in the third period, the way they were giving up too many odd man rushes, the way his system just felt, you know, stagnated, especially with how much faster the league had gotten and all that stuff. But again, we have already discussed that a lot.

But I just want to discuss that quote from Ryan Graves because, again, that's another player that has said something. So we'll see if any other players say something like that. I imagine at least one other player will just consider. during the way this season has going and the quotes that keep coming out from the Penguins locker room. But that'll do it for this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with a fresh episode for you all on Friday, previewing both games

against the Wild and the Cracken. And of course, fan take Friday returns. We want to hear from you, give your takes, ask your questions, all that good stuff. You can put it down in the comments and all that jazz. For Patchdamp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Friday.