ANAHEIM –– As the Ducks geared up for Saturday’s swordfight with the Vegas Golden Knights, they had one lottery pick solidifying his standing and another on precarious footing.
Beckett Sennecke scored a goal in Thursday’s 3-2 loss to Ottawa that moved him into a tie with the Islanders’ No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer and Canadiens forward Oliver Kapanen for the league lead in goals by a rookie. He nearly took sole possession of the lead and sent the game to overtime, missing a late equalizer by mere centimeters.
“He’s dangerous. He’s dangerous with the puck, he’s dangerous off the rush with his play recognition when it’s time to score,” said coach Joel Quenneville of 2024’s third overall selection. “There’s other parts of his game, whether it’s coming up with loose pucks or influencing pucks, he’s starting to do more of that.”
Sennecke, 19, entered the season with an uncertain trajectory –– GM Pat Verbeek recently discussed on Ducks Stream that Sennecke was on a modified version of the Leo Carlsson development plan –– but he has played in every game and grown with each 60-minute chunk of action.
Defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, who went 10th in 2022, has been headed in the opposite direction. Mintyukov was spotted leaving the arena in something of a rush after Wednesday’s win over the Boston Bruins and on Thursday it was revealed on the “32 Thoughts” podcast that the Russian rearguard had requested a trade.
Mintyukov was a regular in his draft-plus-two campaign, which he began at just 19 years old. After being given free range during that calamitous season, last year more was asked of the former Ontario Hockey League defenseman of the year in his own end. Competition with Olen Zellweger as well as the impending trades of Cam Fowler and Brian Dumoulin all meant fewer opportunities for Mintyukov at left defense last season.
Yet despite having draft standing and the favor of management working for him. Mintyukov ultimately retroceded responsibility to Zellweger, who has cemented himself on the second pairing and power play. Now, Mintyukov appears to have slid behind at least two more defensemen on the organizational depth chart.
This year, Mintyukov played in the first 18 games, largely on the third pairing, but has been relegated to the pressbox in three straight matches following the return of captain Radko Gudas. Typically, a right-handed-shooting defender like Gudas would take another righty out of the lineup, but the Ducks have opted to keep rookie Ian Moore and second-year player Drew Helleson both in their mix in favor of the left-shooting Mintyukov.
Quenneville described the situation as “competitive” on the Ducks’ blue line and said his staff would examine upcoming matchups to determine when Mintyukov might get his next opportunity. In all, Quenneville considered the Ducks’ defensive depth a feature rather than a bug, and behind their seven roster D-men awaited prospects like Tristan Luneau, Stian Solberg and Noah Warren.
“As an organization, there’s nothing wrong with going six, seven, eight, nine or 10 deep (on defense),” Quenneville said. “If we only have seven playing right now, he’ll get a turn.”
Vegas at Ducks
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Honda Center
TV: Victory+