Ducks Recall Travis Mitchell; Place Pavel Mintyukov On IR

According to a team announcement, the Anaheim Ducks have recalled defenseman Travis Mitchell from the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. In a corresponding roster move, the Ducks placed defenseman Pavel Mintyukov on the injured reserve with a lower-body ailment.

Mitchell’s demotion didn’t last long. The 26-year-old blueliner began the year on Anaheim’s blue line but was reassigned on October 11th. In his five games with the Ducks, Mitchell went scoreless, earning a -3 rating and averaging 16:36 of ice time per game.

It’s been a similar story with AHL San Diego. Since Mitchell was demoted a week and a half ago, he has gone scoreless in four contests with an identical -3 rating. Anaheim signed Mitchell to a one-year, $850K contract this past offseason after he became a Group VI unrestricted free agent.

Meanwhile, the Ducks have lost one of their better-skilled defenseman for at least another week. Mintyukov, 23, signed a five-year, $36MM ($7.2MM AAV) contract on July 5th, making him Anaheim’s second-highest-paid defenseman. He has registered two assists in nine games for the Ducks this season.

Unfortunately, Anaheim doesn’t have room for error with their defensive corps. The Ducks lost John Carlson, Jacob Trouba, and Radko Gudas to unrestricted free agency this past summer, and replaced most of them internally. Now, without Mintyukov and Ian Moore, Anaheim will have to make do with their other options.