The Pittsburgh Penguins front office and coaching staff may think that their current defensive pairings are set in stone, but that is not the case. They should always be looking for upgrades as they need to continue to get younger on the back-end.
Insert Pavel Mintyukov to the equation. The young 21-year-old has been a healthy scratch in Anaheim for quite some time now and seems like he could be on his way out. General manager Pat Verbeek should be smart and look for a trade partner to take Mintyukov if he is not going to get time on ice in Anaheim.
The perfect trade partner for Verbeek is Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas. The Penguins have known to have robbed Verbeek in season's past as every fan remembers the Rickard Rakell trade and how that worked out for both sides.
The Penguins and Kyle Dubas should be able to strike a trade with Verbeek if they so choose. Kris Letang is getting really close to retiring and Erik Karlsson's contract is up soon as well and neither are getting any younger.
He would be the perfect defenseman to pair with youngster Harrison Brunicke. As previously stated, the Penguins need to go younger especially on defense. They have a lot of young forwards, more than they know what to do with, and dealing from that to acquire Mintyukov could be a good strategy.
Verbeek is not going to want veteran forwards that are on the way out of Pittsburgh as he has too many of those in Anaheim. The Penguins could trade from their surplus of Tristan Broz and Ville Koivunen among others. The Penguins need not hoard prospects as they never know how they will truly pan out.
Getting a player of Mintyukov's caliber is definitely needed for the blueline in Pittsburgh. He would provide a breath of fresh air especially in Dan Muse's scheme. So, Kyle Dubas should do everything he can to acquire the young Californian defenseman.