First-year Saginaw Spirit blueliner Pavel Mintyukov is the OHL Defenceman of the Month for March, leading all rearguards with 15 points including five goals and 10 assists in 13 games. The 2022 NHL Draft prospect recently competed in the Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game and registered three different multi-point outings for the Spirit in the month of March. Mintyukov became the only OHL defenceman to record six points in a game this season on Mar. 11th, setting a Spirit record for blueliners by scoring twice while adding four assists in a 7-6 win over Owen Sound. He put up a goal and two assists in an 8-5 loss to the London Knights on Mar. 18th and did so again on Mar. 25th as the Spirit staged a big comeback to defeat the Sarnia Sting 9-8 in overtime. Mintyukov is the first Spirit defenceman to earn OHL Defenceman of the Month honours since Bode Wilde last did so in December 2018.
An 18-year-old late 2003-born defenceman, Mintyukov has 15 goals, 38 assists and 53 points in 60 games this season, and is one of six blueliners in Spirit history to eclipse the 50-point mark in a campaign. The 6-foot-2, 190Ib. defender was the fifth-ranked North American skater on NHL Central Scouting’s Midterm Draft Rankings. The Spirit selected Mintyukov with the 52nd overall pick of the 2020 CHL Import Draft.
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