The 19-year-old prospect was returned to the Western Hockey League over the weekend. But in addition to his play on the ice, Minten's maturity gave the Leafs the confidence that he could handle the jump to the pros.
The 19-year-old prospect was returned to the Western Hockey League over the weekend. But in addition to his play on the ice, Minten's maturity gave the Leafs the confidence that he could handle the jump to the pros.
Fraser Minten surprised the Toronto Maple Leafs when he attended training camp in September and won an opening night roster spot, beating out players like Nick Robertson.
But after sitting as a healthy scratch for his last three games, it seemed inevitable that it was a matter of when and not if Minten would be sent back to the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League.
On Friday, the Leafs pulled the trigger on returning the 19-year-old as they made some other corresponding roster moves to bring up defenseman William Lagesson from the Toronto Marlies.
"He should be proud and feel really good about what he has done to earn an opportunity to play in the NHL," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said of Minten over the weekend. "It’s just about his development and what he can take away from the experience."
Toronto's second-round selection (38th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft, Minten started the season as the third-line center and averaged 11:26 in four games while with the Leafs. It would have been an easy decision for the Leafs to simply send Minten back to Junior before the season started, but outside of his ability, Minten possessed another attribute that pushed the club to decide to give him a run in Toronto.
"Fraser himself just has terrific perspective and maturity about how he handles things," Keefe said of Minten. "In addition to his ability on the ice, it's why we gave him the opportunity because it just felt like he can really handle it."
And it wasn't easy fitting Minten into the lineup. To fit him on the roster, the Leafs essentially gave forward Sam Lafferty away by trading his $1.15 million cap hit to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick.
Minten mentioned at camp that he hopes to land a spot with the Canadian World Jrs. team this winter. That seems like a lock at this point.
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