Minten’s brief post-trade tenure with the Bruins didn’t give us as much insight into his future role with Boston. Minten plays a solid two-way game, and has leadership capabilities, giving him admirable qualities in a future pro, but he wasn’t getting the opportunity in Toronto. A trade to Boston during their retooling opens up deployment opportunity for Minten, and he saw but only six games before the season ended. During this time he saw roughly 15 minutes of ice time per night, which was a solid increase from his time with the Leafs, however he saw mostly fourth line usage, and was used far more on the penalty kill than the powerplay. Minten saw nearly no special teams time in Toronto, so being sent out on the penalty kill shows Boston is willing to give him a role.

He threw two hits per game, and was decent in the faceoff dot. Bruins fans and fantasy managers alike will need to wait until training camp to get a decent idea of what his role with Boston will be, but its safe to presume he will be used as a bottom-six penalty killing type of player, and our league settings and depth will dictate if an archetype such as this is a useful asset.

Minten was traded to the Boston Bruins in the Brandon Carlo deal. There is much more room to blossom into a scoring forward on the more empty Bruins roster.

Burning off the first year of his ELC with 11 games played so far, Fraser Minten has looked like a player where on almost any other team he’d be an NHLer. The Leafs are too stacked for Minten to play full-time, but he’s shown the ability of being able to step in this season so far to solid results. He shows at the pros he can play a full-rounded game, although at the NHL he’s still showing rookie lapses in his decision making. The effort level is there, and it’d be a surprise if Minten is not in the NHL next season, he’s playing like it’s little problem doing so now.

Minten became a force for the Saskatoon Blades, scoring 19 goals and 38 points in 36 games after being acquired. The Blades finished the WHL season as the top-team in the entire league and will look to make it to this year’s Memorial Cup. If they want to get there though, Minten will have to take it to an even further level in the playoffs.