The Toronto Maple Leafs certainly regret a lot of the trades that have happened in the last couple years, but one of the key pieces of maybe the most regrettable deal just made a terrible turnover that virtually cost his team their season.
In Game 4 of the first-round series between the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins, former Leafs prospect and player (and a big piece of the nightmarish trade last year that saw Brandon Carlo come to Toronto) Fraser Minten was controlling the puck on a routine play along the boards in his own zone. And then disaster struck for the young Bruins center.
MINTEN COUGHS UP THE PUCK AND PEYTON KREBS MAKES HIM PAY 🫨🚨 pic.twitter.com/C0JHkG5UOx
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 26, 2026
Yikes. That is just a terrible thing to happen for the 21-year-old center experiencing his first NHL playoffs ever right now.
You just have to feel bad for Fraser Minten
Unfortunately, after that goal to make it 1-0 for the Sabres, Buffalo just poured it on. They saw the mistake-laden Bruins and went for their throat.
In the following 10 or so minutes after Minten's error, the Sabres scored three more goals to finish the first period up 4-0. Then they scored two more goals in the third period and if it wasn't for Sean Kuraly's shorthanded tally in the final minute of the game, it would've been an extremely embarrassing shutout in a must-win game -- now, it's just an extremely embarrassing loss in a must-win game.
With that loss that all started with Minten's unfortunate mistake, the Bruins are now down 3-1 in the series and face a mountain to climb to potentially get in the second round.
You don't want to cheer or be happy for a former player to make such a bad mistake -- unless it is a certain former player who is playing in the state of Nevada -- but it shows that there is still a good way to go for Minten to reach his true potential as a solid middle-six centerman.
Does this one mistake make the Leafs' abysmal trade for Brandon Carlo, that might hand the Bruins a top-8 pick for this year's NHL Draft, look any better? Of course not. It's still as terrible as it was before this gaff and now we're just reminded that a 21-year-old center is currently playing in the playoffs as the Leafs sit at home and wonder who John Tavares might play with next season.
Minten played in all 82 games for the Bruins this past season and scored 17 goals and 35 points while averaging 15:33 time-on-ice. Toronto could sure use a player like that.
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