The Toronto Maple Leafs have a clear need for more offence, currently ranking 18th in the league in goals for.
The Toronto Maple Leafs numbers slightly improve when accounting for games played, ranking 17th. However amongst playoff teams, they are 3rd last, behind the Boston Bruins who fired their head coach just over a week ago and the supposed to be rebuilding Calgary Flames (according to NHL.com).
It is a strange spot to be in for a team that has had a never ending (often untrue) narrative of needing to add on defense and/or in goal for years. They finally seemed to have found a tandem that works with Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll ranking amongst the best netminders in the league.
Although the team was in need of upgrades on defence, Brad Treliving and Leafs brass seemed to put the vast majority of their efforts and money into the backend and neglected the forward group. In total, the team spent over $10 million on the blueline alone, with less than $2 million going to forwards in free agency.
Fraser Minten could be Toronto Maple Leafs answer at centre ice
Now, as we enter the quarter the mark of the season, rumors are flying and the Leafs are reportedly circling around a number of potential deadline acquisitions up front. However, the issue is that the team is lacking in picks, they’re tight on cap space for the year, and their prospect cupboard is relatively full but lacking truly high end talent.
The team could spare a few prospects but this would mean that over the next few years, they would have to fill holes by overpaying at the deadline or in free agency, the exact position they are in now. Luckily, with the injuries mounting the Leafs have been forced to call upon a number of prospects to fill-in and they have done an admirable job. Notably, their second round pick in 2022, Fraser Minten, has been tremendous in his short stint so far.
One of the team’s biggest holes down the depths of their roster is down the middle. This is obvious when we have yearly “William Nylander at center?” storylines at training camp. Currently on the roster and when fully healthy, the team has a number of names who can play centre: Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Max Domi, David Kampf, and Pontus Holmberg. The aforementioned Nylander does take face-offs at times with Connor Dewar, and Steven Lorentz lining up at the dot from time-to-time as well.
This leaves five total players who can regularly slot down the middle, which is great, right? Not exactly, Domi has proven to be much more effective on the wing and Holmberg seems to be fine as a full-time centre on the fourth line or in a pinch as the pivot in a third line checking role. Kampf is in a similar situation to Holmberg and is much better suited as a fourth line shutdown centre. These factors limit the team and although they can work, at their most effective they’re not taking regular draws as top-nine Maple Leafs players. This is where we get to Fraser Minten.
He had a high ankle sprain before training camp which sidelined him for the first month or so of the season. He started the year with the Leafs AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. There, he scored two goals and two assists in five games. Then, as the Leafs got flooded with injuries up front he received the call-up.
Since his call-up he has been able to inject some offence, scoring a goal and an assist in three games thus far. He has been playing as the third line centre with fellow Marlies forward, Nikita Grebenkin and getting a shot on the power play. He has had some rough patches though, according to evolvinghockey’s model, he ranks dead last amongst Leafs forwards in xGF% and CF% at 5v5. When broken down by game, it is promising that his best game by these metrics was against the defending Stanley Cup champion, the Florida Panthers.
At his best, Minten is able to use his high hockey IQ to make small plays with the puck that advances up the ice and in the offensive zone. He has also shown some abilities to play in a two-way role, which would make him well suited to play in the third line centre position. In juniors, he showed promising goal scoring abilities which if they translate, should help him to be an effective piece in the team's forward ranks.
If the team can give him an opportunity to work out some of the kinks in his game, Minten could very well be the Leafs “own rental” at the deadline. He would cost no assets and only count for $817,000 against the salary cap, much less than many other names currently rumored to be available on the open market.