The Toronto Maple Leafs forward core has been decimated by injuries. Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, Bobby McMann, Max Domi, Max Pacioretty, and David Kampf have all missed time due to injury, and Ryan Reaves missed five games due to suspension.
With all the vacancies in the lineup, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been forced to dig deep into their system to ice a roster. Things could have been much worse, but Domi, Kampf and Reaves were all hurting the team before being forced to stop playing.
One of the positives from these injuries is seeing what some of the young players on the Marlies can do. The Leafs have tried out Alex Steeves, Alex Nylander, Fraser Minten and Nikita Grebenkin to fill out their lineup.
The player I don't want to see taken out of the lineup, even when the forward core is fully healthy, is Fraser Minten.
The Toronto Maple Leafs can't send Fraser Minten back to the AHL
I have been pushing for the Leafs to trade David Kampf and clear up cap space. I have said in the past Pontus Holmberg should replace Kampf. This season my view has changed on Holmberg.
He has struggled offensively, which is normal for him, but he has looked lost at times defensively, which didn't happen last year.
Since being called up, Minten has shown his incredible hockey smarts, which was always a big part of his game in junior, but he has been able to grab two goals and two assists for four points in five games (Stats from NHL.com).
You can rely on Minten defensively. He shows a lot of maturity for a guy who is only 20 years old, and it's not like you're losing a lot in terms of offense from Kampf if you trade him. His career high in points came in the 2022-23 season where he put up 27 points for the Leafs (Career stats from NHL.com).
Kampf is in the second year of a four-year deal with an average annual value of 2.4 million dollars. That is expensive for a guy who doesn't provide offense and specializes in a fourth-line defensive role for which he is paid far too much money to perform. (Salary stats from PuckPedia.com).
Minten is offering you an alternative option who is younger, cheaper and right now is providing more offense in five games than Kampf did in 18 games before he was injured. Domi and Kampf have combined for 37 games and have zero goals. Cowan has played five games and has two goals.
In the past, Kampf was a necessity for this team. They struggled with not having a centre who can play on the penalty kill, but now they have a few options to fill that role. Dewar was brought in to fill that role, and we have also seen Matthews take reps on the penalty kill among other options they have.
Minten doesn't require waivers if he gets sent down, so he may be the odd man out, but I would be disappointed if Minten doesn't get an extended run with the Leafs.