The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Fraser Minten in the second round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, and impressively he's already played NHL games in parts of two seasons.
The Maple Leafs only have 2 x above average NHL centres on their roster, and that unfortunately includes Fraser Minten, who has done his best, and at times has looked pretty good.
But that said, he's clearly not ready for NHL action on a competitive team and needs more AHL seasoning. (Note: just prior to this article being published, he Leafs did in fact send him down).
That isn't a failure for Minten - he's already shown that he might be more than the grinding role-player that he was expected to become. He plays so hard and has such dedication that he could surprise everyone and become a lower-end star - but that ain't happening any time soon.
This Maple Leafs Prospect Needs More AHL Seasoning
The Leafs were hoping that Minten would steal the 3rd line centre role and make trading for outside help unnecessary. Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen.
A healthy Leafs roster probably has Max Domi and David Kampf centring the 3rd and 4th lines. By the deadline, that is going to be an outside player, preferably a star, and Pontus Holmberg. Maybe Minten gets another shot, but if he does, he should be competing with Holmberg for Kamp's job, as it's clear he cant be a 3C right now on a contender.
Minten has 2 goals and 4 points in eleven games. He's looked good at times, but the stats line isn't pretty.
The Maple Leafs are possessing the puck just 37% of the time when he's on the ice, and are getting just 46% of the shots. They are winning their minutes 4-3, but their expected goals is only 40%, which is far more indicative of the actual play than the results are at this point.
Minten isn't totally to blame: he should never have been here in the first place. The Leafs failed miserably at every aspect of roster building this summer other than the goalies. They knew they had depth issues at centre ice, but I guess they thought some combination of Max Domi and Pontus Holmberg would get it done. (stats natualstattrick.com).
It's exceedingly clear that it won't. Minten had a nice run, but he's not ready. Maybe if this wasn't a win-now situation I'd be more inclined to let him learn on the job, but it's not working right now and it's not going to work any time soon.
Minten deserves to be one of the best players on an AHL team right now, not struggling to keep up and learning as he goes.