When the Boston Bruins traded Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the trade deadline in 2025, it certainly opened some eyes around the Bruins fanbase. The return at the time felt like a fleecing, but as it turns out, it's not quite going to be that.
Boston acquired the Maple Leafs 2026 first-round draft pick, top 5 protected, a fourth-round draft pick last June, and prospect Fraser Minten. However, who knew Toronto was going to have the 2025-26 season they had? The Maple Leafs landed in the NHL Draft Lottery, and low and behold, they were able to keep their first-round pick when they won the Draft Lottery. Really, you couldn't make this up if you tried.
Anyway, the biggest piece from the deal is turning into Minten. After having a cup of coffee with the Black and Gold for the rest of the 2024-25 season following the trade, he made the roster out of camp under first-year coach Marco Sturm. The rest, they say, is history. Let's grade Minten's first seaosn donning the Spoked-B.
Fraser Minten's 2025-26 regular season
Who saw the 2025-26 season coming that Minten had? Nobody, really. He turned into not just a key part of the lineup, but a vital part of the lineup for Sturm. He ended up moving up and down the lineup, even centering David Pastrnak at one point with Marat Khusnutdinov. Think about that, Minten centered one of the league's elite goal scorers.
Minten finished the regular season eighth in scoring with 35 points on 17 goals and 18 assists. He ended up playing in all situations for Sturm, even drawing some key shifts late in games at the face-off dot. He was second on the team in plus/minus with a plus-21. The leader? Jonathan Aspirot with a plus-30. I'm not kidding.
Fraser Minten's 2026 postseason
Like a lot of his teammates, he found out just how difficult things are in the playoffs. He played in all six games in the first round against the Buffalo Sabres, but anything that could have gone wrong for him, well, did.
Sturm began the series with the 'Kid Line' with Minten, Khusnutdinov, and James Hagens, but that lasted just three games before Hagens was scratched. Minten went pointless and finished with a minus-2. He averaged 15:53 a game in the series, but had a very respectible 52.2% on face-offs.
Moving forward, Minten projects to be a big part of the lineup for Sturm. Now, if general manager Don Sweeney decides to pull off a shocker and make a blockbuster trade, Minten's name more than likely comes up with the other team. Then Sweeney will be left with some big decisions. If he remains in Boston, well, the Black and Gold have a good one for a long time.
