Fraser Minten ahead of his NHL debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 11, 2023. (Photo via Toronto Maple Leafs)
UPDATE – Kamloops Blazers forward Fraser Minten made his highly anticipated NHL debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs last night.
The 19-year-old Vancouver native had one shot on goal and one hit in 11:32 of ice-time as the Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-5 in a shootout. He also went 3-for-5 on face-offs.
“It means everything. It’s been a dream of mine for as long as I’ve been alive and playing hockey to be in a position like this,” Minten told reporters Monday.
“It’s hard to get here, and it’s even harder to stay.”
Minten will either have to stick it out with Leafs or be sent back to the Kamloops Blazers for his 19-year-old WHL season. He’ll be able to play in up to nine NHL regular season games before burning a year of his NHL entry level contract that carries a cap hit of US$845,833 this season.
“I thought it was good… first of all, the game – that’s not a pre-season game,” Leafs head Coach Sheldon Keefe said of Minten’s game. “It’s played a lot faster, a lot more intense, there’s no shifts off, so I thought, you could tell he was adjusting to that.”
“It was his first exposure to that, but I thought he was better as the game went on, which was really good to see.”
Core memory ✨ pic.twitter.com/GnwXyPUF0t
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 11, 2023
A second round selection of the Leafs in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Minten put up 67 points (31 goals and 36 assists) in 57 regular season games with the Blazers in the 2022-23 season.
He’s got 140 career WHL points (55 goals and 85 assists) in 144 games, all with the Blazers.
Should Minten get sent back to the WHL, he’ll likely assume first-line centre duties with the Blazers, and be one of the team’s top offensive contributors.
