Leafs prospect Fraser Minten has a massive season debut for the Kamloops Blazers
For Leafs prospect Fraser Minten, 2022 was a bit of a whirlwind. First, the 18-year-old scored 16 points in 17 playoff games, then he was drafted by the Leafs with the 38th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Following that, he attended his first Leafs prospect camp and then, just a couple short months after that, he took part in his first NHL training camp.
Not only did Minten look solid in his first NHL training camp, but he caught the attention of the coaching staff and even captain John Tavares, who applauded the youngster's maturity, work ethic and his dynamic skill set. Unfortunately, the young 2nd round pick suffered a wrist injury, which cut his training camp experience short.
Now, back in the WHL, where he is expected to continue in his development over the next year or two, Minten was finally healthy and able to make his season debut for the Kamloops Blazers on Friday. How did he fair? Well, he came out of the contest with a goal and two assists, albeit in a losing effort against the Winnipeg ICE, who were able to hang on and skate away with a 5-3 victory, thanks to a 4-goal 1st period.
A couple short years ago, the Leafs' prospect pool was looking mighty slim. Now, all of a sudden, after Kyle Dubas took over as GM, the future is looking pretty bright with a stellar prospect pipeline that includes the likes of Minten, Matthew Knies, OHL scoring leader Ty Voit, Topi Niemela, 2021-22 WJC Team Finland captain Roni Hirvonen, Nick Moldenhauer (who currently sits 2nd in USHL scoring) and more exciting young players on the rise. Not to mention guys like Rasmus Sandin and Nick Robertson, who are already making their presence felt at the NHL level.
