Leafs take 6'1, 185-pound center at 38th overall; they viewed him as a top-15 pick
There were a lot of quality players remaining on the board heading into day two of the draft, with no less than 8-10 players who could have easily been considered first rounders.
The Leafs used their 25th pick on Thursday to move back 13 spots to #38 in order to move the contract of Petr Mrazek to the Chicago Blackhawks. This, I firmly believe, was by design.
Kyle Dubas was spotted on a large number of occasions on Thursday working the phones, leading many to believe that he was constantly gauging the market on picks and engaging in calls to "move up" or "trade down" based on various players who may have been available in order to pick up intel on where his primary draft targets might land.
Late last night, The Hockey News' Mike Stephens revealed that the Leafs moving back from 25 to 38 was entirely planned and that they felt as though they could get a top-15 player at the 38th overall spot.
A 21-year-old sports radio personality took to Twitter to predict the Leafs' pick at 38 in a quote-tweet on Stephens' original tweet - and boy, oh boy, was he ever spot on. Jon Keen had predicted, nearly 12 hours before it happened, that the Leafs would select Kamloops Blazers center Fraser Minten, which they absolutely did with their 38th pick on Friday.
Minten stands 6'1, 185 lbs and plays a very responsible two-way game. This pick is being viewed as a bit of a reach by many, but perhaps the Leafs are finally starting to realize that you can't always draft with upside in mind. Sometimes, you have to draft from a mindset of making the safe bet and taking a guy who projects to play NHL games rather than a player who may be in that "boom or bust" category.
Minten put together a quality season for the Blazers last season in the WHL, posting 20 goals and 55 points in 67 games and finished as a +23, but really seemed to thrive in the postseason, where he was nearly a point a game with 16 points in 17 games.
TSN's Bob McKenzie had Minten as the 47th ranked player in the draft, but there really isn't much separation between a player picked in the 38-50 range and Minten is still developing and has shown tremendous growth in his two-way game, which bodes well for his NHL future. He's also regarded as a fantastic skater who has a high hockey IQ and has a nasty streak in him, throwing big hits and really "cranked the violence dial up" towards the end of the year and in the postseason.
The 18-year-old pivot is not going to be an option for the Leafs this coming season, but will stand a reasonable chance to challenge for a spot next year if he can continue to round out his game and have a strong showing in camp in 2023. Minten is one of the younger players in the draft, having just turned 18 on Tuesday.
