Rumours of William Nylander starting training camp at centre should be music to the ears of Fraser Minten.
In essence, the Leafs are showing their hand to a degree. Outside of Auston Matthews and John Tavares, there’s no question that the team lacks some depth up the middle. There are others who are fully capable of playing the position like Max Domi, but quite honestly, they would be better served being deployed on the wing.
Enter the 20-year-old Minten, who came out of nowhere last fall to secure a spot on the initial roster following an outstanding camp.
From Toronto’s perspective, the messaging to the youngster should be simple: “Go out there and do your thing.”
Weirdly enough, this time around, it might be more difficult for Minten to crack the roster out of training camp. That’s because he doesn’t have to go through waivers, so for cap reasons, it would probably be more beneficial for the Leafs to start him in the AHL. That said, as we saw last September, if he has another strong showing in training camp, he could force his way on the team again. Any way you slice it, it seems like a foregone conclusion that Minten will play NHL games in 2024-25 —at some point. Junior’s no longer an option, which means he’s auditioning for the entire season, not just the start. Patience is a virtue.
In a perfect world, it’s probably fair to say that the Leafs would prefer to utilize Nylander on the wing. Ironically enough, the star Swede started the 2023-24 training camp up the middle as well. The Leafs ended up nixing that idea very quickly. Indisputably, Minten’s emergence was a big reason why. He has a chance to turn their heads again.
Naturally, there are a few things working in Minten’s favour. Firstly, his experience last fall shouldn’t be taken lightly. Although he dressed for just four regular season games, he’s seen what it takes to be a full-time NHLer. On top of that, he’s one year older, and with that, comes an increase in strength, speed, and size. For many players, that could very well be the difference between getting a shot and sticking long-term.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next few weeks.
