Standing in the bowels of the Sandman Centre on a day off between games at the Memorial Cup, Shaun Clouston, Kamloops’ head coach and general manager, is talking about why, on a team with nine drafted
NHL players all of whom are older than Minten, it’s Minten who wears one of its letters. Minten is also the team’s fifth-youngest player,
“He’s a guy that sort of has a real good sense of the pulse of the team,” Clouston explains. “He’s always engaged in whatever we’re doing. He finds ways to get better. He’s a guy that is really driven. And he’s really important in lots of ways. He factors into our offence for sure. He plays a great 200-foot game. He’s a big part of our power play and he’s one of our top penalty killers most nights. So he’s a real important piece.”
By year’s end, his smart play, penalty killing and 71 points in a combined 84 regular-season and playoff games as a 17-year-old second-year player with the Blazers had vaulted him all the way up to No. 28 on NHL Central Scouting’s final ranking of North American skaters in advance of the Leafs taking him in the second round in Montreal.
This year, on a loaded Blazers team that had
seven drafted forward prospects by years end, plus a top draft eligible in 2023 prospect Connor Levis, Minten finished third on the team in goals per game (0.54) and fourth in points per game (1.18) with 31 goals and 67 points in just 57 games. But on top of the production, he was also 552 for 1,027 in the faceoff circle (53.7 percent) and he became lethal attacking off the wall on the power play (where he scored 17 of his goals, fourth-most in the WHL). Plus, Minten and Islanders prospect Daylan Kuefler were a go-to pair for Clouston on the penalty kill.
*Goes on to mention he was injured coming into this years playoffs.
When he talks about this season, he says the only bump in the road was actually a second injury suffered late in the year that nagged him into the playoffs.
Though Kamloops played 14 games before falling in the third round to eventual WHL-champion Seattle Thunderbirds, he played in 10 of them and registered four points.
Thankfully, he said he feels like himself again, and the injuries are in the rearview.
