Interesting takes either way.
Fraser Minten looked good in spurts. But it became apparent that further development was needed. Nothing noteworthy there. From a developmental standpoint, acquiring Laughton, likely re-signing Tavares means that Minten was going to be at best a 4C for some time to come. Nothing necessarily noteworthy there except for the fact that his defensive reads are also a work in progress, typical for a 20 year old learning the game.
My sense is our scouting department see
Nick Abruzzese and Fraser Minten as relatively equal in terms of stage/development. Fraser Minten is presently "a name" while no one was talking about Abruzzese as a potential trade chip.
Recently, center
Alex Steeves - who is 24 and has 30 goals in the AHL - had a cup of coffee with the Leafs and looked good. Maybe even a future 4C for our club given the current makeup.
NCAA MVP Jason Quillan, who is/was also a C, is finding his game in the AHL with distinction vs Minten's game. So from Toronto's perspective, one of our media messaged "names" ranks somewhere between 9 and 11 in our system, 9-10 if we equally value "potential" but 11 on the nose for where he is developmentally production-wise:
- Auston Matthews
- John Tavares
- William Nylander
- Scott Laughton
- Max Domi
- Steve Lorentz
- David Kampf
- Alex Steeves
- Jason Quillan; 10. Nick Abruzzese; 11. Fraser Minten
My understanding is, according to some Bruins members,
Brandon Carlo is garbage. Well, one man's treasure, right? Carlo has the same number of points as David Kampf. But most former players/media pundits while acknowledging Carlo's struggles, also make the point that Fraser Minten and the '27 conditional 1st wouldn't have been enough to acquire him a short time ago.
Perhaps Bruins management knows something. We hope this was a good faith deal. And in the event it was, perhaps Bruins management sees Mitchell or Brunett as coming on and needing a spot next year and they, for whatever reason, like what they see in Minten. Great: win-win with risk.
But Carlo's cap hit is ideal for our needs. And if he returns to form it's a bullseye for us, again, according to what our needs are on defense.
So, while Fraser Minten has been a name, our actual loss from our considered depth is somewhere between 9-11 for a 28-year-old Bruins developed 6'5" defensive defenseman who remained a + while a number of defensemen on Boston remain minuses. For our needs, Carlo would rank around 4th:
- Brandon Tanev
- Jake McCabe
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson
- Brandon Carlo
We'll take that offset for our present and near-term future needs all day every day.
Everyone can obviously draw their own conclusions, but to suggest Toronto got fleeced, doesn't understand what Toronto needs or sees for its own composition towards contention. And for the record, I don't see us winning the Conference. But we've definitely taken good steps towards getting there in the next couple of seasons. And I think it's pretty plain to see for thinking fans of the game.
