CantLoseWithMatthews
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Toronto Maple Leafs - 2022 Entry Draft - 2nd Rd Pick (38th OA) - Fraser Minten (C)
- Thread starter BertCorbeau
- Start date
stickty111
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Agreed there is a strong case for that. You could say all of Moldenhauer, Lisowsky and Hilderby progressed more.
CantLoseWithMatthews
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Agreed, plus Grebyonkin. Minten is okay and should see NHL games but I don't see any chance he should be considered our top prospect
stickty111
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Right Grebyonkin too. Forgot about him. Probably our biggest riser in the system.
I mean, maybe other guys from that draft took bigger steps but they also started from lower than Minten.
As for Minten, 50% more goals in 10 less games is nothing to sneeze at. He went from 0.82ppg to 1.175ppg
BertCorbeau
F*ck cancer - RIP Fugu and Buffaloed
There's "pro ready" but then there's "ceiling potential" .. Based on the wording, Minten appears to be most polished to make the jump but that doesn't mean he's anything more than a 4th line centre right now. And that could be his ceiling if he can't progress his offensive game.
I think a realistic "good" potential is a quality #3C. This season is a big one for him to take the reigns of the forward group.
I think a realistic "good" potential is a quality #3C. This season is a big one for him to take the reigns of the forward group.
Agreed, he needs to take a big step. Offense was a big question mark for him coming into last season and while the numbers went up, although not that much, the lack of ES scoring was concerning. He played on a very good and very deep team last year, perhaps the offensive opportunities werent really there?
With key players moving on in Kamloops this year he should be an offensive focal point - he needs to show he can thrive in that role this upcoming season.
justashadowof
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Yes, he's our best prospect if we no longer count Knies as a prospect. I'm not sure he'll be a center in the pros.
BertCorbeau
F*ck cancer - RIP Fugu and Buffaloed
It is but he also did get a lot of PP production so I take it with a grain of salt. Good thing he has the opportunity to thrive this year if he can take it.
Fogelhund
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What makes you question his ability to play C in the Pros? It seems that's the least of the question marks to me. Decent size, strong hockey IQ, good defensive play.... I see 3C as the ceiling at this point, but I do see C there... is it the skating?
Yes his skating is way way way too SLOW .. we already have JT OMG i told you guys last year this guy is too SLOW for C in pros .. he may make it on LW if he plays wall well but that's what we drafted .. Dubie screwed up huge in that draft .. we could have taken Beck in 1st round instead of trading down and we would have a C with NHL wheels right now .. Dubie just not a hockey guy .. best thing Pitt can do is carve him out of draft and keep him in a PREZ type position to manage board
- Sep 8, 2004
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Minten has the potential to be an outstanding 2-way player.
I dont think he will ever be a #1C but a high end #2C would be his roof, with #3C as his bottom.
he just thinks the game better than most players his age, and is positionally outstanding.
I'll use ROR as an example ...similar in size at the same age and Minten put up far better numbers in JR's
ROR however went right to the NHL and that was to his detriment and his first 2 seasons should have been development years, but, he developed in the NHL and had unspectacular seasons of 26 points each.
from his 3rd season onwards he started to show much better but wasnt the 2-way force until he landed in Buffalo in his 7th season,
then he went to the Blues, and became the 'star' 2-way player.
He never scored 30 goals and only had 1 season over 70 points, but, it was his complete game that was/is his calling card and made him special.
Minten i believe has that potential as a 2-way center, and is a better skater than ROR. ...if he develops into anything close to ROR is up to him and is the pie in the sky scenario, but, in a worse case scenario, maybe a Matt Stajan like player, who can fill in at #2C but is really a #3C.
I just really like the way he sees the game.
Minten can definitely develop into an NHL center. His skating isn’t nearly as bad as some here say. It’s worse when he has the puck on his stick compared to when it’s off but that’ll come in time with his development and learning the pace.
Peasy
Registered User
His bottom is not an NHL player. Theres been way better prospects that have never sniffed the NHL. Saying at worse he is a 3C in the NHL is insane. If that was truly the case he would have been drafted much higher.
He had nearly half his points on the PP. Thats never a good sign for a junior player if theyre struggling to produce offence off of the PP.
A prospect like Leo Carlsson is someone that you could say at worse he ends up a 3C, not a prospect like Minten...
- Sep 8, 2004
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I just think his hockey IQ is too high for him not to make it ...I guess its possible that the offence may not translate, but, I'd play him ahead of Holmberg today, and see him as good as Kampf on the defensive side with a much higher offensive potential.
Perhaps I'm overrating hockey IQ, but, his other tools (skating/shot) are also above average and while he may not have one 'elite' skill, his hockey IQ is elite.
justashadowof
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Hockey IQ looked good to me as well from what I've seen. His game is pro hockey style for whatever that's worth. As you said, these are layers on top of other skills like skating and shot that look to project to pro hockey. My main concern is that he has been getting himself banged up already. I believe he played through an injury in the WHL playoffs.
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what i noticed most in those playoffs was his positioning ...very similar to ROR as far as how he handled the defensive side, and on the offensive side he was trying to make many passes but his wingers were just not going to the right spots on the ice. ...he also got a few bad bounces off ref's that looked bad.
His results was not impressive, but his structure/positioning was.
I think he will be one of those players that does better in the NHL than in JR's as long as he's playing with intelligent wingers, or he'll be a PK/shutdown guy.
Knies has played 3 regular season games and what? 5 playoff games?
He's still a prospect
LeafChief
Matthew Knies Enthusiast
I'd imagine Minten tops out as a pretty decent 3rd line centre. You would hope for more from a high 2nd round pick but that's what I see from him right now.
I hope I'm wrong and this post gets quoted in 2-3 years and he is absolutely killing it.
Who knows, with the big increase in opportunity he's going to get in the WHL this year (with most of the really good players ahead of him on the roster graduating), he might explode production wise in 2023-24.
I was looking at a tweet of the LA Kings prospect pool from 2021 (when they were rated tops in the league) and it is absolutely crazy to see how the perception of those players has changed so much in two short seasons. Some of those players are complete busts now and some that weren't even on the list are now really decent prospects. Development is definitely not linear.
I hope I'm wrong and this post gets quoted in 2-3 years and he is absolutely killing it.
Who knows, with the big increase in opportunity he's going to get in the WHL this year (with most of the really good players ahead of him on the roster graduating), he might explode production wise in 2023-24.
I was looking at a tweet of the LA Kings prospect pool from 2021 (when they were rated tops in the league) and it is absolutely crazy to see how the perception of those players has changed so much in two short seasons. Some of those players are complete busts now and some that weren't even on the list are now really decent prospects. Development is definitely not linear.
justashadowof
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Shooter2x
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I'd bet on Minten being more effective at the NHL level than any of these guys. This was a solid pick if the goal was bottom 6 depth down the line.
Stephen
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The Kings rebuild is one of the most disappointing series of draft classes for me. Byfield, Turcotte, Thomas, Vilardi, Anderson-Dolan, Clague, Kupari... no impact players.
Shooter2x
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"if the goal was...."
I personally like Minten. Not going to purposely hate him just because he was drafted too high,
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