Why Maple Leafs traded Fraser Minten to Bruins in terrible deal originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Boston Bruins will have a number of players making their playoff debuts on Sunday night in Buffalo.
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One of them is Fraser Minten, and the Toronto Maple Leafs surely wish he wasn’t in a Boston uniform at all.
They traded Minten before the 2025 trade deadline, and it has worked out miserably.
Minten and a top-five protected 2026 first-round pick went to Boston in exchange for veteran defenseman Brandon Carlo.
The Bruins clearly won the deal already.
Why did the Maple Leafs trade Fraser Minten to the Bruins?
The Leafs were trying to add an extra piece for their 2025 playoff push.
And in a sense, Carlo did that, but it’s not going to work out long term.
The Leafs were making a win-now move that didn’t last long enough, and Minten has blossomed in a hurry in Boston.
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Fraser Minten stats
Minten played in all 82 games this season with the Bruins, playing every single one as a 21 year old.
He scored 17 goals and had 18 assists for 35 points.
Minten averaged about 15.5 minutes of ice time per game. He also added serious physicality with 142 hits and 51 blocked shots.
And now he’s in the playoffs, and the Maple Leafs aren’t. Not a bad deal for Minten.
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