\u201cLandeskog\u2019s a great example,\u201d noted Burke, who was running the Maple Leafs with Dave Nonis as his GM, when they interviewed the 18-year-old Gabriel Landeskog prior to the 2011 draft. \u201cWhen we finished his interview I said, \u2018Davey, we should just hire him to conduct the rest of the interviews for us.\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n
Minten could tell during his interview, the more he talked and answered questions, Burke\u2019s focus changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cProgressively, as it went on,\u201d mused Minten, smile growing wider, \u201che kind of started sitting up and paying more and more attention, that kind of thing. And I remember at the end, he said something like, \u2018Make sure you tell your parents they did a good job raising you,\u2019 or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly four years later, Burke recalls that session being, \u201cone of the best interviews I\u2019ve had in my life \u2026 really, the kid\u2019s a delight. When it was over, I remember thinking, \u2018This is a kid you wish you could draft three times.\u2019 I just fell in love with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burke, to this day, Burke places the Minten interview in a class that includes Trevor Linden, Brad May, and Landeskog, the latter of whom went No. 2 overall in 2011 to the Avalanche.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo question, I\u2019ve got Minten in that handful of guys,\u201d said Burke, whose most recent front office job was running the Penguins with Ron Hextall his GM, \u201cGuys that leave you thinking, \u2018I [have to] get him on my team somehow.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
The Bruins acquired Minten last March<\/a> from the Leafs \u2014 who made him the 38th pick in that \u201922 draft \u2014 in the deal that sent veteran defenseman Brandon Carlo to Toronto. Headed into Saturday\u2019s faceoff against Montreal, Minten\u2019s stat line through 51 games stood at 12-11\u201323. He has been adding points of late, in part because he\u2019s seeing regular duty on the Bruins second power-play unit, and also getting more ice time as he earns increasing trust from the coaching staff.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a special kid,\u201d said Bruins coach Marco Sturm, in a recent casual conversation about what makes coachable players. \u201cHe comes in and just gets it. You tell him once and he gets it.\u201d<\/p>\n Quick studies are a coach\u2019s dream.<\/p>\n More often, noted Sturm, a coach has to make his point, explain it to the players, usually drill it in via use of video. With Minten, said Sturm, snapping his fingers to emphasize his point, \u201cHe just gets it.\u201d<\/p>\n From a reporter\/beat guy\u2019s standpoint, I asked Minten recently about what a half season of fulltime NHL play<\/a> has shown him where his game needs to grow \u2014 elements beyond the stock, boilerplate answer of simply adding consistency.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, that\u2019s where I was going to go,\u201d he said, pausing, \u201cbut if you\u2019re asking a little more specifically, well \u2026 \u201d<\/p>\n In short order, he came up with a \u201cto-do\u201d list that included: 1. Improving his faceoff win percentage; 2. Identifying on-ice locations for high-percentage scoring chances and converting them; 3. Strengthening his 6-foot-2-inch, 205-pound frame.<\/p>\n Minten on:<\/p>\n \u25aa Improving faceoffs: \u201cAs a young guy, that\u2019s how you get your minutes up from, say, the 13-14 minute range to 17-18. OK, you\u2019ve just had a 15-second shift, and now there\u2019s a faceoff in the \u2018D\u2019 zone, on your weak side \u2026 well, if you\u2019re not above 50 percent on your faceoffs, you\u2019re coming off the ice for a righthanded guy or an older guy. So try to get reps on those after practice and really dial in on faceoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u25aa Shooting spots: \u201cThere\u2019s only so many areas you\u2019ll get space for an offensive opportunity. Unless you\u2019re one of the elite guys who can score from range \u2014 [Austin] Matthews, [Alex] Ovechkin, Geeks [Morgan Geekie]. You\u2019ve got to go in high-danger spots for rebounds, tipping pucks, one-timing. So working on that, getting shots off quick.”<\/p>\n \u25aa Size: \u201cIn the weight room \u2014 building up strength and conditioning, try not to have any falloff during the season. To be physical and strong on pucks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s more, obviously,\u201d he added, \u201cbut \u2026 \u201d<\/p>\n Minten, 21, suited up Saturday night for only his 77th NHL game. There remains much for him to learn, though there\u2019s a sense when talking with him that he\u2019s not one of these kids who\u2019ll one day be left saying he didn\u2019t know what he didn\u2019t know. As Sturm noted, he gets it.<\/p>\n Bruins assistant coach Chris Kelly, his own game founded in wisdom and intelligence<\/a>, gave Minten early in training camp a blueprint that helped structure his approach. <\/p>\n \u201cHis advice for a young guy coming into the league,\u201d recalled Minten, \u201cwas, \u2018Show me that you\u2019re not going to hurt me before you show me how you\u2019ll help me.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n That mentality has stuck with the rookie.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, do the defensive things, don\u2019t make any positional mistakes,\u201d said Minten, asked how he interpreted Kelly\u2019s message. \u201cBe reliable, hard working, defend \u2014 and then, after doing that, show me you can make a play off the rush, that you can score, contribute. Show me you can kill penalties before you show you can help me on the power play. That really clicked for me, something where I said, \u2018OK, that\u2019s really smart.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Minten, by the way, followed up with his parents about the kind words Burke sent their way that day of the interview.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I did,\u201c he said, big smile growing wider.<\/p>\n And?<\/p>\n \u201cThey said, who\u2019s Brian Burke?\u201d<\/p>\n Burke, whose days in Vancouver included masterminding the deals that landed twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin as franchise cornerstones, took the parental snub in stride.<\/p>\n \u201cOK,\u201d Burke said, \u201cI should have drafted three Sedins, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n EMOTIONAL TOLL<\/p>\n Ullmark details battle with anxiety<\/p>\n Some three weeks after initiating a leave of absence with the Senators, ex-Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark<\/a> opened up on Monday about his ongoing mental health struggles in a TSN report by Claire Hanna.<\/p>\n The 32-year-old Ullmark, who recently resumed on-ice workouts in Ottawa but has yet to resume game action, noted to Hanna that he is not ready to get back in the crease. His time off, he told her, has been \u201cjust a step along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of what he has been dealing with, Ullmark recounted, goes back to his days with the Sabres, specifically around the COVID-return season of 2020-21. He touched on it briefly in Hanna\u2019s report, but he went into it more extensively during my visit to Sweden in the summer of 2021<\/a>, in the days after the Bruins signed him as an unrestricted free agent.<\/p>\n Ullmark, looking forward that summer to his fresh start with the Bruins, detailed how isolated and lonely he felt while living in a suburban Buffalo hotel during the prior season. Because of COVID, the start of the NHL\u2019s truncated 56-game 2020-21 schedule was delayed until January, with Ullmark and wife Moa deciding it would be best for her to remain in Sweden with their two young children. <\/p>\n The Sabres, again without a playoff berth, were finished by the start of May.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of what made it hard was just the time difference,\u201d Ullmark told me during our series of chats over a couple of days near his home in Ornskoldsvik. \u201cYou have your teammates to talk to, of course, and that\u2019s good. But after a game, back in the hotel room, I\u2019d want to talk with someone back home and it would be, what, maybe 4 or 5 or 6 in the morning? You\u2019re not going to call then and wake everyone up. They\u2019re asleep. It\u2019s the middle of the night there. So it got to be some long nights. It was hard.\u201d<\/p>\n In his interview with TSN, Ullmark also shared his regret in not returning to Sweden to attend his father\u2019s funeral, also during his time in Buffalo. His father\u2019s alcoholism years before, he explained, had him on the cusp of quitting hockey in the years before he moved to North America at age 22.<\/p>\n \u201cLots of weird feelings and thoughts pop into your head,\u201d said Ullmark, noting how not being able to experience closure with his father\u2019s passing had him wondering perhaps if his dad was still alive.<\/p>\n It all made him feel, said Ullmark, like he was \u201cliving a weird dream.\u201d<\/p>\n In December, after getting pulled amid a loss to Toronto<\/a>, Ullmark felt overwrought by anxiety. Careful not to label it a panic attack, he related how the anxiety built that night both prior to and during the game. Soon after the final horn (Dec. 27) , he connected with the NHL\/NHLPA Players\u2019 Assistance Program, setting in motion his leave of absence. <\/p>\n Anxiety, he described, is \u201clike a boiling kettle \u2026 it will boil over sooner or later and you never know when it\u2019s going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Making matters more complicated during his time away, relayed Ullmark, has been ongoing social media speculation about what triggered his taking leave. The rumors, specific to Ullmark\u2019s family life, eventually led an angry Senators captain Brady Tkachuk to repudiate them in a brief rant to Ottawa beat reporters. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s OK for people to critique our on-ice performance. But when it gets into family, it\u2019s pretty f***ing bulls***,\u201d said Tkachuk. \u201cIt\u2019s embarrassing that it got to the point that it did. And, yeah, I can tell you for free, I\u2019m not happy about it one bit. It\u2019s just not true. It\u2019s a bulls*** story.\u201d<\/p>\n General manager Steve Staios, long ago a Bruins defenseman, also was compelled to issue a team statement<\/a>, referring to those who spread rumors as \u201cthe lowest forms of trolls and sick people who scour the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n For Ullmark, trying to sort his mental health and resume his playing career, the scenario delivered more clouds, uncertainty, and obstacles.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took less than 24 hours after my absence of leave [for others] to try to find reasons to why I\u2019m gone,\u201d he told Hanna, \u201csaying that I am a homewrecker, a person that no one likes in the team. And I can\u2019t defend myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Ullmark, now in year No. 1 of a four-year, $8.25 million-per-year contract extension<\/a>, toils away now in practice, the goal duties shared by Hunter Shepard and the recently signed veteran, James Reimer.<\/p>\n For others suffering with anxiety, Ullmark suggests taking walks, preferably while not plugged into music or other media. Also, he said, be up front with others about how you feel. Find the person you trust the most, he said, and talk to them.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s OK not to be OK,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s OK to feel how you feel.\u201d<\/p>\n ON-ICE PERSPECTIVE<\/p>\n Sturm: No youth burnout in Germany <\/p>\n Marco Sturm spent his youth playing at rinks in and around his hometown of Dingolfing, Germany, world headquarters of BMW<\/a>. As his game matured, the search for better competition meant longer commutes to different rinks, a common lament for amateur players (and their parents) here in North America.<\/p>\n Another frequent lament here: The burnout of young, often talented players, is not common in Germany, said Sturm. Even though, by his telling, young players in Germany and other European countries are on the ice every day, typically creating a heavier workload than young players in the States and Canada.<\/p>\n As a youth coach in Europe, he said, \u201cYou work way more with the kids than here.\u201d<\/p>\n So why is there no burnout?<\/p>\n \u201cBurnout \u2026 they don\u2019t burn out,\u201d he mused. \u201cI think burnout here, when I hear it, it\u2019s not just from hockey. There\u2019s other things going on<\/a>. In Europe, there\u2019s a lot of small towns, small organizations, and it\u2019s easy to focus on one thing.\u201c<\/p>\n In his estimation, size matters.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like everything is big in America, right?\u201d he said. \u201cSo there\u2019s a lot more going on for those kids these days, and not just hockey \u2014 and it might be the pressure in school. I don\u2019t know if we have that pressure like the kids have here. So there\u2019s a lot more to it.\u201d<\/p>\n When a reporter noted that what Sturm described sounded more like a community-based approach to the game, he added, \u201cAbsolutely \u2026 absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n If the Devils want to wheel ex-Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton, it will be all the harder now after placing backliner Luke Hughes on long term injured reserve on Wednesday. Now 32, Hamilton\u2019s slumping game led him to be scratched earlier this month by coach Sheldon Keefe, immediately sparking trade rumors. An always-coveted right-shot D, Hamilton has two-plus years remaining on a deal that carries a $9 million AAV. He clicked for a career-high 74 points in his second year in New Jersey (2022-23). To get him gone, general manager Tom Fitzgerald likely will have to retain some salary or sweeten the pot with a draft pick or two \u2026 Following Tuesday\u2019s listless 6-2 loss in Dallas<\/a>, the Bruins are 2-3-0 in matchups that come at the end of road trips of two or more games. One of the wins, a 3-1 trimming of the Islanders on Nov. 26<\/a>, came on a night when the Bruins were outshot, 44-14, their greatest shot disparity of the season \u2026 The Bruins will be at Madison Square Garden Monday night (weather permitting) to face the Rangers. The Blueshirts have yet to start dealing off parts, but it\u2019s coming \u2014 be it before the Feb. 4 Olympic trade freeze or the annual trade deadline on March 6. Doubtful they would consider moving standout defenseman Adam Fox, but his full trade protection begins to scale back after next season. He played at Harvard. His agent, Matt Keator, is in Boston. At the very least, it would make for an interesting conversation between GMs Chris Drury and Don Sweeney. Keep in mind, from a Bruins perspective, Manhattan\u2019s allure is such that it sometimes can induce players to consider surrendering their no-move\/no-trade clauses.<\/p>\n The Patriots and Broncos are bound for the AFC Championship game. Ben Volin and Tara Sullivan break down the NFL playoff games and more. Watch the full episode.<\/p>\n![\"Marco](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/XILGW5IRSQN6BW5JV3I6MPVG2M.jpg\")
Marco Sturm has leaned on Fraser Minten in his first season as Bruins coach and the forward’s first full NHL campaign.Nick Wass\/Associated Press<\/p>\n![\"Bruins](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WGVUPU4YBUSMLR3EVGADHUJ73Y.jpg\")
Bruins coach Marco Sturm believes distinct differences in the youth hockey setups of North America and his native Germany leads to a lack of burnout among young German players. Ken McGagh for The Boston Globe<\/p>\n![\"Trade](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OH6PMU2AQ2FPETDHGS5HSZCOGQ.jpg\")
Trade talk has swirled around veteran Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton, but his $9 million annual salary could be a real sticking point. Tyler Tate\/Associated Press<\/p>\n