Leafs Prospect Fraser Minten Puts the NHL on Notice With Remark About His Sky-High Potential

As Minten continues to work towards a return to action and his Marlies debut this coming weekend, the Leafs and Marlies fan bases are eagerly awaiting their opportunity to watch the former 2nd round pick in his first full pro season.

Minten is touted as a very intelligent young man with a very bright future in the sport, but he hasn't let his tremendous skill eclipse his unbelievable work ethic. In fact, The Athletic's Joshua Kloke revealed in an article on Tuesday morning that, despite Minten's star potential, he is always the last player off the ice at Marlies practice, often sticking around to work on his shot until the zamboni driver gives him no other choice but to leave the ice surface while he's flooding the ice.

Minten has become known for his humble nature, but when discussing his skills this week, the former WHL star had no qualms with establishing right out of the gate that he believes he has a very high floor, but that he plans to build upon his current skill set to bust through the ceiling and take his career to new heights.

Unfortunately for Minten, his bid to make the Leafs out of training camp was derailed when he suffered an unfortunate injury at the 2024 Prospects Showcase in Montreal this fall. The injury has delayed his season start, but the wait is nearly over. Still, it was a hard road back for Minten, who didn't feel like he was a part of the team through the recovery process.

Still, even with the rough recovery, Minten did his best to keep a level head and have a good sense of humour about it all, mentioning in the interview that it has given him an extra month to grind away and fine-tune some of his skills.

Thankfully, Minten is due to make his season debut later this week, according to Marlies coach John Gruden. If he can put his talents to work early and stand out with the Marlies, it's only a matter of time before he receives his call-up to join the Maple Leafs, and when that happens, it doesn't sound like Minten intends to return to the AHL. It sounds like he views himself as a star in the making, which, I'm sure, is music to the ears of Leafs Nation.