Toronto Maple Leafs' Fraser Minten is pictured during NHL preseason hockey action against the Detroit Red Wings in Toronto, on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Friday the 19-year-old centre has been reassigned to the Western Hockey League's Kamloops Blazers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Fraser Minten’s first NHL taste as come to an end.
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Friday the 19-year-old centre has been reassigned to the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers.
The move back to junior comes after Minten was a surprise inclusion on the team’s opening-right roster following an impressive training camp.
In a corresponding move Friday, the Leafs recalled defenceman William Lagesson from the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies.
Selected in the second round of the 2022 NHL draft, Minten was held without a point in four games as the Leafs’ third-line centre before being made a healthy scratch the last three contests.
The Vancouver native, who’s a good bet to be part of Canada’s entry at the 2024 world junior hockey championship in Sweden, will join a Kamloops club that sat last in the Canadian Hockey League with 1-9-2 record heading into Friday’s action.
The Leafs (5-2-0) wrap up a season-long five-game road trip Saturday in Nashville against the Predators.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2023.
