When Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney fleeced the Toronto Maple Leafs at the trade deadline in March of 2025, little did anyone know what the key piece of the trade would end up being. We thought that the first round pick in this June's draft. Well, that did not end up being the case.
Toronto won the NHL Draft Lottery earlier this month and will pick first, with the first-round pick for the Black and Gold not likely coming until 2028. However, the Bruins still have prospect Fraser Minten, who they got as part of the deal, and what a player he turned into this season.
In fact, he was so good that it wouldn't be surprising to see Sweeney lock him up long-term in Boston. One Bruins beat writer dropped a massive prediction for Boston to ink him to a long-term extension this summer, potentially.
Bruins predicted to sign Fraser Minten to huge extension this offseason
Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic predicted that the Bruins would sign Minten to an eight-year, $56 million extension with an AAV of $7 million.
"Fraser Minten has one year remaining on his entry-level contract. But his steady 82-game audition in 2025-26 should make the organization confident enough to invest long-term in the left-shot center,'' wrote Shinzawa.
"A good run with Team Canada at the World Championship would put Minten in line to start his second full NHL season as the No. 2 center. The best outcome would be to make him one of the last NHLers to sign with his current club for eight more years before the rule change on Sept. 16, when the maximum in-house term goes down to seven years."
If Boston does want to lock him up long-term, this is the summer, as Shinzawa pointed out, when the rules change in September. Locking him up this summer makes sense. He played much better than many thought he would when the season began back in October.
Minten moved up and down head coach Marco Sturm's lineup, even getting a lot of shifts with superstar David Pastrnak on his wing. He played in all 82 games in his first full NHL season with 17 goals and 18 assists. He made an impact in all situations. The kid line toward the end of the season with Marat Khusnutdinov and James Hagens was fun to watch.
This was a trade that is really going to pay off for Boston, with Carlo struggling for the Maple Leafs and Minten just beginning to break out with the Bruins. Locking him up long-term is the move for Sweeney to make this summer.
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