BRIGHTON – With the opening of Boston Bruins rookie camp on Wednesday, the B’s are officially open for business, with the NHL players getting started on the ice in earnest next week as well.
Most of the names on the B’s rookie camp roster are not going to play in Boston this season, and some youngsters like Matt Poitras, Fabian Lysell and Georgii Merkulov have graduated from this camp even if they still haven’t established themselves as NHL players. But there are still some rookie camp participants who will play a role for the Black and Gold this season, and 21-year-old Fraser Minten would be at the top of that list.
Fraser Minten scores his first goal as a Bruin. pic.twitter.com/txOVdN8iub
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) April 9, 2025
Minten played for a whopping four teams last season while getting traded from the Maple Leafs to the B’s in the Brandon Carlo deal last spring, and goes into this training camp with a legit chance to win a job on the third line if he has a strong camp. He also had a pretty funny reaction when asked why he was on this rookie camp roster despite already boasting 25 NHL games on his resume over the last couple of seasons.
“I got a phone call [from Don Sweeney] saying you will participate,” said Minten with a smile on his face when asked how his participation in the rookie camp came to be. “It was to get a bit of a running start. I wasn’t here for development camp even though there a lot of guys my age that were there, so instead of doing that I [came in early] to get familiar here. And they haven’t seen me play a ton here, so it gives [management] a few more chances to get a look at me.”
I’m just looking to get into game shape and get some reps. It’s been a while since I’ve played in some games, so I’m looking forward to playing. I want to do well, but it’s maybe part of my [makeup] that I’m going to lead the way a little bit too. When I first came in I was looking up to a guy like Nick Robertson that had some NHL games under his belt, so I just want to be a good role model for some of the 18 and 19-year-old kids that are just coming in. Every training camp is an opportunity to come in and show what you’ve got, so I am excited for that opportunity to do everything I can and play some really good hockey.”
Realistically, a number of rookie camp players, including Dalton Bancroft, Riley Duran, Dans Locmelis and Loke Johansson, will have a chance for some NHL action this season while likely initially being ticketed to Providence to start the season. Locmelis was another “big name” at the rookie camp who is taking a positive attitude and an impressive AHL performance at the end of last season into his first full NHL training camp this fall.
It was all enough to get Locmelis ranked as one of the organization’s highest prospects in The Athletic’s Pipeline rankings that came out a couple of weeks ago, and his experience on the world stage playing for Team Latvia doesn’t hurt either.
“Everything is in my hands, I feel like, if I can show really good them I could be here,” said Locmelis. “I feel like my strongest side is my IQ and my head. I feel like I’m a smart player and I try to read the game.”
But getting back to Minten, the big forward says he has put on 10 pounds of muscle and looks primed to be a very viable candidate for the third line center position due to his size, smarts and his strong attention to detail. Minten has already gained plenty of trust in the way he’s deployed for defensive zone faceoffs and for penalty killing duty, and has been viewed internally by the Bruins as a likely long term replacement for Charlie Coyle.
“When you draft or you sign players, people are always willing to give input in my experiences. And my phone absolutely blew with random people that I’m connected to throughout the world of hockey that were saying fantastic things about Fraser [Minten],” said Providence Bruins head coach Ryan Mougenel. “And when you meet him, you can see why. We got him at the trade deadline and he was a part of the team immediately…he’s put the work in and got himself into a really good spot here, and now it’s time to execute.
“We talk a lot at the American League level about guys getting called up, and that is great for them. But we want guys to have futures in the NHL and long careers, and he came in and really understood our system and the details in his game really protect him. He went up [to Boston] and I thought did a really good job. He was at times a little too safe. It’s not necessarily cheating for offense, but we need him to maybe embrace those [offensive] opportunities when they present themselves. But [the small details] are what will endear him to the coaching staff. You talk about Chris Kelly and Marco [Sturm], coaches gravitate toward those details and I think they’re going to love [Minten] for sure.”
It will be a quick weekend tournament where the Bruins prospects will play just a couple of games (Friday afternoon against the Penguins and a Sunday noon game against the New Jersey Devils) before heading back to Boston for full camp next week, but the opportunity is there for a number of individuals to open some eyes, including players like Brett Harrison and Jackson Edward that are coming off very mixed seasons in the minors last year.
Don Sweeney on the opportunity for young players this training camp and preseason: “They should have their ears pinned back. Guys can go out and take advantage of opportunities.” pic.twitter.com/Zsj2Kz94lx
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin9) September 9, 2025
“It’s not always a linear path for all these guys. We want to see them go through some struggles and that’s what a little bit of those tournament is. There are going to be mistakes and how do you grow from it in a short two games,” said Ryan Mougenel. “We want to see how guys bounce back. The mindset, the mentality…it’s really important. We want to see guys fighting through it all.”
Nobody is going to make the NHL roster out of this weekend’s rookie camp, but it’s the first real opportunity for these youngsters to take a step toward finally making their NHL dreams come true.