BRIGHTON – Fraser Minten has done absolutely nothing to disappoint in his promising, short time as a member of the Boston Bruins organization, and has consistently hinted at a very bright future as a 22-year-old with bucket loads of untapped potential in his game.
The Bruins made no bones about a new Minten contract being a priority this summer, and they made good on those efforts with a seven-year, $50-plus-million contract extension signed just ahead of training camp. The B’s made it official with Minten on Tuesday morning ahead of captain’s practice on the ice while showing a major forecasting commitment to a player fresh off a very promising rookie year.
That kind of long-term investment carries risk, but there is a realistic path for this Minten deal to become a major bargain if he develops into the top-6 center Boston thinks he can be sooner rather than later.
It’s a safe bet Minten will keep improving after a promising rookie season in which he posted 17 goals and 35 points while playing all 82 games. Minten evolved his game to the point where he was regularly playing first-line center with David Pastrnak in the second half of the season and pushed his way into the power-play picture in the second half of the season.
Those are sure signs that a rookie NHL campaign is going exceedingly well, and the Bruins, and Minten, of course, deserve credit for a development path that had this player burst onto to the scene last season.
The two-way abilities and 200-foot game were already in abundance, and there were plenty of signs that Minten’s game is going to grow in the offensive and leadership departments with more seasoning at the National Hockey League level. Minten referenced that fact along with a young crew of B’s players like Marat Khusnutdinov, Matt Poitras, James Hagens, Lukas Reichel and others ready to show what they can do.
“I’ve loved everything since I’ve been here. The fans, the city, the organization, the culture that’s here and the tradition of winning…we’ve got the belief here that we can be that [winning team] again so I’m super happy to get signed up for a long time and get a chance to do that,” said Minten, who will be looking at $7.2 million per season after finishing up his entry-level deal this season. “I just want to continue to improve and continue with the process and let the results show on the ice.
“I take care of my work on and off the ice, go out there and show it, and let the results take care of themselves. It’s exciting. We’ve got a good core of guys and a lot of young guys that are going to be really good in the under-25 group that have a lot of room to improve as player. It’s fun to be a part of that and fun to have a group of guys around you that are around your age, who are trying to improve and compete and make the team better too.”
With the NHL salary cap rising over $100 million and continuing to climb, the contract is a safe gamble by the Bruins that could be a major league bargain just a year or two into the new deal. It also forecasts continued improvement at the offensive end for a player that’s got solid instincts and a really dangerous shot from the slot area, and that’s something Minten is focused on while not letting any of his trademark two-way play suffer as a result of looking for offensive gains.
“It’s hard to quantify how high [I can go offensively] but I think I can continue to improve for sure. I want to be a guy that can produce more offense and create more offense,” said Minten. “Obviously every team wants that, and I want to be able to help provide it. You take your shooting and playmaking more seriously over the summer, and I want to continue to use that in practices so that it translates into games.”
Clearly, the Bruins are taking on some risk that Minten will improve beyond what he did in his first full season in Boston, but that’s the nature of the NHL, where contracts are going up, up, and up for young, restricted free agent players. It wouldn’t be shocking if Marat Khusnutdinov is in line for a similar kind of lengthy, substantial contract extension as well in the near future after Don Sweeney mentioned both Minten and Khusnutdinov as extension targets at the end of last season.
“We are excited to have signed Fraser to a long-term extension,” said Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney. “Since joining our organization, Fraser has continued to grow and earn the accelerated trust of his teammates and coaching staff. His hockey sense, competitiveness, responsible two-way game, and offensive growth make him a valuable player for our group. This is a mutual long-term commitment that reflects our confidence in Fraser and the important role he will play, as well as Fraser’s belief in our team moving forward.”
The big question moving forward, beyond the slight investment risk with Minten, is how this will affect looming free agent center Pavel Zacha. The 29-year-old Zacha scored a career-high 30 goals and 65 points for the Bruins last season and enters his free-agent walk year as an established top 6 center and two-way player coming off a very strong 30-goal season.
All of that should translate into a big-money, long-term deal for Zacha, whether in Boston or elsewhere, should he hit a free-agent market where frontline centers command oodles of term and money. The big question is whether there’s a pathway toward the Bruins paying three centers close to a combined $25 million with Minten ($7.2 million) and Elias Lindholm ($7.75 million) if Zacha nets the projected $9-10 million per season most believe that will command in the open market.
That will be part of the balancing act that Sweeney is charged with keeping the present competitive while constantly building toward a bright B’s future and avoiding some of the bad contracts that can turn it all sideways. This week, however, was about crediting the Bruins with a prudent, forward-looking contract for Minten after they landed him in a Brandon Carlo trade with the Maple Leafs that’s been outstanding for the Bruins since the day it was made.