BOSTON — Fraser Minten had a good day. On Sunday, the 20-year-old center scored three goals in the Providence Bruins’ 4-1 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds. The first-year pro, acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Brandon Carlo trade, has nine goals and eight assists in 29 AHL games. By all accounts, Minten’s professional career is off to a good start with his new employer.
“Got a good report from them (Sunday) night,” interim coach Joe Sacco noted. “Really good second and third period (Sunday) night in his game.”
The Boston Bruins could use a hand. They lost 3-2 in overtime on Monday to the Buffalo Sabres, the franchise that has a stranglehold on losing. Alex Tuch scored the winner with 11 seconds remaining in OT.
The Bruins were outshot for the fourth straight game, this time by a 30-19 margin. Pavel Zacha, Casey Mittelstadt and Elias Lindholm, their top three centers, combined for two shots on net.
“We need to have a shoot-first mentality,” said Morgan Geekie (one goal, one assist, two shots). “Sometimes we get away from that, especially when we get a few chances that come off nice plays. Then we forget that when we play off the shot, that’s when a lot of good things happen.”
The Bruins practice at home on Tuesday before leaving for a five-game trip. They will recall bodies from Providence to be on hand out west when bruises occur.
Minten is not guaranteed to have his number called for the upcoming swing.
The Bruins thought highly enough of the 2022 second-rounder to part with Carlo, their dependable right-shot defenseman. They are planning on Minten being part of the next generation, perhaps as a three-zone center in the likeness of Charlie Coyle. They would not have otherwise traded a 28-year-old defenseman signed through 2027.
This trip, then, is no place for the 2004-born Minten to have his teeth kicked in and experience the unspooling of confidence others have already felt this year.
General manager Don Sweeney made the 2024-25 bed by trading five NHLers off his roster. Sacco and his current players have no choice but to sleep in it. This is the situation, as Sacco put it, the Bruins are in. It’s up to this group to fight through until Game 82.
Three priorities remain for this lost season:
- Land a high first-round 2025 pick, albeit organically and not by tanking on purpose.
- Shelter what few prospects they have from the head-bashing that remains.
- Identify who among the current bunch can be part of future iterations and who can hit the door.
These goals do not include muddying the waters by recalling reinforcements and putting them in difficult ice.
Vinni Lettieri is one of the few Providence players who should be up with the Bruins at this point in the season. (Brian Fluharty / Imagn Images)
It would be one thing if the Bruins had people in Providence who deserved promotions. Vinni Lettieri, Patrick Brown and Ian Mitchell, who would have been atop the list, are already up with the varsity. Lettieri (30 years old) and Brown (32), in particular, are playing support roles. Both will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the year. Neither projects to be in the team’s long-term forecast.
Lettieri and Brown, in other words, are veterans who understand their jobs. They are here to ride out the year, insulate younger players from hard games and do enough to catch other GMs’ attention for future employment elsewhere.
The Bruins have younger players in Providence with higher NHL ceilings than Lettieri and Brown. That does not mean they deserve to be up top. Fabian Lysell, the team’s 2021 first-round pick, is No. 7 on the team with 11 goals. That is not a good number for a player who is known as a goal scorer.
Georgii Merkulov leads Providence with 48 points. In that way, he is deserving of a promotion. But each time the left-shot forward has pulled on an NHL jersey, he has done little to keep wearing it. The 24-year-old has zero goals and one assist in 10 NHL appearances. During his most recent visit, Merkulov acknowledged his job is to score points, and he should not be in Boston if he does not produce.
The Bruins once hoped that Matt Poitras would already be an established NHL center by this point. But after two deserved demotions, Poitras is anything but a sure NHL thing. The Bruins were not patient enough with the 20-year-old center. Now they’re paying the price for accelerating Poitras’ development at a pace for which he was unfit, through no fault of his own.
Beyond that, the Bruins do not have any players who project to be ready for NHL arrival in 2025-26. It is one of the organization’s most significant shortcomings. The Bruins’ need for young talent is one reason Sweeney cut so deep before the trade deadline.
Sweeney sacrificed this season for the years to come. Perhaps Mittelstadt and Marat Khusnutdinov can become play-driving forwards. Maybe Minten and the upcoming picks can develop into NHL contributors.
But for now, as much as the Bruins need assistance, help is not coming. This is the price they have to pay.
(Photo of Pavel Zacha and Morgan Geekie against the Sabres: Bob DeChiara / Imagn Images)
