The Brandon Carlo trade may be better known as the Fraser Minten trade in short order.
That's not meant as any disrespect to Carlo, who provided sturdy defense and a calming presence throughout his nine years in Boston. But the 21-year-old Minten, acquired along with two draft picks for Carlo last March, is giving the Bruins and their fans a lot to get excited about right now.
The most common refrain you heard from people when the Bruins got Minten was something along the lines of, "He's going to be a really good number three center." Don Sweeney himself compared Minten to Charlie Coyle – a really good number three center – the day he made the trade.
Well, a little over halfway through his rookie season, Minten is already a really good third-line center. The question now is, can he be more than that? And he's already showing signs that the answer might be yes.
With Elias Lindholm out injured Thursday, Bruins coach Marco Sturm moved Minten up in the lineup. He had him centering the top line between David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie at morning skate. At some point during the day, Sturm changed his mind and put Minten on the second line with Casey Mittelstadt and Viktor Arvidsson instead, bumping Pavel Zacha up to the first line.
Turns out, it probably didn't matter where Sturm put Minten. He turned in a dominant effort in the Bruins' 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers and clicked immediately with Mittelstadt and Arvidsson. That line scored three of Boston's first four goals, and Minten compiled a three-point night with a goal and two assists.
Minten picked up a secondary assist on Arvidsson's opening goal. He scored the third goal, taking a pass from Mittelstadt and beating Samuel Ersson five-hole. On the fourth, he made a great pass to set up Andrew Peeke at the back door. Ersson robbed Peeke, but Mittelstadt swooped in to bury the rebound.
Minten had six points in his first 24 games this season. He was responsible, but was also clearly trying to find his way offensively. He's found it now. Minten has 23 points in his last 31 games, a 61-point pace over 82 games. He is plus-19 during that time, second-best on the team. And he's been even hotter in the past month, with 16 points in the last 15 games.
"It's really fun to watch," said veteran teammate Tanner Jeannot, who was on a line with Minten earlier this season. "He's just growing and growing, and he's getting better and better every single day. So, really excited to continue to watch him. I'm happy that he's my teammate and I get to see it firsthand."
Does Jeannot have an idea of what Minten might ultimately become? Not yet.
"We don't know his ceiling yet, and we don't know what he's going to turn into," he said.
What Minten is turning into is one heck of a steal. Add in the fact that the Bruins also got a fourth-round pick this past summer (defenseman Vashek Blanar) and a first-round pick (top-five protected) in the 2026 draft, and that Carlo hasn't had the smoothest run in Toronto, and this is well on its way to going down as one of Sweeney's finest trades.
Minten, for his part, is still not putting any expectations on where he's going to be in the lineup – now or in the future.
"I just want to play in the NHL," he said Thursday night. "Play me wherever. I don’t care."