Maple Leafs Made a Huge Mistake with Steeves & Minten

Looking at ex-Maple Leafs Alex Steeves’ Season

Let’s start with Steeves. Toronto kept telling itself he was a “tweener,” a guy stuck between the AHL and NHL. Funny how quickly those labels disappear once a player lands in the right situation. Since joining Boston, Steeves has put up a number of two-goal games, clawed his way into the Bruins’ lineup, and has now become the Bruins’ first-line left winger.

Since being dumped by the Maple Leafs, he’s become the very winger the Maple Leafs keep saying they don’t have. And, they let him go. Now they’re looking for a clone – a fast, physical guy who can score like he owns the place.

Looking at Ex-Maple Leafs Fraser Minten’s Season

Then there’s Fraser Minten. Toronto’s front office talked endlessly about loving his maturity, his details, his NHL-ready habits. And then? Smart as a whip, they moved him before he even had a chance to grow into the player they had to know he would become.

Minten hasn’t just survived in Boston—he’s growing in leaps and bounds. He’s become a go-to third-line center on one of the best teams in the league, killing penalties, chipping in offense, and looking every bit like the long-term middle-six anchor the Leafs have been desperate to find for years.

These Were Players the Maple Leafs Developed and Moved Out

This isn’t revisionist history. The Maple Leafs developed these players in their own system. They invested time. They believed in them. And then they got impatient, distracted, or too focused on “short-term fixes” to notice what they were giving up.

Meanwhile, Boston—of all teams—sits tied for first in the Atlantic with Tampa, powered partly by two players who should be wearing blue and white, not black and gold. The Maple Leafs didn’t just lose Steeves and Minten. They handed them over. And right now, it looks like they’ve shot themselves in the foot—again.