The Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Tuesday that they have assigned forward Fraser Minten to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League (AHL).

A second-round pick of the Maple Leafs in 2022, Minten was recalled to the Maple Leafs alongside fellow 2022 draftee Nikita Grebenkin following injuries to forwards Max Domi and David Kampf. Minten excelled in his first few games, scoring two goals and adding two assists in his first five games, and he held his own from a defensive standpoint. Minten has been held off of the scoresheet for his past six games, and with Kampf ready to return from his lower-body injury, the Maple Leafs ultimately decided that sending him back to the AHL for more seasoning was the right decision.

While the Kampf transaction hasn’t been made official yet, it’s expected that he’ll be ready to re-enter the Maple Leafs lineup on Wednesday, and the cap move will likely be made official sometime before that. The 29-year-old Czechia native is in the second year of a four-year contract worth $2.4 million annually, signed by the Maple Leafs in the summer of 2023 as general manager Brad Treliving’s first re-signing of his tenure in Toronto. He’s never been known for his offensive ability, with his career-high coming in 2022-23 in the form of 27 points in 82 games, but offence has been especially hard to come by for him this season with no goals and three assists in 18 games.

Kampf was an extremely effective bottom-six forward in his first two years with the Maple Leafs and seemed to play his best hockey alongside defence-first, analytically friendly wingers such as Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev, but his role in the bottom six outside of penalty killing has come into question since Treliving took over and revamped the bottom six. Still, getting Kampf back will only boost a penalty kill that’s already been excellent compared to last season, sitting 7th in the NHL at the time of filing.

Minten, meanwhile, will return to the Marlies and play a prominent role like he has been all year, skating on the top line with Grebenkin and Nylander and tallying four points in five games to date.

The Maple Leafs will visit the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.

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