Now that Fraser Minten has been sent back to the AHL, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving has explained his rationale behind the difficult decision.

The Toronto Maple Leafs recently stunned many fans by sending rookie Fraser Minten back to the minors.

Minten was originally called up to the main squad amid a storm of injuries to the Maple Leafs’ roster. At the time of his recall, Treliving expressed concerns about bringing Minten up before the team was sure that he was ready for it, which also appears to have factored into the decision to return him to the Marlies.

Minten had become a fan favourite through hard work and determination, and many wondered why Treliving would send him back to the AHL when he was playing so well. Treliving has now explained his reasoning.

“To me, I always find with some younger players, he came in, and then you come off a little bit, right? You realize it’s an everyday league. So, nothing but good things about how Fraser has played. We saw his [hockey IQ], we saw all the things he could do. He’ll be back.”

Treliving added that as well as Minten played in his 11 games in the NHL this season, there were signs near the end that his level of play was dropping.

“I think he played tremendous for us. Craig and I talk all the time, so we like this player a lot. If you saw the last few games (he played in), he started to taper a little bit.

We obviously talk about it, but, if you’re not going to be in, and you’re a young player, you gotta keep playing, right? We’re not gonna sit him in the stands.”

It’s hard to argue with the reasoning. Minten, 20, has plenty of time to develop and work on his game. Rushing him would be a mistake.

There’s very little doubt that Minten will be back with the Maple Leafs before long with how well he played during his first stint with the big club this season. He just needs some more polishing.