Bruins rookie earns NESN’s 7th Player Award

As is tradition, the NESN 7th Player Award was revealed Tuesday night ahead of the Bruins ’ regular-season finale against the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden. This year, the fan-voted award given to the player who has exceeded expectations during the season was presented to Fraser Minten . Minten was acquired by Boston at last year’s trade deadline from the Maple Leafs in a deal that sent Brandon Carlo to Toronto.

The rookie forward took a big step in his first full season with the Bruins with 17 goals and as many assists going into Tuesday’s game. Minten’s confidence has blossomed this season and has been strong defensively as well as a reliable penalty killer. The way he’s impressed his coaches has led him to playing time on the top six at times during the season.

“He definitely has some upside. He’s only 21 years old. There’s still a lot to grow,” Marco Sturm said in January.

“I’m just very, very happy with the way he’s been playing from the beginning of the year until now. I put him in different situations from the fourth line to the first line. You can see he can do it all.