Craig Berube Makes His Feelings Known on Brandon Carlo's Huge Impact on Morgan Rielly

When Brandon Carlo came aboard at the trade deadline, there was a lot of questions about whether or not the Maple Leafs overpaid for the defender given they traded away Fraser Minten in order to acquire him.

But so far he's been rock solid and provided the Maple Leafs with the steady presence they need in front of the net, often swallowing up opponents chances and giving Toronto a fighting chance each and every game.

Locked up for the next little bit, he's sticking around awhile which can only be good news for Craig Berube.

Speaking about his newest defenseman, Berube was nothing but complimentary to Carlo, and talked about why he's so vital to the defensive makeup of the team:

Certainly adding someone the caliber of Carlo is going to help no matter what on the back end, but it's what he's doing for his partner that's really got Berube happy. Since being paired with Morgan Rielly, it looks like the long-time Leafs defender has started to find his footing slowly again; all thanks to Carlo.

Berube made note of that as well when talking about Carlo's impact:

That can only mean good things for the Maple Leafs come playoff time and with a resurgent Rielly able to provide some offense without having to worry so much about having to defend everywhere, there's no telling what kind of success can come of it.

While he hasn't exploded offensively, since Carlo's come over at the deadline, Rielly has a plus-4 rating, five points, and 21 blocks. It's a huge difference considering how rough his numbers have been and stresses the importance of giving him a shutdown partner.

Carlo himself has been great so far. In 15 games he has two assists, a plus-5 rating, 27 blocks and 19 hits; exactly what Toronto's needed all season in order to push them over the top.

So it's a great sign that Brandon Carlo has done so well given what Toronto gave up for him, and if he can continue to be as impactful as we know he can be, then the Leafs are going to have a lot of success this postseason.