Maple Leafs defenseman moves to the front of their trade board
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
One Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman emerged as someone the team had been quietly trying to trade.
After the Toronto Maple Leafs season, it was known that a culture change was happening after the departure of Brendan Shanahan as the Leafs President.
With the trading away of longtime Leaf Mitch Marner, Toronto reportedly came close to potentially netting another deal in the offseason.
According to a report from Nick Kypreos for Sportsnet, the Toronto Maple Leafs attempted in the offseason to trade Brandon Carlo twice.
Acquired by the Leafs at the deadline from the Boston Bruins for a 2026 first round pick and prospect forward Fraser Minten, Kypreos said Toronto neared a trade this past offseason for the recently acquired defenseman.
The Leafs did explore trading Carlo last off-season, but couldn't get to the right deal. There's a strong suggestion Toronto and Buffalo were in talks over having Carlo involved in a JJ Peterka trade and then moving towards a Carlo-for-Bowen Byram type of trade over the summer.
Peterka was traded from the Sabres to the Utah Mammoth for RHD Michael Kesselring and winger Josh Doan, the son of the assistant to Leafs GM Brad Treliving, Shane Doan, with Josh having played for the same team as his father with the Arizona Coyotes, the team transferring operations to Utah in 2024.
Why Brandon Carlo is the Leafs defenceman other teams keep asking about
Nick Kypreos says that Brandon Carlo, despite currently being injured making his current value uncertain, would still appeal to teams on the trade market once healthy.
He can log big minutes, is a right shot, still relatively young at 28 years old, and Boston is eating $615,000 of his salary, so he'll count for just $3.485 million - and possibly less if the Leafs retain some of that. Carlo has another season left on his contract, so an acquiring team would get him for two playoff drives.
Toronto sits last in the Eastern Conference with a 9-10-3 record and 21 points, with injuries having consistently piled up for the Leafs.
As a physical RHD who can play a high-effort game and has a favorable salary situation, it could be a move that if Toronto is still outside the playoff picture near the trade deadline could come to fruition.
What a Carlo trade would actually free up for Brad Treliving
Nick Kypreos doesn't frame in his article that Brandon Carlo is back on the trade board, but a deal where the Leafs move Carlo could be of some help.
If Toronto isn't winning, they could use the return in a Carlo deal is one of the few paths to add some youth on the blueline, with a lack of young, NHL-ready defensive defensemen in the pipeline.
Being one of the players on Toronto who has the potential to return a high trade value as well as one of the better expendable players not signed long-term, trading Carlo could give Toronto the best return out of their potential trade offerings.
According to Brad Treliving, any deal Toronto would make he'd like to be "roster-for-roster", which could lead to short-term help that still gives them the chance to add young talent to the roster in the event the Leafs are in a position of being sellers by the deadline.
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