While a new general manager is in charge, the Toronto Maple Leafs could still look to move on from a defenseman who has been regularly in trade rumours for the past year.
Brandon Carlo's name was heavily linked to a couple different teams at the trade deadline just last season but was eventually not moved out by then general manager Brad Treliving -- probably because he was too busy trying to finalize a deal that would have sent Matthew Knies to Montreal.
And now during what should be an incredibly interesting summer for the Leafs, his name is appearing once again in recent reports.
Could the Leafs trade Brandon Carlo as soon as this summer?
According to The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta, the Leafs have involved Carlo in more trade talks as of late.
"Defenceman Brandon Carlo’s name has been circulating through the rumours again," Pagnotta wrote in a recent report.
It's as simple as that. While it was rumoured that the Leafs were looking to move on from Carlo just a calendar year after acquiring him from the Boston Bruins for prospect Fraser Minten and a top-five protected first-round pick -- in what will go down as a historically bad trade even if they avoided disaster and won the Draft Lottery.
Could the Leafs then turn around and re-coup some of those assets that they gave up for Carlo? They should at least approach that number of assets.
Carlo is a 6-foot-5, right-handed defenseman. Just on those physical attributes alone, there should be some attention thrown his way. Now add that he can easily play in any teams' top four as a minute-muncher, defense-first type of player, and the return should look fairly solid. He's not as physical as some teams want him to be at that size, but he's still a good player in the right situation.
Add in the fact that the Leafs would be trading him with just a $3.485-million AAV for the next season as he is set to hit unrestricted free agency next summer, and he should be seen as fairly valuable.
Could he fetch a first-round pick? Maybe, maybe not. But something like a second-rounder and a decent prospect? That's certainly a possibility and it's not like the Leafs are going to be re-signing him, so getting something for him this summer would be some good timing. To not try to move him as a pure rental at the next trade deadline, but give the acquiring team a full season to see if he is good enough, and then they can re-sign him themselves if he pans out.
We'll see where this goes in the coming weeks, but we wouldn't be surprised if Carlo is playing for a different team when training camps open in September.
Add us as a preferred source on Google