Leafs acquire Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins
When everyone thought the Leafs were done dealing already and thus leaving a lot to be desired, they ended up making a splash right at the trade deadline cut-off. Toronto would reach out to their playoff nemesis in the Boston Bruins to acquire big-bruising defenseman Brandon Carlo. Getting Carlo helped fill the Leafs other remaining need, which was an upgrade on the blueline to make them tougher to play against for the playoffs.
At six feet, five inches tall and 220 pounds of muscle, the 28-year-old is the defensive defenseman that Toronto had been desperately searching for to round out their roster.
Carlo won’t be winning any Norris Trophies as he is in no way an offensive specialist. But he is steady as one could be in the back end for many years. However, it had been quite the struggle actually for him this season with the middling Bruins.
His 82 giveaways to date already this season is almost double of his previous all-time high of 45 back during the 2017-18 season. On top of that, with just a 46% CF% and 45% expected goals rate for 2024-25 in 5-on-5 situations, they sure weren’t winning his minutes whenever he was on the ice. (All stats from hockey-reference.com and naturalstattrick.com)
And if that wasn’t bad enough, the Leafs would part with promising prospect Fraser Minten, a 2026 top-five protected first-round pick, AND a 2025 fourth-round pick. Minten had already shown flashes of brilliance in his brief stint with the Leafs earlier in the season.
In 15 games, he recorded 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points. Minten appeared primed for a full-time role heading into the 2025-26 NHL season. As previously mentioned, the 2026 draft class is deep, so for the Leafs to surrender their first-rounder and not get someone in the calibre of a Seth Jones in return nevertheless hurts just a bit. Unless Carlo suddenly rediscovers his dominant form seen back in his earlier seasons with the Bruins, even with term still remaining, it felt like a massive overpay by Toronto and could hurt big time down the road. Therefore, this deal falls more into the C+ range.
Note that the Leafs also sent Connor Dewar and Conor Timmins to the Penguins in exchange for a 5th rounder in order to facilitate this deal.
Grade: C+