The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired defenceman Brandon Carlo in a deadline deal with the Boston Bruins, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported Friday.
Carlo, a staple on the Bruins' back end — and a thorn in the Maple Leafs' side — for nearly a decade, brings a big boost of size and physicality to Toronto as the six-foot-five, 220-pound shutdown specialist joins an Atlantic Division rival. The full return has prospect forward Fraser Minten, a top-five protected first-round pick in 2026 and 2025 fourth-rounder heading to Boston.
The 28-year-old Carolo has one more year on his contract, which carries a $4.1 AAV through 2025-26. (The Bruins agreed to retain 15 per cent of Carlo's contract as part of Friday's deal.) The right-shot rearguard is a strong addition to the Maple Leafs' top-four on the blue line, and his wealth of playoff experience is a major plus, too. In addition to his 29 career regular-season goals and 109 points through 617 games, Carlo also has 14 points and a plus-11 rating in 72 playoff games while wearing the Spoked B.
As Boston fell out of the playoff race, speculation had been mounting over the past few weeks that the club would sell off a few veterans, and we saw that happen as the clock ticked down to Friday's 3 p.m. ET deadline. Mere minutes before the Carlo news broke, the Bruins stunned the hockey world by trading captain and fellow career Bruin Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers in another divisional deal.
In a phone interview with the Sportsnet panel shortly after news of his trade to Toronto dropped, Carlo admitted that while he'd heard his name in the rumour mill the past few weeks, and was on high alert Friday, it still came as a surprise to hear his destination would be a division rival in Toronto.
"For them to want me is a huge compliment," he said of his new club.
Carlo said he's "very excited" about the opportunity that lies ahead with the Maple Leafs — a team he called a "special group" — and said he's eager to, "come in and play that shutdown role."
Carlo wasn't the only one surprised by the deal. The trade between longtime rival clubs came seemingly out of the blue. But Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving told reporters post-deadline the defender had been on the team's radar "for a long, long time."
"He's big, he's long, great stick, defends the blue paint really well, excellent on the penalty kill, tremendous character," said Treliving during a media availability. "He's been a big part of the success that's gone on in Boston, and they've had a lot of it."
Landing Carlo was Toronto's second trade on Friday afternoon after the team also acquired some help up front in Flyers centre Scott Laughton.
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