Brandon Carlo Becoming Trade Candidate For Maple Leafs

Brandon Carlo, Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs don't have Mitch Marner on their team next season and that is a lot of scoring lost (in the regular season). It is also a clear top-6 elite player and man to play on the power play. With how the Maple Leafs have maneuvered the offseason, that isn't going to be made up by just one addition and it hasn't so far with players like Matias Maccelli, Nic Roy, and Dakota Joshua all being acquired.

Toronto may want to make a more serious upgrade at one point, even later this offseason, to their forward group if they can move one or two forwards that have been mentioned in trade rumors. But to do that, Nick Kypreos also noted that "if the Maple Leafs move a defenseman, it'll likely only be one of them, Brandon Carlo. He could be part of a deal that adds some scoring to the forward group."

Carlo is one of the four Maple Leafs defensemen who logged over two minutes per game on the penalty kill last season, but players like Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Henry Thrun both killed over a minute per game last season as well, so they could be replacements. Moving Carlo's money out is part of it, but also because he didn't fit in as well as hoped.

Ekman-Larsson can play top-4 minutes and Thrun should be in the lineup every day. Carlo has two years left on his deal at $3.485 million AAV, won't even provide over 20 minutes per game on the Maple Leafs, and is all defensive-minded. He isn't Chris Tanev, but Carlo is only 28 years old, hits and blocks shots, and isn't too expensive.

I don't see Carlo being dealt before the season after Joshua was added, but trades continue to trickle in and things come up for teams at all points in the season. He only played 33 games in a Maple Leafs uniform, so that isn't enough to get a very clear picture of what he could provide for the next two seasons, but the defense is also a bit crowded when healthy. We'll see what happens over the next two months leading up to training camp. Brad Treliving has made some great decisions and moves so far.

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