The Maple Leafs moved on from Brandon Carlo, and the early read on that decision still feels pretty simple: Toronto got out from under a player who wasn’t working.
Carlo arrived from Boston in a deal that sent Fraser Minten, a 2026 first-round pick and a fourth-round pick to the Bruins. At the time, he looked like the kind of stay-at-home defender the Leafs wanted - size, experience, and some ability to clear traffic from the crease.
But that version of Carlo never really showed up in Toronto. He didn’t lean on his frame the way the club expected, he had trouble in front of the net and he struggled to move the puck out of the defensive zone.
By the end of the 2025-2026 season, the fan base had seen enough.
When John Chayka took over as Maple Leafs general manager, one of his first priorities was cleaning up the roster. That led to Carlo being shipped to the St. Louis Blues for the 73rd and 76th picks in the 2026 NHL Draft, which turned into winger Zach Olsen and forward Mans Gudmundsson.
The bigger wrinkle in the original trade was the first-round pick. Brad Treliving had put top-five protection on it, and when the Leafs finished in the bottom five, there was at least a path to a lottery selection. Toronto caught a break, won the draft lottery and landed the number one pick, using it on future star Gavin McKenna.
McKenna wasn’t directly part of the Carlo deal, but the lottery win still mattered to Toronto because it kept Boston from getting him. The Leafs still owe the Bruins a pick, and how that ultimately plays out remains to be seen.
As for Carlo himself, the move to St. Louis hasn’t changed much.
He’s been used on the second and third pairings, averaging 17:43 per game through 17 contests. The numbers are modest: one assist, 21 penalty minutes - the most on the Blues - and a minus-2 rating.
He isn’t delivering big hits, he isn’t filling the stat sheet and he isn’t swinging games in a noticeable way. It’s been more of the same.
Toronto’s replacement for him was Darren Raddysh, brought in on an eight-year, $8.5 million sign-and-trade with Tampa. The expectation was that he would handle heavy minutes and help fill the offensive gap on the back end.
So far, the production has been underwhelming. Through 19 games, Raddysh has no goals, 10 assists and a team-high 23:57 of ice time per night.
The bigger concern, though, has been his defense, which has been shaky for much of the season.
The Leafs still need more from Raddysh, but there’s at least some patience left there. With Carlo, there wasn’t much reason to keep waiting.
The move brought a kind of roster reset, and while Toronto can’t really judge the draft-pick return yet, keeping Carlo around wasn’t looking like a real solution. At this stage, the Leafs get the slight edge.
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