7:15 PM: The Bruins announced their portion of the trade, confirming that they received Minten, a 2026 first-round pick (top-five protected), and a 2025 fourth-round selection for Carlo.
2:11 PM: The Maple Leafs have acquired defenseman Brandon Carlo from the Bruins, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. The Leafs are sending center prospect Fraser Minten to the Bruins, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff adds it’s a three-team deal with the Penguins, who are receiving defenseman Conor Timmins and forward Connor Dewar from Toronto. The Leafs are sending a first-round pick to Boston in the deal as well, per Seravalli. Pittsburgh is sending a 2025 fifth-round pick to the Leafs in exchange for Timmins and Dewar, per the Maple Leafs. Additionally, Boston has retained 15 percent of Carlo’s $4.1MM salary, shares Joshua Kloke of The Athletic.
Through the mix of a three-team deal and hurdles over the cap space, Toronto lands an impactful shutdown defenseman in Carlo. He’s six-foot-five, 220
pounds and offers an invaluable right-hand shot. Those traits helped Carlo stamp out a daily lineup role almost immediately upon entering the league in 2016-17. Boston drafted Carlo in the second-round of the 2015 NHL Draft and promoted him to the pros at the end of the following season. He recorded just one assist in his first seven AHL games, but performed well enough at Boston’s following training camp to ditch the minor leagues entirely.
Carlo made the Bruins roster out of camp in the 2016-17 season. The team attempted to ease him into a lineup role, but one assist and a plus-five in 17 minutes of his NHL debut quickly showed Carlo’s impact would translate to the top flight. He was playing upwards of 24 minutes a night in just his third NHL game – and hung on to a top-pair role next to Bruins legend Zdeno Chara for the rest of his rookie season. Carlo managed 16 points, 59 penalty minutes, and a plus-nine while playing in all 82 games of his rookie year.
The top-pair conditioning continued to pay off through the next three seasons. Carlo never posted much scoring – netting his career-high of 19 points in 2019-20 – but he continued to average at least 20 minutes of ice time, on the pack of an imposing defensive presence. His role has dwindled in the years since, but his impact remains impressively consistent. Even through this season, the 28-year-old Carlo has managed nine points, 24 PIMs, and a plus-two in 63 games.
Toronto could confidently turn towards Carlo for top-pair minutes for the remainder of the season. He’ll be a shining replacement for the injured Chris Tanev, who Toronto placed on injured reserve on March 2nd. When Tanev returns, Toronto will boast a pair of high-impact, low-scoring defensive-defenseman on the right side – complimenting the more offensively-geared Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the left.
Carlo is notably signed through the end of the 2026-27 season at a manageable $3.485MM cap hit after Boston’s retention.
While the Leafs sort of their sudden heap of defensive talent, Boston will relish in the addition of a clear top prospect in Fraser Minten. Minten made the Maple Leafs roster out of camp to start the season, and recorded four points – split evenly – across the first 15 games of his NHL career.
Minten was assigned to the AHL to start the season but quickly made Toronto second-guess their decision. He was called up to the NHL in mid-November after posting four points in five games to start the AHL season. Minten continued the hot scoring into his first taste of NHL action, netting four points across his first five NHL games of the season. His scoring dried up after that – with no scoring in his last 10 NHL games – but Minten has stayed productive in the minor leagues, where he has 13 points in 26 games.
This is Minten’s first season of professional hockey. He spent the last four seasons with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers and, briefly, Saskatoon Blades. Minten totaled 188 points in 187 career games in the WHL, including 55 points in 67 games of the 2021-22 campaign. That was enough to earn him a second-round selection in the 2022 NHL Draft – a divisive pick at the time. Minten also earned the honor of captaining Team Canada at the 2024 World Junior Championships, where he scored three points in five games. It was his first time representing Canada internationally.
Minten is still working on figuring out his pro footing but he’ll offer tantalizing upside once he’s level. He’s an impactful two-way centerman who is strong on the faceoff dot and smart with his positioning. Those traits could be tailor-made for a Bruins organization that’s already developed Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle into strong, top-six options.
The deal is rounded out by Toronto sending depth skaters Dewar and Timmins to the Penguins as a cap dump. That addition frees up $2.28MM in cap space for the Leafs, which will effectively be their only cap space for the remainder of the year. Both Dewar and Timmins could find a path to routine minutes for Pittsburgh, where they’ll play under former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas.
Dewar has served as Toronto’s fourth-line center for much of the year but has been fairly low-event. He has just three assists, five penalty minutes, and a minus-three through 31 appearances. That’s a far step down from the 19 points, 28 PIMs, and minus-eight he totaled in 74 games last season, split between time with the Minnesota Wild and Maple Leafs. He’s found a groove as a gritty, hard-nosed bottom-line option – which should fit right in with the makeup of Pittsburgh’s current fourth line. Dewar will challenge Blake Lizotte for routine ice time, but could be pushed to the flanks to challenge Bokondji Imama or Noel Acciari should Pittsburgh prefer to keep Lizotte in.
Timmins has landed in a similar rut. He’s been a bottom-pair option for the Leafs, with eight points, 24 PIMs, and a plus-two in 51 games this season. That is also a downtick in scoring form the 10 points Timmins managed in 25 games last year, and the 14 points he posted in 25 games of 2022-23. Pittsburgh has been searching for more defense depth after trading away Marcus Pettersson. Timmins could find a way into the vacant role, though he’ll first compete with Ryan Graves and newcomer Vladislav Kolyachonok for minutes.
Both Dewar and Timmins are set to enter restricted free agency this summer.
Leafs made a couple solid moves today. Won’t have to worry about facing the Bruins in the playoffs, and if so they won’t be looking anything like the teams that have eliminated the leafs in years past
except they will either have to play the Panthers with Marchand or bolts.
I like the additions, but it’s not a given they get out of R1
Orrrrrr win the division and hope those two teams pound the heck outta eachother making them easier to play later on
When talking about the Leafs in the playoffs, there is no “later on”.
They even helped Toronto. That’s pathetic
….and you’re not? It’s a business.
Boston keeps trading within their own division lol. Toronto gets an upgrade in their top four defense with Brandon Carlo.
Don Sweeney might not make it out of Boston alive after today.
I give Sweeney a lot of credit for realizing this Bruins team is going nowhere, so he traded some good players in Carlo, Coyle, Marchand, Frederick and others to help retool the team for 2026 & beyond. I’m really interested to learn what Boston got in return for Marchand. Also, interested to learn who else or what else (draft pick) is included in this Carlo deal. Carlo is an excellent stay-at-home defender which is just what Toronto needs.
Your one job as a general manager of a team is to get the best return on trades. It doesn’t matter where you send them, so enough of the hate. JeeZ!
Timmins isn’t going to Boston. He’s headed to Pittsburgh per Chris Johnston
And speaking of screaming at GMs … gods, Boston management was blistered for dealing Johnny Boychuk, just blistered. Only what we got out of that trade was nine years of Brandon Carlo. Keep that in mind.
Leafs got their pocket picked.
Penguins seem to have made out pretty well here.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but I think Dubas actually had a decent day.
nah
A 5th actually seems a bit steep for some warm bodies they needed to get rid of, but…whatever.
Not holding out a ton of hope, but Timmins does fit the profile we should be looking for…guys who flashed something and needs another chance (like Tomasino) who can build some value to be flipped in a year or two.
A late pick that isn’t likely to become even an AHL player let alone an NHL player for TWO players is steep to you?
For those TWO players, yes.
The garbage company doesn’t pay you to pick up your trash, you pay them.
Hornqvist was the last pick of a draft. Never know. Should have been a future considerations deal.
I honestly don’t see how this is one 3 team trade. Isn’t it two trades? One trade between Tor and Bos, and another race between Tor and Pit. Sure, maybe for cap reasons Tor had to drop 2 players and Pit traded a low choice for them, but it’s still 2 separate trades, isn’t it?