Brandon Carlo was shocked but pumped to learn he was traded to Maple Leafs

It was a hectic final push to this year’s trade deadline for Brad Treliving and the Toronto Maple Leafs, with a last minute move sending Brandon Carlo to Toronto from the Boston Bruins as part of a three-team trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fraser Minten is heading to the Bruins, with an opportunity to make an impact on a depleted roster.

Joining TSN’s panel over the phone shortly after the deal was announced, Carlo shared how the trade between division rivals came as a surprise–even to him.

“Yeah, definitely a shocker when I heard that it was Toronto,” Carlo said to TSN’s James Duthie. “But then it’s pretty instant that you can kind of look at the group that they got there. Auston Matthews, one of the best goal scorers, if not the best goal scorer in the game, facilitated by so much. So what an opportunity for me to go in there and try and help this group win.”

The move was unexpected with continued skepticism that the longtime rival Leafs and Bruins would be able to get a deal done at the deadline. However, with Boston making the call to officially be sellers, highlighted by their decision to trade captain Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers, the stars were aligned for an exchange between these old foes.

With Carlo, the Leafs bring some much sought after size and physicality to their blue line, and the 6’5″, 220 lb. defenceman says he’s ready to bring that to Toronto.

“Yeah, I think we all know that I’m more on the defensive side of the game for sure,” he said. “You know, I want to come in there and just get the puck as fast as I can into the forwards’ hands and do my side on the defensive side of the puck so it should be a lot of fun.”

Boston took a tough 3-2 regulation loss to the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday, with Seth Jarvis potting the game-winner with 20 seconds to go off an interception from a broken stick clearing attempt by Nikita Zadorov. Asked about the effect of this moment on the team’s decision to sell, the longtime Bruin wasn’t interested in speculation.

“Yeah, you know, I’m not sure, it’s definitely above my pay grade,” Carlo said. “But for our group this year in general, as I had my time in Boston this year, a lot of bad bounces at certain points, and last night was no different … hopefully I can just continue to go forward and grow my game to be the best Maple Leaf that I can be.”

Fans will potentially get their first glimpse of Carlo in action when Toronto takes on the Colorado Avalanche Saturday night from Denver.