John-Michael Liles gives a ringing endorsement of good friend Brandon Carlo

Add former Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman John-Michael Liles to the list of people who approved of the team’s acquisition of Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins.

Carlo was one of the Leafs’ two big acquisitions at the trade deadline which resulted in the Leafs surrendering Fraser Minten, a conditional first-round pick, and a fourth-round pick to the Bruins. Liles made an appearance on Leafs Morning Take on Wednesday to explain why he thinks the Leafs will not regret giving that up because of what they have in Carlo.

“Brandon Carlo is a good friend of mine and him coming into Toronto, I think is a great addition,” Liles said. “ My last year was with Boston and that was his rookie year. And he was my D partner for the entire training camp, his rookie year. He came in, he’s six foot five,  he’s a freak athlete.  When he stepped in, Don Sweeney and the coaches were like, ‘Oh man, this guy is legit.'”

The two crossed paths during the 2016-17, during which Carlo emerged as one of the Bruins’ most reliable shutdown defencemen right off the hop. Though he and Liles were not always sharing the ice that season (the veteran was his fourth-most common defence partner that year), he got an up-close look at what the towering blueliner would become.

It certainly helped that the two spent a lot of time together in Colorado so they were able to quickly become good friends. Liles knows what it was like to get traded to the Leafs, having been first acquired around the time of the 2011 NHL Draft.

“I was fortunate. I got traded right before the draft so I had the the summer to get acclimated,” he said. “When I first came in, it was great. We were winning and when you’re winning in Toronto things are awesome. We lost a bunch late in the year that year and things changed quickly and that’s just kind of how it goes sometimes.”

While his time in Toronto ended controversially as he was traded right before the 2014 Winter Classic, Liles continues to look back on his time donning the Blue and White fondly. He helped the Leafs clinch a playoff spot in 2013 after a seven-year drought preceding, though that run ended in heartbreaking fashion.

So when Carlo got dealt to the Leafs, Liles reached out to offer advice and give him an idea of what he would be getting himself into.

“I texted Carlo when he got traded there and I said ‘Listen, you’ll love Toronto,” Liles said. “‘They take amazing care of the players and the families. You focus on hockey and as long as you guys win, it’s going to be amazing.’ He was appreciative and said ‘Thanks a bunch.'”

Carlo has taken the advice to heart and has since settled in nicely with his new team. Going into Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, he recorded an assist, 11 blocks, nine hits, and averaged 19:20 of ice time through his first five games. It may take him a bit to fully get the hang of things but he is excited about the opportunity he has with the Leafs trying to make a run at the Stanley Cup.

“I feel like I’m getting there,” Carlo said after Saturday’s game about adjusting to Toronto. “I feel like these guys are easy to find in certain ways, they do a great job making themselves available for passes and breakouts. There’s a lot within this group that I like, and going forward, there’s a lot of great potential here.”

While on the subject of their opponent on Wednesday, there is an interesting connection between the Leafs and Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog. The 32-year-old is currently working his way back to the NHL after having not played since winning the 2022 Stanley Cup.

Though the Leafs had no chance of drafting him in 2011 as that pick was in the Bruins’ possession because of the Phil Kessel trade, Then-GM Brian Burke still interviewed with Landeskog in the lead-up to the 2011 Draft. Liles recalled that his former boss was impressed with the Swedish forward.

“I remember him commenting saying ‘This guy’s gonna be an NHL GM someday.’ [Landeskog] 17 or years old at the time,” he said. “[Burke] was like ‘He just has this presence.’ Not only does he have that presence – that locker room kind of stabilizing force – but he backs it up on the ice. He plays the game how it’s meant to be played as a power forward, he’s done it his entire career. He’s not a regular fighter but he can fight. He can score and he can hit and he can play the game any way that you want to play the game.”

You can watch the full interview with Liles below: