When Brandon Carlo arrived in Toronto , the trade carried massive expectations.
Acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs to stabilize the right side of the blue line with a heavy, stay-at-home presence, Carlo's transition into one of the hockey's most demanding hockey markets proved to be a complicated chapter. Between navigating a bitter rivalry flip, enduring nagging injuries, and the weight of media scrutiny he had not seen before, Carlo's time wearing the Blue and White was anything but ordinary.
Now, as the 29-year-old defenseman prepares for a fresh start with the St. Louis Blues following a summer trade , Carlo opened up about his time in Toronto during an in-depth appearance on The Cam & Strick Podcast with Andy Strickland and Cam Janssen .
Before pulling a Maple Leafs sweater over his head, Carlo spent nearly a decade with the Boston Bruins Drafted by the club in 2015, the 6-foot-5 blueliner spent nine seasons establishing himself as an integral piece of Boston's defensive core, frequently serving as an obstacle to Toronto's postseason ambitions.
Walking into the Leafs' locker room for the first time required a mental reset.
""It's weird when you start flip-flopping teams, especially with rivals and whatnot... but I really found it to be kind of fun."
Carlo acknowledged there was some initial awkwardness when crossing paths with players he had spent years battling in heated spring series.
"There was plenty of them," Carlo said with a laugh regarding past playoff clashes. "With certain guys like Max Domi or even like Jake McCabe , I remember [McCabe] chirping me quite a bit during the playoffs and things like that. And then you get to learn the opposite side of things and get to know them as people, and you have that same sort of love and appreciation for your teammates."
Carlo's tenure in Toronto was far from seamless on the ice. While he stepped into the lineup with the goal of bringing shutdown defense and penalty-killing reliability and the answer to a reliable defensive partner to Morgan Rielly , health issues derailed his momentum.
A bizarre, lingering lower-body issue proved particularly challenging. Carlo detailed how a blocked shot to his ankle aggravated a previous surgery site, causing an unpredictable medical complication.
"Last year, I had just a really fluky injury, honestly, and it ended up taking longer than we would have thought," Carlo said. "I had surgery on in the past, and it ended up getting infected. We couldn't figure the infection out, and then had to get the plate, that had nothing to do with the injury, out. So it was just a weird thing."
The physical toll directly impacted his ability to deliver consistent results during critical stretches.
"It was tough at times," Carlo admitted. "Obviously, I don't think that we had as great of a year. I had some injuries, I wasn't at my best... didn't work out the way that I would have hoped, but overall, I like to try and focus on the positive."
Playing in Toronto comes with an unavoidable scrutiny. From the moment the initial trade was completed, the cost of acquisition, especially the conditions surrounding Toronto's draft pick. and the prospect capital surrendered in the transaction.
The Leafs acquired Carlo On Mar. 7, 2025 in exchange for forward Fraser Minten and a top-5 protected first-round pick in 2026 . The Leafs ended up winning the NHL Draft Lottery in May , resulting in them keeping the selection and deferring the return of a first-rounder in either 2027 or 2028. With the pick, Toronto selected Gavin McKenna .
While Carlo maintains a minimal digital footprint, noting he has stayed off X for a decade, the talk still reached him.
"I'm not on social media or anything, so I get just the little snippets, but there was some reporters and things like that in Toronto that definitely took some moments to make it known and put it on my radar a little bit," Carlo explained.
Rather than letting the external critique wear him down, Carlo treated the market's intense spotlight as a masterclass in professional resilience.
"Overall, I think it just helped me develop thicker skin," Carlo said. "I'm thankful for the experience, like I said. Just to kind of go through that is good, it's a good learning experience. It helped me to recognize what's truly important, and all I can do is my best each day. I feel like I've continued to do that and will continue to do that."
Despite the turbulence on the ice, Carlo spoke warmly of nown former Leafs head coach Craig Berube .
"I love Chief, honestly, and I felt like he did a good job just welcoming me in and accepting me with my role and things like that," Carlo said. "I think he could tell at times it was a weird transition going from that team to the other, but overall, he did a nice job of just kind of letting me do my own thing at times too. He has very good read on his players, and I really enjoyed my time playing with Chief."
When asked about the leadership structure inside the room, Carlo pointed to a balanced dynamic anchored by core veterans and captain Auston Matthews .
"Jake McCabe was very well respected within that room and would speak up quite a bit. Morgan Rielly as well, I think he's one of those guys," Carlo noted. "And then Auston, I feel like it's more so just when he does say something, everybody listens. It's not like he's going to be harping on you every single time, but when he does speak up, the whole room's going to listen. He's your captain, amazing player, amazing person."
Away from Scotiabank Arena, Carlo embraced family life in the Greater Toronto Area, settling into Etobicoke and taking advantage of local amenities.
"Being in a big city like that, I tried to just embrace it with my family," Carlo said. "Going to the outdoor rinks,I always wanted to have that growing up, we don't have much of that in Colorado , and we had plenty of that this year with my kids."
However, Carlo noted that the sheer scale of the city and the celebrity profile of Toronto's stars often changed the social rhythm compared to other NHL markets.
"In that city, it's kind of difficult at times because those guys are superstars, and it's hard to get guys together at times because it's a little spread out," Carlo said, adding with a grin that the traffic getting down to the rink was "a nightmare."
As the offseason approached and Carlo entered the final year of his contract, both he and his representation recognized that a change of scenery was on the horizon. On June 27, the Leafs traded Carlo to the Blues in exchange for two third-round draft picks in the 2026 NHL Draft, used to select Zach Olsen and Mans Gudmundsson.
"I had talked to my agent a little bit and knew that it could be a possibility," Carlo said of the trade away from Toronto. "Contract-wise, going into the last year and things like that. I'm really excited about the timing. It kind of gives our family some time to figure out the logistics and just come in with a group and start the year."
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