Toronto Maple Leafs make draft-day trade involving Brandon Carlo

It was a trade that may have inadvertently ended the horrendous Brad Trevling era with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

During the 2025 NHL trade deadline, Treliving acquired Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins for a first-round pick, fourth-round pick and prospect Fraser Minten.

While the Leafs made the longest playoff run of the Core Four era with Carlo in the lineup, the trade was turned into a massive loss.

On Saturday, during the draft, new Leafs GM John Chayka ended the Carlo era in Toronto by dealing him to the St. Louis Blues for two third-round picks.

Chayka's decision to trade Carlo away locks in one of the worst trades in recent Maple Leafs history. The 29-year-old defenceman saw his defensive game slip last season as Toronto crumbled as a whole. And, the deal nearly cost the Leafs a top-10 draft pick.

Thankfully, the pick was top-five protected, meaning the Leafs were able to select Gavin McKenna with the first overall pick in the 2026 Draft.

Instead, Toronto will give up both of its first-round picks in 2027 and 2028. Although who gets those picks is still undecided.

If Toronto's 2027 first-rounder is outside of the top-10, that selection will go to Philadelphia, and Boston will get Toronto's unprotected 2028 first-rounder. However, if Toronto is a top-10 pick, they'll have the option of either giving the Flyers or Bruins the unprotected 2028 first-rounder, while the other team gets the 2027 top-10 pick.

The other painful part of the Carlo deal was giving up Vancouver, B.C. native Fraser Minten, who had 17 goals and 35 points in 82 games.

Toronto recouped the 73rd and 76th overall picks in the 2026 NHL Draft after trading Carlo. With those picks, the Maple Leafs selected forechecking winger Zach Olsen at 73rd overall. They also picked 6-foot-3 defenceman Mans Gudmundsson with the 76th pick. 

The Maple Leafs had four third-round picks and six picks total in the first three rounds of the 2026 Draft. One of the most notable picks was overage defenceman Ethan MacKenzie. The West Kelowna, B.C. native was passed over twice in the NHL Draft before having a breakout season with the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2025-26.

His performance caught the attention of Team Canada, and MacKenzie was named to the bronze-medal-winning squad at the World Juniors.