The San Jose Sharks desperately need to improve their blue line, especially on the right side, and Brandon Carlo hasn't worked out how the Toronto Maple Leafs had hoped when they acquired him from the Boston Bruins. As a result, the Sharks and Maple Leafs could make sense as potential trade partners for Carlo rather than Morgan Rielly. Carlo has a big frame, he's a 6-foot-5, 227-pound stay-at-home defenseman, which often makes people assume he's a physical presence on the ice, but that's not his game. His lack of physicality is one of the key reasons that he's fallen out of favor in Toronto. He was a more physical presence early in his career, but injuries have been a constant issue throughout his career and he didn't seem to mesh well with former Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube's system either. As a result, his hit numbers dropped dramatically in Toronto. Carlo is a strong penalty-killer, which is something the Sharks will undoubtedly be looking to improve this summer as well. As a right-handed shutdown defenseman, he would also be an interesting player to play alongside a young offensive defenseman like Sam Dickinson or Luca Cagnoni, as he'd give them more room to make mistakes in the offensive zone without almost guaranteeing a goal at the other end of the ice. Offensively, there's little upside for Carlo. He hasn't scored a goal since being traded to Toronto during the 2024-25 season and has just 10 points in 75 games as a Maple Leaf. He does have a hard shot, his hardest shot during the 2025-26 season was 93.42 MPH, which placed him in the 70th percentile. He also is fairly quick given his big frame, with an above-average maximum skating speed, which typically hovers around 22 MPH. One concern for the Sharks would likely be that the 29-year-old defenseman is entering the final year of his six-year contract this season, but he does currently have a reasonable cap hit of just $4.1 million per season. He'd likely look for a bit of a raise next summer, as the salary cap his grown significantly since he signed his previous contract, but it likely wouldn't be astronomical. If Brad Treliving and Craig Berube were still running the Maple Leafs, it seems highly likely that Carlo would've been easily available on the trade market. Now, it remains to be seen how John Chayka and Mats Sundin will handle things, but it would be surprising if they weren't willing to at least listen to offers for Carlo given his pending free agency in just over a year's time. While Carlo won't address the Sharks' need for a puck-moving, power play specialist, he will help then keep the puck out of the net which is equally, if not more, important at this point.
