After what veteran described as not being his best with Maple Leafs, 29-year-old brought to St. Louis to complement a defensive unit with size, length, bring stability
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- When Mason McTavish made the case that he would play with a chip on his shoulder after being traded by the Anaheim Ducks to the St. Louis Blues, the same can’t be said for newly-acquired defenseman Brandon Carlo.
In Carlo’s case, getting traded was a welcomed sight.
In the 29-year-old’s case after being traded by the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Blues on June 27 -- which was the second day of the 2026 NHL Draft -- for a pair of third-round picks in 2026, it’s a welcomed change of scenery.
It simply didn’t work out with the Leafs, who paid a hefty price to acquire the 6-foot-5, 227-pound right-handed shot from the Boston Bruins at the 2025 trade deadline. It cost Toronto forward Fraser Minten, who recently signed a long-term extension with the Bruins, a conditional first-round pick in 2026 and a fourth-round pick in 2025.
In 75 games with the Leafs, including 55 last season, Carlo finished with 10 assists (seven in 2025-26) while playing just under 19.5 minutes per game.
“There's no secret that I wasn't my best (last season) by any means, but overall I am excited for the new opportunity and to be welcomed by a group is always a great compliment,” Carlo said. “So yeah this is a good, fresh start and I hope to come in here and just take my experience and knowledge and help in any way I can. Just continue to do my best each and every day, that's all I can really control. You can't control certain things with getting traded, but overall I definitely was excited to hear that I was going to be a St. Louis Blue.”
So when the news came down, with Carlo driving in his car with his wife and five-year-old daughter and two-year-old son, it came as a welcomed relief.
“I was driving to my niece's birthday party, so my wife and my kids were in the car. I just got a call and it was just one of those trade calls where you can tell right off the bat when they say, 'How are you doing?' 'I'm OK,’” Carlo said. “Overall, it's a good thing. I'm thankful for my time in Toronto. It was a good learning experience overall. I'm thankful to have played with those guys. They have some great guys in that room and, yeah, I think overall you've got to go through some hard times to continue to grow as an individual and this is one of them for me.”
Carlo and his wife understood their lives would be changing, but the kids? Not so much.
“Yeah, my kid was shaking a maraca in the back or something,” Carlo joked. “Yeah, but you know it's a part of my family life, too, and it affects all of us. Kind of good to just rip off the Band-Aid with everybody.
“… I think my daughter is starting to understand a little bit, but it's great just to see it through their eyes. She was super excited to go to school the other day in a new place and had a lot of fun with that. I just try to take that approach and learn from it as well to have that childlike mentality with it all because it is a new experience. It's exciting. It can be nerve-racking as well, but from a child's perspective, as an adult you can lean on that and see that it's a fun opportunity.”
Carlo, who has one year remaining ($4.1 million cap hit, $3.25 million base salary) on a six-year, $24.6 million contract he signed with the Bruins in 2021, gives the Blues stability and size on the blue line; he is a nice security blanket and insurance for 2024 first-round pick Adam Jiricek, who is no guarantee to sew up a spot on the NHL roster this season.
When then-general manager Doug Armstrong made the trade, he mentioned specifically that Carlo’s experience was too good to pass up.
“That’s exactly it,” Armstrong said. “We think that Jiricek is going to come in and have a great training camp and I know you guys are sick of me saying this, but the NHL fails more people than players fail the NHL, so we don’t want to put someone in a position where they’re surviving. We want to put them in a position where they can potentially thrive. Jiricek is going to have the opportunity to come in here and push, but we’re in for the marathon with this young man. He played a lack of hockey last year, I think 90-plus games, but if you look at the number of games he played the two years before that, it wasn’t a lot. Sort of hope for the best and plan for the worst might be the best way to look at this. It’s a one-year deal (for Carlo) too. We’re not bringing in a contract that’s going to preclude someone mid-season or next season. This is reflective of what I think the NHL should be as great competition, so when he’s ready to take someone’s job, he will.”
In the meantime, Carlo’s 10 years and 692 regular-season games’ worth of experience should suit the Blues well, and whether he plays with Cam Fowler or Tyler Tucker or whoever the Blues put him with, they’ll be getting someone who should help the overall defensive game, particularly the penalty kill, a penalty kill that was not very good (25th, 76.7 percent) last season.
“Yeah, I think overall each year I've learned so much and that goes for everybody,” Carlo said. “Each year you play in the league, you learn more about yourself, you learn more about your game. I think I can understand the role that I play and it's not the sexiest role, but overall I love what I do, I love my job and what I can contribute to a team. I feel confident in that and look to just bring that every day that I can.
“I think just kind of take some of the knowledge that I've learned from some of the great players that I've played with on the penalty kill ... my first year, I was lucky enough to play with Zdeno Chara and learn from him, especially on the penalty-kill. Communication is key. You'll hear me being pretty loud out there, yelling all over the ice, especially on the penalty kill, because as long as we can be each other's eyes and take away the passing lanes, that can be really helpful. And I think with a goalie like ‘Binner’ and ‘Hof’ behind us, there should be a recipe for success there.”
And the Blues hope to get more success from Carlo, who played some of his best hockey when Blues coach Jim Montgomery coached Carlo in Boston, in 2022-23 when he had three goals, 13 assists in 75 games and a career-high plus-44 and in 2023-24 (four goals, 10 assists in 76 games, plus-23).
“Yeah, our team was very good that year and that obviously helps and was fun,” Carlo said of the 2022-23 season, the best in NHL history at 65-12-5. “But I really enjoy playing under ‘Monty.’ I think he's a great coach and sends a great message, so a lot of respect there for him and really happy to be reunited with him.”
Now that the Band-Aid has been ripped off, Carlo, who faced the Blues in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final that the Blues won in an epic seven-game series, is eager to get to work with a blue line that will also feature 6-4, 210-pound Philip Broberg; 6-6, 228-pound Colton Parayko; 6-2, 213-pound Fowler; 6-3, 212-pound Logan Mailloux, and 6-1, 204-pound Tucker with some length and beef.
“It's been awesome (so far),” Carlo said. “I haven't had many experiences with many guys in this room besides ‘Monty’ obviously. It's been great. All the guys have been great. Yeah, it seems like a very good group. Pretty tight-knit from what I can tell, and yeah, I think I can continue to get more comfortable each and every day. It was nice to get all of the introductions out of the way on the first day, and from there just start building relationships with guys.
“Just a bunch of guys who are big and like to compete. You can tell out there, even in practice that everybody just wants to compete hard and I have a lot of respect for that. The goal is to go through camp just working as hard as we can. Yeah, there are some guys that I can continue to learn from, too. Fowler and Parayko as well, they have a lot of experience in this league. I've looked up to (Parayko) for a while, just similar style of play in some aspects, and he's a great player. Yeah, it should be fun to learn and grow with these guys.”
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