By: Ryan Bosworth | Follow me on Twitter / X @RyanJBosworth
Yesterday, before the 2025 National Hockey League Trade Deadline closed, the Boston Bruins announced that General Manager Don Sweeney traded defenseman Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs for 20-year-old forward Fraser Minten, a 2025 fourth-round pick, and a 2026 first-round pick (top-five protected).
Carlo, 28, was in his ninth season with the Boston Bruins, where he’s posted 1-8-9 in 63 games played and a +/- rating of +2, and Carlo has averaged just over 18 minutes of ice time per game. While it hasn’t been the strongest year for Boston’s former defender, he was also playing in an elevated role due to the absences of Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, who are both sidelined with injuries.
Earlier in the week, there were reports that the Calgary Flames had expressed an interest in the Bruins defenseman. Anthony Di Marco reported that Calgary had reached out and that there were “not too many players on Boston’s roster not available for the right price.”
Despite that report, it was Anthony Di Marco who also reported, just two days later, that Boston was heading in the direction of hanging on to Carlo, who still has two years remaining on his $24.6 million contract.
For a majority of the March 7th Trade Deadline, the Bruins were quiet. There was a trade between Boston and Colorado that saw Charlie Coyle head out west. The Carlo trade wasn’t announced until 3:11 PM when Elliotte Friedman reported that the Bruins defender would be heading to the team’s division rival, and up until that point, it seemed as though Carlo would remain on the Bruins roster past the 2025 Trade Deadline.
The Bruins would later announce the trade via Twitter/X. Carlo brought Boston a solid return, seeing 20-year-old Minten Fraser, who was drafted 38th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft by Toronto, a 2025 fourth-round draft pick, and a 2026 first-round draft pick, which is top-five protected. Fraser saw 4 NHL games in the 2023-24 season and spent the majority of the 2024-25 season in the American Hockey League with the Toronto Marlies.
This season, he’s posted 2-2-4 in 15 NHL games played and 6-7-13 in 26 AHL GP. There’s a high ceiling with the newly acquired center. Though the trade has officially gone through, Minten cannot play for Providence or Boston until his work visa clears. He’s begun skating with the AHL in practice but cannot play in a game until the work visa clears.
Carlo was sporting an alternate captain ‘A’ in the absence of Brad Marchand due to injury, so there is certainly something to be said for his leadership on and off the ice. While that’s something the Bruins will miss, there’s a lot of promise in Fraser Minten coming to Boston, along with that first-round draft pick in 2026. Boston now has two 2026 first-round draft picks to look forward to as well.
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