Toronto Maple Leafs Trade for Brandon Carlo

After acquiring Scott Laughton from the Philadelphia Flyers, the Toronto Maple Leafs were looking to get a defenseman at the last minute and they did just that.

According to Chris Johnston of TSN, Brandon Carlo has been traded from the Boston Bruins to the Leafs in a truly last-minute trade.

Unfortunately, this trade has come at a tremendous cost to the Toronto Maple Leafs who were hoping to hang on to some of their blue chip prospects.

As Johnston reports, one of the pieces in the trade is none other than Fraser Minten, one of the most beloved future players for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

During his time with the Leafs, Minten only played 19 NHL games and finished with a total of two goals and four points.

Connor Dewar and Conor Timmins were pulled off the ice at the end of practice today which led to some speculation that they will also be part of the deal.

As it turns out, they are. Except they are both going to the Pittsburgh Penguins. In addition to Minten, the Bruins get a first-round pick. One has to imagine the Leafs will get some sort of draft capital from the Pens in return.

Whatever the case may be, this is a bittersweet day for the Toronto Maple Leafs franchise.

They were able to secure guys like Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo, however, they also lost Fraser Minten and Nikita Grebenkin.

To make things worse, the Florida Panthers got way better by acquiring Brad Marchand from the Bruins who seem to be in complete rebuild mode.

For many of you, it might be hard to know what to feel right now and we completely understand that.

Whatever the case may be, the Maple Leafs have undoubtedly improved and that is very important, especially with the playoffs on the horizon. Fans will just have to be patient.