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Brandon Carlo has formed a mutually beneficial partnership with Morgan Rielly
Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Brandon Carlo has formed a mutually beneficial partnership with Morgan Rielly

Originally posted on TheLeafsnation  |  By Arun Srinivasan  |  Last updated Apr 4, 2025 9:30 AM ET

Brandon Carlo was acquired at the trade deadline by the Toronto Maple Leafs to provide some stability and practicality for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations, in a critical year of their internal timeline. As the Maple Leafs fight for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, Carlo has formed a mutually beneficial partnership with Morgan Rielly, providing the team with their best four-man unit on the blue line of the past decade.

“I love playing with guys like Mo. His capability of moving the puck makes me feel really comfortable in the defensive zone, getting it over to him, knowing we’ll be able to make some good plays coming out of the d-zone,” Carlo said prior to Wednesday’s game against the Florida Panthers. “He’s been doing a great job communicating with me, as well. Defensively, on rush reads, I’m really beginning to recognize his voice, with my voice as well. It’s been great. For me, it’s an ideal partnership, the kind of guy like that is the perfect guy I’d love to play with.”

Rielly and Carlo have been paired together for 13 games, and the underlying results are promising, especially if they’re going to be used as the Maple Leafs’ second pairing in the playoffs. During 154:53 of ice time at 5-on-5, Rielly-Carlo have registered a plus-two goal differential (7-5) with a 59 percent share of the expected goals, with a minus-eight shot differential via Natural Stat Trick. The pair are trending upwards after it took a few games for Carlo to get acclimated with the Maple Leafs’ system, and the duo finished with the two best individual shares of the expected goals in a pivotal 3-2 victory over the Panthers on Wednesday.

During the past 13 games, using this number to reflect Carlo’s tenure with the Leafs, Rielly leads the Maple Leafs with 23 blocked shots, Carlo has blocked 21, Jake McCabe has blocked 17, while Chris Tanev, the NHL’s premier shot blocker, recorded 16 blocks in 11 games. No one is expecting Rielly to completely transform his game, but he’s eating pucks, entering the rush, and more importantly, has shown significant improvement off the rush when paired with Carlo. Rielly is simply playing better when paired with Carlo and has found a permanent partner, after several experiments this season.

“Really good, obviously,” Maple Leafs defenceman Chris Tanev said Wednesday morning of the Rielly-Carlo pairing. “They’re moving the pucks and defending well. Getting up in the play. Brando has done a great job of acclimatizing. It’s not easy to come into a room three quarters of the way through the year. I did it last year. Just trying to fit in and find your role and try to help the team win, and he’s done an amazing job of that.”

Carlo is a cool, calm, stabilizing force and he’s been able to clear opponents from the net-front, a key principle of Craig Berube’s system. Here’s an example of Carlo using his frame and positioning to clear a dangerous rebound in a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on March 29, after Rielly contests the initial shot on goal.

“You can hear him for sure. He’s been loud. When you’re assertive like that, it’s something I’ve learned a lot throughout my time in the NHL is that communication is huge, and we’ve been doing a good job of bouncing back and forth off each other,” Carlo said of Rielly.

Carlo is excellent at breaking up dangerous lateral passes to the net-front, and here’s another example of his clever positioning preventing an inviting scoring chance during a 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on March 15. Rush defence has been a continued point of emphasis for Berube throughout the season, and I wrote extensively about how the Leafs were coming up short in this department through January. This is something that Carlo does routinely, and it’s becoming more evident as he’s found real comfort with the Maple Leafs. It’s not perfect, but with McCabe serving as the team’s premier point-of-attack defender while Tanev operates as the Maple Leafs’ best defenceman overall, Carlo’s chance prevention and strong rush defence is another key asset.

And of course, there’s the clear toughness that doesn’t require much explanation. Carlo often snarls at opponents and he’s willing to throw down with anyone, even if it’s against an opponent with some MMA lineage such as the Kings’ Jeff Malott. It was one of the best fights of the year and further endeared Carlo to his new Leafs teammates.

McCabe and Tanev are firmly entrenched as the Maple Leafs’ top pairing, while the Rielly-Carlo pairing is a great second unit for the team to deploy during the playoffs. Rielly has struggled throughout the year, but he’s playing to his strengths when equipped with a genuine shutdown defender who can play with physicality and clear the net-front. Although the Atlantic Division is loaded, and the playoffs won’t be easy, Toronto boasts its best defence corps of the past decade, with Oliver Ekman-Larsson rounding out a strong five-man unit. It’s been a mutually beneficial partnership and both players will be heavily relied upon this spring as a unit Berube can trust in tough matchups.

This article first appeared on TheLeafsnation and was syndicated with permission.

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