St. Louis Blues president and general manager Doug Armstrong explained why he traded for Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Brandon Carlo.
Armstrong is still in charge of the Blues’ transactions until July 1, when Alexander Steen takes over as the team’s GM, and on Saturday at the NHL Entry Draft, he swung the Carlo trade with Toronto.
Doug Armstrong Explains Brandon Carlo Trade
After trading for Carlo, Armstrong spoke to reporters and explained his rationale behind sending two third-round picks to Toronto for Carlo.
“We’re excited. He’s got the size and length, his ability to kill plays, his experience. I think it allows us to have four experienced players right now in (Philip) Broberg, (Colton) Parayko, (Cam) Fowler, and Carlo now, and then we have those young guys who are going to push and prod and try to work their way in there,” Armstrong said.
“The way we were set before, we were going to rely on three young players to take a big role, and things that we’ve tried to accomplish the last few days of getting stronger up front and having strong goaltending. We think we’re going to be more competitive than we were last year, and adding a defenseman there that can make us strong and also provide us the ability for the younger players to come at a more natural pace, and also provide us depth for injuries was important for us. I think it sort of piggybacks off of what we’ve done the last couple of days.”
Brandon Carlo Looking for a Fresh Start in St. Louis
It’s no secret that Carlo was a bust in Toronto after spending the first 8.5 years of his NHL career with the Bruins, where he was known as one of the best defensive defensemen in the league.
After former Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving traded a first-round pick and top prospect Fraser Minten to the Bruins for Carlo, a lot was expected of him, but he did not play well for Toronto.
Although the team was not relying on Carlo to score, the fact that he set a franchise record for the most games played without scoring a goal (88 games) is not a record anyone wants to have.
That being said, going to St. Louis is an opportunity for Carlo to have a fresh start in his life and in his career and get back to being the player that he once was in Boston.
The Blues did not pay a hefty price for Carlo as the Maple Leafs did, as they only sent a pair of third-round picks to pick him up and take on the final year of his contract, which pays him $4.1 million next year.
In St. Louis, look for Carlo to play on the team’s defensive second pair and be relied on as a strong, stay-at-home defenseman who can block shots and use his size to keep forwards away from Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.
For as much as Toronto wanted to move off Carlo, he likely wanted a fresh start in St. Louis, too, so it’s a win-win trade for everyone involved.
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