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Brandon Carlo headlines several Maple Leafs players on latest Daily Faceoff trade board
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Photo credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images
Michael Coyle
Jan 8, 2026, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 7, 2026, 23:47 EST
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As the National Hockey League season approaches the Olympic break, fans have a lot to get excited about, besides just watching their favourite players representing their native countries in Milan. The NHL will enter its second trade freeze of the season, holding rosters from February 4 to February 22, leaving under two weeks when the freeze is lifted for teams to build rosters with the hope of competing for a Stanley Cup this year or to acquire assets for future years. 
Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin recently wrote an article outlining players who could be on the move prior to the March 6 deadline. Seven Toronto Maple Leafs players including Brandon Carlo, Nick Robertson, and Matias Maccelli were listed as having the potential to be shipped to new teams at this year’s rendition of the trade deadline. 
After missing 23 games due to a foot injury that resulted in an infection that would require surgery on December 3, Carlo returned to the Leafs’ lineup on Tuesday night, playing 17:41 and turning in a plus-two rating. Carlo has skated in 19 games this season for the Leafs, recording two assists and is a plus-four. Acquired from the Boston Bruins at last year’s trade deadline for Fraser Minten, a conditional first-round pick in 2026 and a 2025 fourth-round pick, Carlo remains under contract for this season and next at $3.485 million AAV. The defenceman has an eight-team no-trade list, giving the 10-year veteran some say on a potential deal. 
Mike Komisarek 2.0? Carlo was big, physically imposing, heavy on opposing forwards…until he became a Maple Leaf, apparently. He’s a shell of his old self. He averaged 4.66 hits per 60 in nine seasons as a Boston Bruin. As a Leaf: 3.05, including 1.91 this season. Maybe that’s because he wasn’t healthy, dealing with a foot injury that required surgery after a setback. Or maybe Carlo isn’t cut out for the market. Still just 29, he could return to form in the right situation, and his AAV remains a bargain. He seemingly fit a need for the Leafs a year ago, but now they’re big, slow and redundant on ‘D.’ They won’t get the equivalent of Fraser Minten and a first-round pick for Carlo, but maybe they can recoup the pick portion of that package somewhere. He returned from his injury this week, but with righty Chris Tanev likely done for the rest of the regular season and the Leafs creeping back into the playoff picture, is Carlo no longer expendable? That’s why I’ve dropped him from the sure-thing trade tier into the maybe tier. -Larkin
Robertson is on pace for his best season yet as a professional, having posted nine goals and 12 assists through 40 games played, well on the way to surpassing the previous high of 27 points set in 2023-24. The 24-year-old has suited up in 13 straight games for the Leafs, appearing to have secured a consistent spot in the lineup after years of going in and out. Robertson has recorded nine points over the Leafs’ past nine games and is a pending RFA at season’s end and is making $1.825 million this season. 
Robertson has seemingly been on the trade block for so long that he’s paying rent at this point. He also requested to be moved before the 2024-25 season. Does it still make sense to deal him, though? With all their injuries this season, the Leafs have finally granted Robertson his wish and played him higher in the lineup for spurts, and he has produced on and off, though not without the odd healthy scratch. Dealing him would make an old, slow team older and slower, so it’s hardly a foregone conclusion we see him moved, especially as injuries continue to plague Toronto’s roster top to bottom. -Larkin
Maccelli was acquired in June from the Utah Mammoth for a 2027 conditional third-round selection. Through 31 games played, the 25-year-old has posted six goals and 10 assists, while having a minus-four rating. Maccelli was scratched for nine straight games in early December, but has since found himself in the lineup for nine straight where Maccelli has posted seven points. This season, Maccelli is making $3.425 million and is also an RFA at the end of the 2025-26 season. 
Maccelli would’ve landed in tier 1 a month ago. But since the Leafs bumped out assistant Marc Savard and handed the power-play reins to Steve Sullivan, Maccelli is seeing looks on the top unit and seems rejuvenated. If he maintains the newfound momentum, maybe he’s not a lock to be traded after all.
Morgan Rielly took heat over the weekend, when the defenceman was tagged with a minus-four rating in a 4-3 overtime loss against the New York Islanders. Larkin notes that while the Leafs likely won’t trade their longest-tenured player in-season, a poor performance at the deadline could spark a big move.
Plenty of term left and has never wanted out of Toronto, but if the Leafs are in the basement by Deadline Day, maybe they blow it up. -Larkin
Larkin also listed Scott Laughton, Troy Stecher, and Calle Jarnkrok as possibilities to be shipped out should the Leafs’ season take a nosedive and they decide to sell, but only under those circumstances.

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