The Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs, longtime rivals in the NHL's Atlantic and Northeast Divisions, reportedly spent most of the summer engaged in trade discussions.
Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos reported the Sabres and Leafs first talked about a potential JJ Peterka blockbuster deal before the high-scoring winger was ultimately dealt to the Utah Mammoth.
Then the talks shifted to a pair of defensemen, Buffalo's Bowen Byram and Toronto's Brandon Carlo, who remains a marquee trade candidate with the Leafs slumping.
"However, Carlo still has some attraction to other teams," Kypreos wrote. "He can log big minutes, is a right shot, still relatively young at 28 years old, and Boston is eating $615,000 of his salary, so he'll count for just $3.485 million — and possibly less if the Leafs retain some of that. Carlo has another season left on his contract, so an acquiring team would get him for two playoff drives. He'll get a lot of respect in the trade market."
Likewise, Byram isn't having his best season (11 points in 22 games) but the Sabres could still have potential suitors if they made the blueliner available before the 2026 NHL trade deadline in March.
Could the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs reignite Bo Byram, Brandon Carlo trade conversations?
Carlo is currently on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, so any trade talks are likely on the back burner until he's back on the ice.
That caveat aside, it wouldn't be a shock if Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams and Leafs counterpart Brad Treliving are back on the phone with each other before the deadline.
Buffalo needs to move a left-shot defenseman sooner rather than later because Byram can become an unrestricted free agent after next season. Keeping him for the long haul doesn't make a ton of sense because the Blue and Gold are overcrowded on the left side.
Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power headline the first two pairs, and they also quarterback the team's two power-play units, while Mattias Samuelsson is pacing toward the best season of his NHL career while moving between various pairs.
In a perfect world, that trio will hold down the left side for the foreseeable future with 2025 first-round draft pick Radim Mrtka, Michael Kesselring and Conor Timmins, who's been the bedrock of Buffalo's terrific penalty kill, on the right side.
It'll probably be a few more years before Mrtka is ready for the NHL, however, so the Sabres could use a short-term stopgap measure.
Carlo, whose recent struggles in Toronto shouldn't make people forget about his status as a high-end defensive defenseman during his time with the Boston Bruins, represents an intriguing option to fill that void for Buffalo.
Meanwhile, Byram simply hasn't been given the type of role necessary to maximize his skill set with the Blue and Gold since arriving from the Colorado Avalanche. Dahlin and Power handle most of the puck-moving and offensive responsibilities from the back end.
Going to the Maple Leafs would give him a chance to become more involved, especially if they decide to move Oliver Ekman-Larsson as part of a shakeup on the blue line.
All told, a change of scenery would make a ton of sense for both Byram and Carlo, especially with the Sabres and Leafs both struggling to find the consistency necessary to climb the tightly contested Eastern Conference standings.
It could lead to renewed trade talks between Buffalo and Toronto over the next three months.