Yes because when you're as dominant of a puck possession player as he and Ekholm that year (and for that matter the 5 players that always played together) you tend to get numbers like that. There's not much of a negative impact a player can have defensively when his team has the puck 70% of the time. It's also a fair argument that dominant puck possession play is actual good defence because technically it is.
You'll have a hard time arguing a player with his underlying metrics and +32 wasn't elite last year at both ends of the ice.
To add to this point. Carlo is likely dragged down in his defensive numbers because he is an atrocious puck mover. It's the same argument for Cody Ceci. Is Ceci a bad defensive zone defender? No. Is he a bad defensive D? Yes, because he gets constantly hemmed in his own zone because his puck retrievals and puck moving are just dreadful.
Whats most concerning for Carlo is that his numbers look like this despite playing 3rd pairing 5v5 minutes, and only facing mid-tier competition. His only saving grace is his quality of teammate wasn't great and maybe that boost in Toronto will make his serviceable in a middle pairing role, but that is still quite a gamble.
