When John Carlson left the ice late in the first period of Washington’s Feb. 5 home game with the Nashville Predators, it probably didn’t occur to anyone that he might be leaving the ice for the final time with a Caps sweater and the big No. 74 on it. But in the aftermath of the early Friday swap that sends Carlson to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for a conditional first-round draft choice and a third-round pick, that could be the case.
The 17-year NHL veteran is in the final season of an eight-year contract extension he signed less than a month after Washington won the Stanley Cup in the spring of 2018. Carlson was a key component of that Cup championship team; he led all NHL defensemen in playoff scoring that spring with 20 points (five goals, 15 assists).
Carlson is Washington’s all-time leader in games played (1,143), goals (166), assists (605) and points (771) among defensemen, he is likely the greatest defenseman to play for the Caps and his career is virtually certain to result in his eventual enshrinement into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
It’s a virtual certainly that no one – aside from Carlson himself – will wear that No. 74 Washington sweater again.
Drafted with the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 2008 NHL draft, Carlson spent half his life in the Washington organization before Friday’s stunning wee hours swap. He has been the backbone and the fulcrum of the Washington defense corps for more than a decade and a half and a member of the organization for nearly 18 years.
“A really hard call, very emotional obviously for the team, for management, for John, and for his family,” says Chris Patrick, Washington’s senior vice president and general manager. “But with where we were – where we are – in the standings, and an opportunity to get some good assets for the future, it felt like the prudent thing to do.
“There might ever be another player – another defenseman – like John Carlson, and that’s not lost on us. He has been an ultimate professional, a massive part of the community, and obviously his on-ice product has been second to none. So, not a decision that we came by lightly, but something that we felt was – when you looked at it rationally – the right decision to make for our organization moving forward. And again, we just thank John for everything he did for the organization, and hope for the best for him in Anaheim.”
When Nic Dowd was dealt to Vegas yesterday, we noted in this space that it was the first time Washington traded a player it did not draft after eight or more years of service in more than a decade; it was that rare of a deal. The Carlson deal has far fewer comparables, and none in the 51-year history of the Washington organization.
Prior to Carlson today, only three players in NHL history have been drafted by a team, played 17 or more seasons for that team, and then were traded away: Raymond Bourque in 2000, Brian Leetch in 2004 and Patrick Marleau in 2017.
While his former Washington teammates hit the ice for a Friday morning practice session at MedStar Capitals Iceplex ahead of their afternoon flight to Boston, Carlson made his way to Anaheim where the Ducks are finishing up a nine-game homestand this weekend. After practice, Caps coach Spencer Carbery and several Caps talked about the star defenseman.
Spencer Carbery
“Another really difficult morning for the entire organization and our locker room right now. It’s been difficult to digest and think about John moving on and just thinking about all the things he has accomplished inside this organization. And for me personally, coming here three years ago and him being such an established player, part of the leadership group, I’m just so grateful for his relationship.
“When I came here and [him being] a veteran player and as a leader, [and me] as one of the youngest coaches in the League, that’s one of the players that you’re nervous about to coach. He made it so easy for me and was welcoming. He wanted to be pushed, [he] echoed whatever messaging/culture components that I was trying to establish; he was right there. And I’ll be forever grateful for John and our relationship and what he did for me, especially early on in my first few years as a head coach in the National Hockey League, which can be daunting at a young age, and at times was.
“I look back and there’s two moments I was thinking about at 2 am or when I woke up this morning. When I think back to my time here – and obviously the Stanley Cup and everything he accomplished [came before that] – but him being on the ice when [Ovechkin] broke the [NHL goals] record I thought was such an important [thing]. And for him to be able to embrace [Ovechkin], on the ice on Long Island that day, I will never forget that moment. I can still picture it in my mind.
“And then the first year I was here, that year – as some of you may recall – was a tough year. We were grinding all year, and we moved some guys out at the deadline. And John Carlson, I believe, played the most minutes he had ever played in his career. He was basically playing 30 minutes a night trying to drag our team into the playoffs in a season where he could easily have just been like, ‘I didn't sign up for this.’ He's out there, power play, penalty kill, five on five. I can't remember what he averaged in ice time, but I just distinctly remember us coming down the stretch, and this guy is putting everything he possibly can into somehow, some way, making one more defensive play or one more offensive play to drag us into the playoffs, and we get in by one point.
“So, I think that speaks to who John is and his character. And Anaheim, to give up the assets that they did to acquire them, they obviously see those same qualities.”
Caps captain Alex Ovechkin
“Obviously it’s a sad day. It’s probably the toughest day of my career, and I’m talking about personal wise. It’s sad.”
“We’ve been together since his day one with the Caps. We’ve grown up together as a person and our families. It’s hard. It’s hard and it’s a sad day.”
“He is obviously the best defenseman in this franchise’s whole history. Obviously, an unbelievable man and a great friend for all of us. It’s hard. It’s a hard day.”
Tom Wilson
“It’s a tough day. It’s a lot to digest. It’s all I’ve ever known. It’s hard on the team, it’s hard on the individuals, it’s hard on everything when you’ve got a guy like that, that’s been here forever. He’s just a guy that so many people look to for so many things. There are certain guys in the locker room that are just kind of a north star, a little bit, where you just know they’re going to try to lead you in the right direction and they’re going to get it done on the ice and they’re going to do all of the above. He is one of those guys, so it’s a tough one to digest for the team.”
“I remember him being one if the first guys that reaches out and makes you feel comfortable. I don’t want to go on and on about me, but I think that’s who Johnny was. He had a big impact on the individuals and the young guys in the whole organization. For me personally, he is a guy that you just want to impress, and you want to play well for, and you want to be a better hockey player, and you want to be a better leader around him. He has that passion and he has that hunger that doesn’t grow on trees. He’s a guy that there is a reason he has done what he has done. That being said, there have been so many leaders that have come through this room, and you put him in the top handful probably ever. And it’s our job here now to make sure that what they brought to the culture and the team lives on. Everybody in this room is very proud to be a Capital, and Johhny emphasized that, that everybody show up and take pride in their game and who they are. It’s on every single guy in this room to keep that in the group.”
“Things are always changing. The thing about today for me is the human element of it. Tomorrow, we’ll wake up and we’ll play the Boston Bruins, and we’ll try and get a win and hopefully take them down. But today is about family; it’s [about] a brother. You wake up and I never foresaw a Capitals game without John Carlson in it. So it’s really tough, and you think about the kids and the family. And Dowder [Thursday]; you go through a lot. People see the name go across the ticker and say, ‘Oh, Carlson got traded.’ Wow, that’s crazy. Oh, Dowd got traded. Wow, that’s crazy.’ But they’re moving their families across the country within an hour. And we signed up for that, but right now it’s just about being together as a group and leaning on each other and depending on each other. We’re not going anywhere – we’ve got a good group in here – but right now, we’re digesting a lot, and I might have some better answers for you in a few days.”
“Johnny is a guy that anyone can call him in your family and he’ll be there, he truly is. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows, and he gives people a hard time in here sometimes. But I think everybody in here knows that if you call him at three in the morning, he is a guy that’s lining up to be that guy for every single person. We see that in here, and that’s what hurts. He is a guy that you just can’t replace; I mean, you just don’t. And that’s a tough feeling. But like I said, we’ll have some closure today, and tomorrow we’ll wake up and try to go to war for the rest of the year and play hard.”
“The thing that I hope the most is that in 10 years, we’re sitting around a fire and having a cigar and a drink and talking about what an amazing ride it was. I’ve seen his kids grow up, so it’s tough. I remember Lucca when he was just [little]. When you put it that way, it’s tough. But I think we’ve got a bond that’s going to be there for a long time, and I look forward to those future days.”
Dylan Strome
“It’s not a great day, obviously. What he has meant to this organization through 17 years, you don’t replace a guy like that. It’s tough; it’s part of the business. He grew into one of my best friends – if not my best friend – on the team and obviously I think we’re all going to miss him a lot. It’s tough. You lose Dowder yesterday and lose John today and it’s tough; it’s a hit to the locker room for sure. We’ve got a lot of good leaders in here and guys that have been around a long time, and guys that know how to manage those situations.
“We’re definitely going to miss him, and we wish him all the best of luck in Anaheim. He is a great person and an unbelievable family man. You learn a lot from a guy like that, so it’s tough.”
“He’s the type of person that, when he speaks, guys listen. And those are hard to come by. It’s not an easy day for anyone. It’s tough. We’re definitely going to miss him.”
Charlie Lindgren
“It’s tough. It’s another tough loss for our team. I remember when I signed with Washington. and getting to play with guys like Ovi and Johnny and Tom, [T.J. Oshie] and [Nicklas Backstrom]. And now three of those five are gone. We all know how much John meant to the community and to the locker room here. He was kind of the locker room clown. He was the guy; it was always fun to see him every single day, and he was such a great leader for our team. He was a vocal leader and a lead by example kind of guy. And it's tough. It's tough to lose a good friend again. It's not easy. He is going to go to Anaheim, and you know he's certainly going to make that a better hockey team.
“As a team, we had a pretty good heart-to-heart [conversation] today. Obviously losing two very big-time players and leaders for this team in Dowder and Johnny, I think it was good for us to sit together and all of us look around the locker room and say, ‘Hey, we’ve still got a pretty good hockey team in here. Our goals are still in front of us, and under no circumstances are we going to pout the rest of the way through the season. We’re going to fight and battle and do everything we possibly can to get into the playoffs here.’ [Saturday’s] tilt is going to be massive for our team, and we know that. So it’s a good opportunity [Saturday]. It’s an emotional day today. So take today, and tomorrow we’ve got to be professionals and go and compete as hard as we can, because that’s what Johnny and Dowder would have wanted us to do.”
While Carlson’s Ducks and Dowd’s Golden Knights battle it out for Pacific Division supremacy and to get into the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Caps will do the same back east over the season’s final six weeks. The odds are stacked against them, but that was the case two years ago too, when the Caps moved out defenseman Joel Edmundson and winger Anthony Mantha for a pair of picks each.
When those deals were made two years ago, the Caps looked like a team that was playing out the string, and one which had little hope of climbing its way into a playoff berth. But those plucky 2023-24 Capitals – with many of those players still on the current roster – defied the odds and snuck their way into the postseason. They were swept aside in four games by the New York Rangers, who haven’t seen the playoffs since then.
This season’s Caps squad is still full of belief in its ability to pull off another miracle, even though they won’t have John Carlson and the remarkable 26:19 he averaged nightly – the top figure in the entire League for all skaters over that span – as a 34-year-old over the final 33 games of that ’23-24 season.
Patrick did add right-handed defenseman Timothy Liljegren (from San Jose for a fourth-round pick) and center David Kampf (from Vancouver for a sixth-round pick) on Friday after making the Carlson deal, so both departing Capitals were replaced with NHL-caliber players that can hopefully help the Caps in their quest to defy the odds and make the playoffs.
“We brought in some guys today to help give us some NHL quality players to help in that push,” says Patrick. “I'm hoping our guys are ready to buck up and basically play every night like it's a playoff game, and to try to get ourselves into position here we compete for a playoff spot. I do think they can do it. We're finally healthy we finally have our group of 12 forwards that we planned to have, and our [defense] that we planned to have, and I think they need to get out there and be ready to rock.
"And some of the comments I've seen from some of the guys are that's their attitude, which I think is awesome. And I think it starts [Saturday in Boston]. Big game [Saturday]. We're chasing them in the standings, and I think we can really get this last stretch of games started positively with a good showing [Saturday].”
Patrick is right about that part. Going through the room and talking to players right now, there is plenty of disappointment, anger, frustration and sadness. A lot of emotion. And sometimes, the best thing to do with emotion is to channel it in a positive direction, which is what the Caps have in mind. The team held a meeting ahead of Friday’s practice session, and there is also a fair amount of defiance within those walls.
“It’s definitely disappointing,” says Caps forward Connor McMichael. “But I think there’s two ways to look at it. You can roll over and give up, but that isn’t the group we have in here. We’re going to use it as motivation to prove that we shouldn’t have sold or gotten rid of guys, whatever term you want to use. We are determined to get into the playoffs and prove people wrong; we talked about it this morning. What are people going to say when we rattle off six wins in a row and find a way to get in? It’s going to be something special.”
“Ovi comes in this morning and he is our captain,” says Wilson. “And right from him down to the young guys, everybody’s got a role and everybody’s got a different style of leadership. And It’s on the whole group to understand that today sucks. It’s brutal. I’m sure there are some guys that want to cry; that’s the reality of it. Today you can cry, and tomorrow you’ve got to be a big boy and wake up and go play hockey. We’re professionals, and we’ve got to do our job, and we’re not going to roll over. And obviously, the trade deadline is not over, but we believe in this group. I still look at our roster, and I think we’re a better team than a lot of teams in the East.”
Most of us always figured that John Carlson would retire as a Washington Capital, and it’s definitely sad that won’t be the case, after nearly 18 full years in the organization. But he will be a free agent on July 1, and he will be able to sign with any team in the League, including the Capitals.
Regardless of where Carlson ends his career, he is still performing at an extremely high level, he is still capable of munching a lot of minutes nightly, and he can probably play another three, four or five years if he chooses to do so.
His teammates will miss him dearly, as you can tell. So too will those of us who’ve known him since he was 18 and had the rare and exquisite privilege of watching him blossom from a teenager to one of the best defensemen in the NHL, the best defenseman to grace the ice in Washington, a locker room leader and a guy who was always forthcoming with his hockey insights and knowledge, and one who helped us improve our own grasp of what goes on down on the ice in the greatest of all games.
We’ll see John Carlson in the Hockey Hall of Fame a few years after he decides to hang up his skates for the final time. Until then, all the best to John and his family.
