Capitals Keep John Carlson; $64 Million Over Eight Years

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NHL

Capitals Re-sign John Carlson to an Eight-Year, $64 Million Extension

John Carlson has re-signed for eight years with the Washington Capitals for a new deal worth $64 million. With an average annual value of $8 million, Carlson is now the second highest-paid member of the team. This is only behind Alex Ovechkin.

Carlson proved what an asset he was to the Capitals in the 2017-18 season. With a career-high 15 goals and 53 assists, Carlson led all defensemen in the NHL with 68 points. “As a right-handed defenseman, John plays in all key situations and has contributed greatly to our team’s success on the special teams,” general manager Brian MacLellan said. While solid at even-strength, 28 of Carlson’s 53 assists came on the power play—over 50 percent.

It wasn’t just in the regular season, either. Carlson contributed five goals and 15 assists during Washington’s 24-game Stanley Cup run. His average time on ice was over 25 minutes per game during the playoffs. MacLellan said, “Defenseman like John are a rare commodity in our League and, at 28 years of age, we feel he is just entering his prime.”

Good Takes Time

The Capitals had been “really close” to closing the deal Friday night, per MacLellan, but it took a few more days to agree to the final terms. In this case, the signing bonuses and modified no-trade agreement might have been the holdup to getting it done sooner.

Facilitating the way for this contract was the trade of Philipp Grubauer and Brooks Orpik to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for their second-round pick in the 2018 draft. Orpik’s $5.5 million AAV might have prevented the Capitals from signing Carlson, but the trade of both players and the increase in the cap ceiling left the Capitals with about $21 million in space.

Now that Carlson’s contract has been determined, the organization knows how much cap space remains to handle the other restricted and unrestricted free agent contracts.