Teary-eyed Capitals grapple with John Carlson trade: ‘There’s certain guys in the locker room that are kind of the North Star’
ARLINGTON, VA — Friday morning marked the end of an era in Washington.
For 17 seasons, John Carlson had been a cornerstone of the Capitals, leading the team’s record books in just about every category among defensemen. That storied history came to an end shortly after midnight on trade deadline day, when the Capitals announced they’d dealt Carlson to the Anaheim Ducks for two draft picks.
Players awoke to the news in the coming hours, still in shock when they hit the ice for practice.
“I never foresaw a Capitals game without John Carlson in it,” said Tom Wilson.
The Caps were still reeling from losing Nic Dowd the day before, another unexpected trade that sent away a longtime teammate. They knew more moves could be coming, a situation they acknowledged they’d put himself in as their playoff chances narrowed. But while Dowd was a key defensive forward and a respected veteran in the locker room, his mark on the team hardly compares to Carlson’s legacy in Washington.
Alex Ovechkin said the trade came as a surprise to his whole family, who had grown close to the Carlsons over the years.
“I was in shock, in shock mode, and me and my wife (were) kind of like, ‘Wow,’” he said. “I tell my kids, ‘Carly get traded,’ and they were like, ‘What?’ It’s just a shock.”
Drafted 27th overall in 2008, Carlson seemed destined to retire a Capital. He, Ovechkin, and Nicklas Backstrom defined an era of DC hockey, the only three players to ever reach the 1,000-game mark with the team. Carlson has nearly a 300-point lead on the next highest-scoring Capitals defenseman, recording 771 points (166g, 605a) to Calle Johansson’s 474 (113g, 474a). He’s served as an alternate captain since 2019, and his no. 74 is all but guaranteed to hang in the rafters.
“He’s obviously the best defenseman in this franchise’s whole history,” said Ovechkin. “Obviously, an unbelievable man and a great friend for all of us. It’s hard.”
“There’s certain guys in the locker room that are kind of the North Star,” Wilson said.
Carlson’s tenure in DC outlasted two general managers and six head coaches, three Presidents’ Trophy wins and the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship in 2018. Ovechkin is the only player on the team to remember the Capitals before Carlson’s arrival.
If Dowd’s trade was a blow to the locker room, losing Carlson was crushing. Wilson, known as an NHL tough guy, teared up when speaking about his friendship with Carlson, and even Ovechkin was wiping his eyes by the end of his media availability. Friday’s practice was relatively subdued, unusual for a team known for having fun even during rough patches.
“It’s obviously a sad day, probably the toughest day in my career — I’m talking about personal-wise,” Ovechkin said of the trade on Friday. “We’ve been together since his Day 1 on Caps and we’re growing up together as a person, families.”
Head coach Spencer Carbery had the tall task of addressing players before Friday’s practice, where he spoke on what a privilege it had been to share a team with Carlson as long as they did.
“We got to be a part of one of the greatest defensemen in the history of the game to ever lace them up. I got to coach him, and you guys got to play on the same ice sheet as him,” Carbery recounted. “My money is — obviously, without a doubt, he’s the best defenseman (who) ever played for this organization, but I don’t see how you can’t put him in the Hockey Hall of Fame as well.”
Alongside Ovechkin, Carlson set the tone in the Capitals’ locker room, helping to develop a new generation of players as the roster changed around him. Wilson, Ovechkin’s presumed successor as captain, told reporters that Carlson’s impact on the team’s culture will remain even after the trade.
“He’s 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 said. “He just makes people around him — he has that passion. He has that hunger that doesn’t grow on trees….
“There’s been so many good leaders that have come through this room. You put him in the top handful probably ever, and it’s our job here now to make sure that what they brought to their culture and to the team lives on. Everybody in this room is very proud to be at Capital, and Johnny emphasized that, that everybody shows 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.”
Still, Carlson’s departure is the latest sign that the Capitals are at a turning point. Carlson was one of just three players remaining from the 2018 Cup-winning team, part of a core whose time is nearing its end. He remained a constant when Backstrom’s hip forced him to step away from the Capitals in fall 2023, when TJ Oshie played his last game in April 2024 before announcing his retirement the following summer.
Carlson was a rookie when Ovechkin was named captain; fifteen years later, he was on the ice when Ovechkin broke the all-time goals record. He was there when Wilson made his debut as a wide-eyed nineteen-year-old, and he watched on as he developed into an Olympic-caliber talent. He was one of the first-ever Capitals players to win the Cup, hoisting 35 pounds of silver over his head after recording 20 points (5g, 15a) in Washington’s playoff run.
Over those 17 seasons, Carlson had a role in many of the biggest moments in Capitals history, one of the few players left in DC who remembered them firsthand.
“The end of an era, and end of — as players from 2018 move on and their years go by and their careers start to come to a close — we knew that was inevitably going to come,” said Carbery, who has been behind the bench for much of the deconstruction of Washington’s core. “So any time one of those guys decided not to play or was no longer a part (one of the team), it left a massive hole. These are the pillars of this team and this organization, the 2018 team. So any time one of them no longer is playing for the organization, it’s a sad time.”
Carlson’s on-ice impact will be hard to replace. He averaged 22:52 a night, more than any Capitals player other than Jakob Chychrun, and has been the longtime quarterback of Washington’s once-iconic power play. He also served as a mentor for the Capitals’ younger players—Carbery remembered him offering tips to Hendrix Lapierre in the middle of a game.
“He was just so good at pulling a Hendrix Lapierre — in a TV timeout, I’d be watching Johnny. [He] would go grab him,” Carbery said. “He wasn’t boisterous. He didn’t yell. He just kind of grabbed him and would give him a little pointer on something that just happened in his last shift. And those little moments for a young player, are so valuable.”
Carbery further highlighted the support he got from Carlson as a rookie NHL head coach.
“That’s one of the players that you’re nervous about to coach, and he made it so easy for me, and was welcomed, wanted to be pushed, echoed whatever messaging, culture components that I was trying to establish, he was right there,” Carbery said. “I’ll be forever grateful for John and our relationship and what he did for me, especially early on, in the first few years as a head coach in the National Hockey League, which can be daunting at a young age, and at times was.”
As much as Carlson has helped the Capitals win, that wasn’t what players were thinking about Friday morning. Instead, they mourned the loss of John Carlson the leader and companion, someone they never imagined would don another uniform.
“With what he has meant to this organization through 17 years, you don’t replace a guy like that,” said Dylan Strome. “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.”
Carlson put down roots in Washington, where he’s spent nearly half his life. While many players return home over the offseason, Carlson and his wife Gina — herself a Maryland native — live in Chevy Chase year-round, where they raise their four children. His eldest son Lucca was a regular visitor at Capitals’ practices, often watching from the bench before getting on the ice afterwards for skills sessions of his own.
Many of Carlson’s now-former teammates cited his dedication to his family, a commitment that extends beyond those related by blood.
“Anyone in your family can call him and he’ll be there,” Wilson said of Carlson. “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 if you call him at 3 in the morning and you need something, he’s 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’s a guy that you just can’t replace. You just don’t.”
The trade was still raw when players spoke to the media on Friday, but they won’t have long to dwell on what they’ve lost. Just hours after practice, the team flew to Boston, where they’ll face the Bruins in a critical head-to-head matchup on Saturday. Moments like these are part of life in the NHL, a fact players readily acknowledged. That didn’t make them any easier.
“Today sucks,” Wilson said. “It’s brutal. I’m sure there’s some guys that want to cry. That’s the reality of it. Today you can cry, and tomorrow you’ve got to wake up and be a big boy and go out and play hockey, and we’re professionals. and we’ve got to do our job. We’re not going to roll over.”
Carlson’s future is uncertain. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and a reunion in Washington certainly isn’t out of the question. But whether or not he plays another game in a Capitals sweater, the connections he’s forged in DC won’t disappear that easily.
Wilson, asked what he’d tell his one-year-old son Teddy about Carlson down the road, hoped he’d learn those stories from the source.
“Hopefully Johnny can tell Teddy himself. 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 (so small). When you put it that way, it’s tough, but I think we’ve got a bond that’s going to be around for a long time, and I look forward to those future days.”
