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John Carlson

Capitals’ Justin Sourdif, John Carlson Out With Injury

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The Washington Capitals declared forward Justin Sourdif and defenseman John Carlson as out just minutes before Wendseday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks. Sourdif was a game-time decision and missed warmups. He has a lower-body injury sustained late in Tuesday’s win over Los Angeles. Carlson took warmups but was ultimately forced out by an upper-body injury.

The Capitals returned Nic Down to the lineup in Sourdif’s absence. Dowd was activated off of injured reserve earlier in the day after missing the last eight games with a lower-body injury. He scored five points in 19 games before sustaining the injury. Chisholm has one point, two penalty minutes, and a plus-one in 10 games. He has operated as Washington’s extra defender all year, after posting 12 points and a minus-five in 66 games with the Minnesota Wild last season.

Sourdif is in the midst of a four-game scoring drought after posting four points in four games in mid-November. Even in that slump, he has earned upwards of 17 and 18 minutes of ice time in recent games. He’s beginning to carve out a prominent role in the Capitals’ bottom-six after joining the team in a summer trade that sent a second-round and sixth-round pick back to the Florida Panthers.

Even at 36, Carlson has remained a star defender for the Capitals. He has 23 points in 26 games this season, tied with Jakob Chychrun for most on the blue-line. Carlson has also recorded a plus-10, 38 blocked shots, and 59 shots on goal. He and Chychrun give Washington two strong offensive-defensemen on two different pairings – a big part of what’s earned the Capitals the fourth-most goals (91) in the NHL this season.

Metro Notes: Devils, Carlson, Borgen, Mitchell

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Despite recent injuries affecting the New Jersey Devils, there is light at the end of the tunnel. According to team reporter Amanda Stein, the Devils are expected to welcome back defenseman Dougie Hamilton and forward Connor Brown to practice on Monday.

Hamilton, who’s tied as the highest-paid defenseman on New Jersey’s roster, hasn’t played since November 6th due to an undisclosed injury. The injury to Hamilton has left the Devils’ blue line relatively devastated, as they’re also without Brett Pesce and Johnathan Kovacevic on the right side. Despite missing the last few games, Hamilton is third on the team in scoring among defensemen with three goals and seven points in 14 games.

Meanwhile, Brown was just recently placed on the team’s injured reserve yesterday with an undisclosed injury. Since his injury designation was retroactive to October 30th, Brown is eligible to return whenever healthy. He’s scored five goals in his first 11 games with New Jersey this season.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • On the flip side of New Jersey’s game tonight, the Washington Capitals are playing without their longest-tenured defenseman. Before the game, Bailey Johnson of the Washington Post reported that blueliner John Carlson is dealing with an upper-body injury, and he didn’t participate in tonight’s contest. Fortunately, there’s no indication it’s expected to be a long-term issue for Carlson, who could return to the action in the Capitals’ next game.
  • Staying on the blue line, the New York Rangers are also without a usual defenseman tonight. The Rangers announced that William Borgen, who’s day-to-day with an upper-body injury, would not appear in tonight’s contest. In his first full year with the Rangers, Borgen has scored one goal and three points in his first 18 contests, averaging 18:43 of ice time.
  • On the other side of New York, the New York Islanders announced that they’ve returned defenseman Travis Mitchell to the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders. Although he participated in warmups before last night’s win against the Utah Mammoth, Mitchell has yet to debut in the NHL. He’s registered three assists in 12 games for the AHL Islanders this year.

Metropolitan Notes: Carlson, Flyers, Borgen, Soucy

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Veteran defenseman John Carlson is in his 17th NHL season, all with the Capitals.  He’s in the final year of his contract, making him extension-eligible but the team informed him early that they didn’t want to engage in extension talks but rather want to see how the year plays out first.  Speaking with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti earlier this week, the 35-year-old acknowledged that he’d much rather prefer to have the security of a new contract in place but understands the business side of why they want to wait as well.  Carlson is making $8MM per season on this contract and with the likelihood of his role starting to decrease over the next few years, his next deal should come in at least a little below that price tag.  But if Washington decides not to bring him back, Carlson is already ruling out retiring and in that scenario, he’d be looking elsewhere in free agency next summer.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Long-time NHL rearguard Jay McKee wound up being a finalist for the Flyers coaching job, relays Scott Wheeler of The Athletic (subscription link). He was linked as a speculative candidate if Philadelphia expanded its search but he wound up having a three-hour interview for the position.  McKee’s desire is not to be an NHL assistant first before moving to a head coaching role at the top level but he hasn’t ruled out going that route if an NHL head coaching job doesn’t materialize.
  • Rangers blueliner Will Borgen will play against Montreal tonight, notes Mollie Walker of the New York Post (Twitter link). He has been dealing with a lingering lower-body issue that has held him out of practice and resulted in a mid-week recall of Scott Morrow but it appears that Borgen will be good to go.  The 28-year-old has an assist, seven blocks, and eight hits in six games so far this season.
  • Still with the Rangers, defenseman Carson Soucy took part in practice today in a regular (contact) jersey, mentions Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic (Twitter link). The blueliner was placed on injured reserve earlier this week with an upper-body injury.  Soucy isn’t eligible to be activated until Monday but it appears that he won’t miss more time than the minimum seven days.

No Extension Talks Between Capitals, John Carlson

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Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Washington Capitals have a pair of franchise legends heading into unrestricted free agency. There’s been a lot of speculation about Alex Ovechkin’s playing future after this season, but there hasn’t been as much regarding defenseman John Carlson.

Earlier today, Greg Wyshynski of ESPN provided the first meaningful update to the extension negotiations between the Capitals and Carlson, or lack thereof. Wyshynski reported that Carlson hasn’t been contacted yet regarding an extension, and quoted Carlson saying, “I think anybody would probably love security. I think that’s a normal thought to have. But I’m not thinking about it.”

It’s been a few years since Carlson was a consistent contender for the Norris Trophy voting. He remains a valuable offensive defenseman, although his defensive skills have slightly declined in recent years.

Since missing half of the 2022-23 season due to injury, Carlson has scored 15 goals and 103 points in 161 games with the Capitals from 2023 to 2025, averaging 24:45 of ice time per game. He’s continuing to block shots, as evidenced by his 325 total over that stretch.

Last season, Carlson achieved a career-high CorsiFor% at even strength with a mark of 53.6%, following a season in which he matched a career low of 47.0%. Although that’s a dramatic increase, it’s important to remember how much better Washington performed last season compared to the 2023-24 season. His on-ice save percentage at even strength has steadily declined since the 2017-18 season, nearly reaching a career-low last season with an 88.7%.

If Carlson wants to remain with the Capitals beyond this season, there shouldn’t be much hesitation from the organization. Washington had multiple defensemen poised for free agency this summer, but signed each one to an extension during last year’s regular season.

There’s no word if Carlson is unwilling to engage in extension negotiations throughout the regular season, though there shouldn’t be too much to work through. The 2025-26 campaign will be Carlson’s 17th with the Capitals, and a new deal would only be his fourth with the team.

Capitals Unlikely To Hold Offseason Extension Talks With John Carlson

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When the Capitals signed Jakob Chychrun to a massive eight-year, $72MM extension in March, most thought he’d been locked in as their succession plan to John Carlson as the team’s No. 1 defenseman. That appears to be the case, as Capitals general manager Chris Patrick told reporters today they’re in no rush to begin extension talks with Carlson as he enters the final season of his deal, the AP’s Stephen Whyno relays.

Carlson will be 37 years old in the summer of 2026 after wrapping up the eight-year, $64MM extension he signed following Washington’s Stanley Cup win in 2018. He’s coming off another strong offensive campaign en route to a regular-season conference crown for the Caps, leading Washington defensemen and ranking seventh on the team in points with a 5-46–51 scoring line in 79 games.

But the two-time All-Star and the 2020 Norris Trophy runner-up still isn’t producing anywhere near his 2018-2022 peak, during which he averaged 0.91 points per game. While still a legitimate top-four threat, there’s understandable hesitancy about continuing to bill him as their leader in ice time among rearguards as the offensive-minded Carlson enters his 17th NHL season, all with Washington.

It’s likely the Caps remain intent on extending Carlson as long as he’s willing and effective, but they’ll want to get a glimpse of what he looks like to kick off the 2025-26 season before zeroing in on the money and term they’re willing to offer him. Patrick got a ton of long-term business done during the season, but they still have Martin Fehervary and Connor McMichael on expiring deals and due considerable raises when Carlson’s deal is up in the summer of 2026. Alex Ovechkin’s deal is up then as well, but he’ll presumably either retire or re-sign at a significantly lower price than his current $9.5MM cap hit.

Holding off on a Carlson deal allows the Caps a bit more peace of mind when making moves this summer too – they won’t limit their longer-term cap space when considering trade pickups or free agent signings. Regardless, their ability to be major players in free agency without some unanticipated pre-July 1 trades will be limited. They’ve got nearly their entire roster fleshed out for next season already with 21 of 23 roster spots filled. They do have $8.6MM to burn on those two spots, though.

Regardless, expect some of Carlson’s minutes (23:34 ATOI in 2024-25) to be shifted to Chychrun (21:04 ATOI) next season as the transition begins. It’s also worth noting that the Chychrun-Carlson pairing fared the worst defensively out of any Capitals regular defense pairing this year, allowing 2.85 expected goals against per 60 minutes (according to MoneyPuck).

Image courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.

John Carlson’s Resurgence Driving Capitals’ Hot Start

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The Capitals have been in no man’s land for the past few seasons. Their record has steadily regressed as Alex Ovechkin continues to chase Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record, a mark he’ll likely hit this season. In 2023, they missed the playoffs entirely for the first time in nine years, and they’ve yet to win a postseason series since lifting the Stanley Cup in 2018.

Washington got back into the playoff picture last season, but most viewed it as a mirage – and rightfully so. The team’s 40-31-11 record translated to 91 points, which would have kept them seven out of a berth in the Western Conference. They also squeaked in with an astonishing -37 goal differential, a bottom-five offense, and below-league-average 5-on-5 analytics and special teams. Put nicely, it was a fluke. Unsurprisingly, they were outscored 15-7 by the Rangers in the first round and exited without a win.

But entering Saturday’s games, the Caps had a 7-2-0 record and a .778 points percentage, tied with the Hurricanes for the best in the East. Last year’s sputtering offense has suddenly come alive, averaging 4.11 goals per game. At the time of writing, they’re set to improve that total after a six-goal effort in the first half of their game against the Blue Jackets.

Nearly every red flag from last season’s showing has been erased as they enter their second season with Spencer Carbery as head coach. They’ve been a legitimately dominant force at even strength. Heading into the weekend, the Caps’ 54.6 CF% at 5-on-5 was fourth in the league, as was their 55.4 SCF%. Their 55.3% share of high-danger chances at 5-on-5 was seventh.

Ovechkin (5 G, 5 A) and center Dylan Strome, who leads the club with 10 assists and 13 points, have the flashiest point totals. However, chugging along on the back end is John Carlson, who, despite turning 35 in a couple of months, is arguably having the best start of his career in terms of two-way play.

Carlson has remained a minute muncher in his twilight years. Last year, he led the league in average time on ice at 25:54 per game. Washington made a concerted effort to get him more help this offseason, swapping Nick Jensen for Jakob Chychrun and inking top-four fixture Matt Roy in free agency. Roy’s acquisition was mainly targeted to relieve Carlson’s workload as a much-improved No. 2 right-shot option, but he’s been out since the season opener with a lower-body injury.

That hasn’t affected Carlson in the slightest. He’s averaging a whopping 26:25 per game, still leading the league while posting the best possession metrics of his life. His newfound ability to control possession at even strength is arguably the most significant impetus behind Washington’s early-season success. The Caps control 57% of shot attempts at even strength with Carlson on the ice compared to 51.5% without him. The Capitals lifer has never had that much of an impact on Washington’s even-strength possession control in his 16-year career. He’s had a fair amount of seasons, especially early in his career, where he was a drain on their 5-on-5 possession play. Overall, his numbers have been about in line with the Capitals’ team averages.

He’s also turned back the clock offensively with a pair of goals and six assists for eight points in nine games. After continuing to hover near a point per game in the early days of the post-COVID era, he was limited to 0.66 points per game over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns. That’s led to him not receiving even any outside Norris Trophy consideration after finishing no lower than 12th in five straight years from 2018 to 2022. His +11 rating is also tied with the Golden Knights’ Brayden McNabb and the Lightning’s J.J. Moser for the league lead. Most of that point production has come at even strength, too, with only one each of those goals and assists coming on the power play.

At least so far, all those advanced numbers point to Carlson’s resurgence as sustainable, at least for this season. He also ranks fourth on the team in blocks (14), seventh in hits (14), and is tied with Chychrun for the team lead with seven takeaways.

His re-emergence as a top-flight defenseman also leads to a rarity for Washington – the last couple of years of a max-term extension being worth face value. Carlson is still locked in at $8MM against the cap through the 2025-26 season. It was a contract that gave Washington great value through the first couple of years but started to look dicey at the midway point, a commonality with long-term pacts. But his early-season showing suggests he’s still worth that money, if not more, in terms of market value.

While the Capitals’ roster has been rejuvenated with some newly drafted and developed talent, it’s still an excellent story for a member of the old guard to be a legitimate factor in the team’s on-ice success as the franchise turns the page. Carlson owns nearly every franchise record among defenders. He’s the only D-man to play over 1,000 career games in a Capitals uniform, and he also owns team records for career goals (153), assists (529), points (682), and shots (2,375) among defenders.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Nominees Announced For 2023 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

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The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is given out annually to the NHL player who exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. The Professional Hockey Writers’ Association has voted on the award since 1968, and today they announced their nominees for 2023.

Past winners of the award include Carey Price (2022), Oskar Lindblom (2021), Bobby Ryan (2020), Robin Lehner (2019), Brian Boyle (2018), Craig Anderson (2017), and Jaromir Jagr (2016).

Below are the nominees from each team:

Anaheim Ducks – Jakob Silfverberg

Arizona Coyotes – Clayton Keller

Boston Bruins – Nick Foligno

Buffalo Sabres – Craig Anderson

Calgary Flames – Mikael Backlund

Carolina Hurricanes – Jordan Martinook

Chicago Blackhawks – Alex Stalock

Colorado Avalanche – Andrew Cogliano

Columbus Blue Jackets – Boone Jenner

Dallas Stars – Jamie Benn

Detroit Red Wings – Robby Fabbri

Edmonton Oilers – Derek Ryan

Florida Panthers – Patric Hornqvist

Los Angeles Kings – Pheonix Copley

Minnesota Wild – Mason Shaw

Montreal Canadiens – Alex Belzile

Nashville Predators – Cody Glass

New Jersey Devils – Dougie Hamilton

New York Islanders – Zach Parise

New York Rangers – Jimmy Vesey

Ottawa Senators – Derick Brassard

Philadelphia Flyers – Nick Seeler

Pittsburgh Penguins – Kris Letang

San Jose Sharks – Nikolai Knyzhov

Seattle Kraken – Brandon Tanev

St. Louis Blues – Sammy Blais

Tampa Bay Lightning – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

Toronto Maple Leafs – Mark Giordano

Vancouver Canucks – Brock Boeser

Vegas Golden Knights – Phil Kessel

Washington Capitals – John Carlson

Winnipeg Jets – Sam Gagner

John Carlson Expected To Return For Washington Capitals

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The time has come. After nearly half a season on injured reserve, John Carlson will be back in the Washington Capitals lineup tonight. To make room to activate him from LTIR, the Capitals have loaned Zachary Fucale and Gabriel Carlsson to the AHL.

Carlson missed 36 games after taking a Brenden Dillon slapshot to the head in late December. The veteran defenseman suffered a fractured skull, and was ruled out indefinitely. As the Capitals pointed out in their announcement today, things may have gone very differently had Carlson not been sidelined for so long.

In the 30 games he did play, the team went 18-10-2, a winning percentage that would have them securely in the playoff picture had it continued all year. Instead, the Capitals sit six points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final wildcard spot with just ten games to play.

While it isn’t over just yet, Washington essentially threw in the towel at the trade deadline, by sending Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway, Marcus Johansson, Erik Gustafsson, and Lars Eller to contending clubs in exchange for (mostly) draft picks. Carlson’s return likely won’t be enough to get them to the playoffs this season, but it will be good to see him back on the ice taking part in an NHL game after such a scary injury.

Unless he does something spectacular in the next few weeks, Carlson will likely miss the Norris Trophy ballot for the first time since 2017. He finished in the top 12 in each of the last five years, including a second-place spot in 2020. A full season in 2022-23 will be a huge step toward the Capitals’ returning to the postseason.

Metro Notes: Barzal, Lindgren, Carlson, Lazar

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The New York Islanders are currently in the first wild card positon, but it will be a dogfight till the end of the season to secure their spot in the postseason. Every game matters and there was some good news this morning as head coach Lane Lambert told reporters, including Andrew Gross of Newsday, that the team is hopeful Mathew Barzal can return before the end of the regular season.

Barzal was listed as week-to-week over a month ago and hasn’t played since his third shift on February 18. The 25-year-old forward had 51 points in 58 games when he went down to injury, and would be a huge boost for the Islanders if things do come down to the last few games of the season.

  • One of their Metropolitan Division rivals is about to get their own injury reinforcement, as Ryan Lindgren will return tonight for the New York Rangers. Lindgren hasn’t played since February 25, but returns to a Rangers team that has won four straight and is slowly closing the gap between them and the division leaders.
  • Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic reports that John Carlson is close to returning for the Washington Capitals, but won’t play tonight. The injured defenseman was spotted in a regular jersey for the first time yesterday and is expected to make his long-awaited return this week. Carlson has been out since suffering a skull fracture back in December.
  • The New Jersey Devils will be without Curtis Lazar for the next little while, as head coach Lindy Ruff explained he will “miss some time” with a lower-body injury. The 28-year-old forward was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks at the deadline and has yet to register a point in three games with the Devils.

Injury Updates: Carlson, Acciari, Forbort

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Capitals defenseman John Carlson revealed to Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic (subscription link) that the upper-body injury that has kept him out close to three months was a small skull fracture above his right ear and a severed temporal artery.  Back in January, his ear had to be partially reattached, likely due to that severed artery.  The veteran has started skating and is believed to be targeting Thursday’s game against Chicago as a potential return date.  Carlson’s absence has played a big role in Washington’s decline this season and while his suiting up won’t change their fortunes now, it’ll still be important for him to get back and show that he has indeed fully recovered.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Maple Leafs forward Noel Acciari won’t play tonight against Ottawa, relays NHL.com’s Dave McCarthy (Twitter link). He suffered an injury on Friday against Carolina on a hit from Jesse Puljujarvi and did not return with head coach Sheldon Keefe indicating the 31-year-old wouldn’t be accompanying Toronto on the road.  Acciari has three goals in 13 games with Toronto since being acquired from St. Louis last month while chipping in with 43 hits in a little under 13 minutes per contest.
  • The Bruins are likely to be without blueliner Derek Forbort for both games this weekend. Head coach Jim Montgomery indicated after practice yesterday (video link) that the veteran went for more imaging on Friday with the team awaiting the results.  Connor Clifton is expected to suit up in Forbort’s spot today while Jakub Zboril appears to be targeted for that spot in the lineup on Sunday.  Forbort has a dozen points in 54 games so far this season while chipping in with 106 hits and 88 blocked shots.

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