OPINION:
When Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson had his day with the 2018 Stanley Cup — a trophy he certainly helped bring to Washington with five goals and 20 points during their championship run — this is how he spent his day: He took the hallowed trophy to a Bethesda firehouse to share with first responders. Then he took it to Children’s National Medical Center to bring a special moment to sick children. There was a parade and a fundraiser benefiting childhood brain tumor research.
Yeah — we’re going to miss this guy.
A big piece was torn from the soul of Washington sports last week when the beloved Carlson, after 17 years on the ice for the Capitals, was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for a conditional first-round pick in either 2026 or 2027 and a third-round pick in 2027.
I’ve been told this was the right move — the struggling Capitals, despite general manager Chris Patrick’s pleas of still competing for the playoffs to appease his owner, are likely done for the season, and Carlson will be a free agent at the end of the year. But there aren’t enough invisible players in the Ducks system to compensate for the emotional loss of Carlson.
Certainly not in the locker room.
“There’s certain guys in the locker room that are just kind of a North Star,” said Tom Wilson, who with Carlson’s departure, is one of two remaining pieces of the 2018 championship squad. Alex Ovechkin is the other.
You lose the North Star, you’re lost.
I’m sure the Capitals are hoping the road back to Stanley is this youth transition within the roster, and there have been reasons to believe they are heading in the right direction. But sometimes the pain of being right is too great.
It certainly seemed to feel that way for Ovechkin, who played 1,032 games with Carlson since the defenseman’s debut in 2009.
“We’re very close, and it’s hard,” Ovechkin told reporters. “We’ve been together since his Day 1 on Caps, and we’re growing up together as a person and families. It’s hard and it’s a sad day, probably the toughest day in my career, personally.”
Ovechkin, 40, in the last year of his contract, has to look around at the changes and wonder whether there is any joy in continuing his NHL career.
Asked by reporters whether the trade would impact his future in Washington, he answered, “I don’t know. We’ll see. I’m still here, so we’ll see. We’ll see what is going to happen, but yeah, it’s a hard one.”
It was Carlson who was on the ice delivering the puck to Ovechkin last season for his 894th career goal, tying the record by Wayne Gretzky.
“I just think some things are meant to be and maybe that was just meant to be,” Carlson said after the historic moment. “I’ve played with him the longest here that’s playing tonight. It’s a cool thing to have. You ask anybody they’d all say they’d be begging for it. I’m thrilled. I don’t take it lightly. I think it’s a special moment for us two that have been together for so long.
“I think from a friendship standpoint it’s a nice touch obviously for me to be involved in it,” Carlson said. “I think he’d probably say the same.”
Only Nicklas Backstrom had played for more games with Ovechkin, with those two forever connected in Capitals history. But the departure of Carlson seems more painful for Ovechkin.
Backstrom’s departure was a long goodbye, as he was saddled with a bad hip that led to him missing the entire 2024-2025 season on injured reserve. There was time to prepare.
But Carlson? One day he was there. The next day he was gone.
“Really hard call. Very emotional, obviously,” Patrick told reporters. “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 not ever be another player, another defenseman, for the Washington Capitals like John Carlson, and that’s not lost on us.”
Carlson, 36, a two-time All Star, was the greatest defenseman in franchise history and one of the most productive defensemen in the league.
His career 771 points are the fourth-most over the span he has played in the NHL. He has 78 points in 137 playoff games. He has dealt with a lower-body injury for the last month and had 10 goals and 46 points in 55 games for Washington.
But Carlson was so much more. He was their navigational guide in the locker room, and among devoted Caps fans, he was their pride, the player and person that they could say was theirs and feel good about it on the ice and on the streets — the guy who shared his Stanley Cup moment with those who needed it the most.
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