The trade of longtime Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson to the Anaheim Ducks early Friday morning certainly came as a surprise, as while there had been rumors he would have been moved, it still seemed unlikely.
But Washington elected to send one of the last three players left from the 2018 Stanley Cup roster west in exchange for a first-round pick, either this year’s if the Ducks make the playoffs and Anaheim’s choice to punt the pick to next year if they don’t, along with a third-rounder.
Certainly, the fact that Carlson was going to be an unrestricted free agent this summer played a part in it, as while there were reported negotiations, clearly the franchise that had usually made sure they kept the core of that roster under contract in T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom figured the term and salary wasn’t going to line up with their future plans.
Washington didn’t seem ready to commit to several more years of the 36-year-old defenseman and match this season’s $8 million cap hit, and instead of looking to find a middle ground, he went to a team that, after paying a high price for a rental, was likely aware of what his salary demands to stay in Orange County would be.
Carlson has been a mainstay on the Washington blue line for over a decade, and even though he slowed down in recent years, and was exploited by the Carolina Hurricanes in last year’s second-round playoff series, and so the expectation that he will likely finish with Washington, either this year or next.
One of the reasons Carlson became expendable is the emergence of Cole Hutson of Boston University, who wraps up the regular season with the Terriers Saturday and may be available to the Capitals as soon as next week. Like Carlson, Hutson is a puck mover and will push the puck up ice, although he is not as defensively responsible as Carlson is, at least in later years.
But certainly it adds pressure on the young Hutson to not only try and duplicate what his brother Lane did in Montreal, but also fill the shoes of one of the top defensemen in franchise history.
It also creates a bit of a weird situation for this year’s Capitals, as they are in kind of limbo.
Washington was patient to a fault this season, banking cap space to seemingly fix some of the issues that had emerged over the course of the season, even with injuries to Pierre-Luc Dubois and Ryan Leonard that seemingly at least called for calling up one of their top prospects in Hershey, but elected mostly to promote a short-term solution.
And, despite the subpar season, Washington still is only 4 points out of a playoff spot and has a schedule that only 8 of the team’s 19 games are against teams currently in playoff positioning, and chasing a pair of teams in the Metropolitan Division that seemingly have hit turbulence in the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders, as well as the Boston Bruins.
Speaking of the Bruins, the Carlson trade, along with trading Nic Dowd to the Vegas Golden Knights, puts the Washington room in a difficult spot with perhaps their most important game of the season Saturday afternoon in Boston.
Washington trails Boston by 4 points in the Wild Card race, and certainly, you don’t want a repeat of what is happening with the New York Rangers of a locker room that isn’t in sync with what the front office is looking to accomplish. Certainly, the Capitals can still make the playoffs – they did two seasons ago despite a pretty hefty sale at the trade deadline – but also whatever chance they had in a pretty weak Eastern Conference is pretty much out the window.
On the surface, Washington General Manager Chris Patrick’s trade of Carlson to Anaheim seemed a safe bet, picking up a first and third for a UFA. But it also carries a long-term risk if they tinker with team chemistry or force the team to rush Hutson’s jump to the NHL in a detrimental way.
So while on the surface Washington trading Dowd and Carlson out west seems like the safe play, in today’s NHL, it still carries a lot of risk for Washington.
