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Ryan S. ClarkMar 6, 2026, 02:28 AM ET<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Ryan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.<\/p>\n Multiple Authors<\/p>\n John Carlson<\/a>‘s time with the Washington Capitals<\/a> is over, after the only NHL team he has ever played for traded him to the Anaheim Ducks<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 36-year-old defenseman was traded early Friday morning, with the Capitals receiving a conditional first-round pick in 2026 or 2027 along with a 2027 third-round pick in what might be the most surprising development ahead of the 3 p.m. ET Friday trade deadline.<\/p>\n Carlson is the second veteran the Capitals have traded in the lead-up to the deadline. They also traded forward Nic Dowd<\/a> to the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n Washington (31-25-7) entered Friday four points behind the Boston Bruins<\/a> for the second and final Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Even though the Capitals are within striking distance, they also have the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> and Ottawa Senators<\/a> in front of them in the standings. Plus, the Caps have played two more games than the Bruins, Blue Jackets and Senators.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n Moving on from Carlson means the Capitals have only two players — captain Alex Ovechkin<\/a> and winger Tom Wilson<\/a> — remaining on the roster from their 2018 Stanley Cup-winning team.<\/p>\n It also leaves the Capitals without one of the most impactful players in franchise history. Carlson is in the top 10 in assists, points and games played.<\/p>\n He currently has 10 goals and 46 points in 55 games for a pace that would see him finish with 13 goals and 60 points in 72 games for his seventh season of more than 50 points.<\/p>\n Carlson being in the final months of his eight-year contract worth $8 million annually did create questions about his future.<\/p>\n Anaheim (34-24-3) has spent the past few years adding veterans who could play a role in shaping a young core that is led by Leo Carlsson<\/a>, Lukas Dostal<\/a>, Jackson LaCombe<\/a> and Mason McTavish<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n That approach has played a significant role in why the Ducks are a point behind Vegas in the fight to win the Pacific Division and earn a playoff berth for the first time since the 2017-18 season.<\/p>\n Now they’ve added another veteran in Carlson, who could be used on the Ducks’ first or second pairing, as well as be asked to quarterback their first-team power play.<\/p>\n It’s possible the Ducks could still look to add more help with PuckPedia projecting they’ll have $44.426 million in deadline cap space.<\/p>\n There are questions about what comes next for Carlson’s former team.<\/p>\n PuckPedia projects the Capitals have $26.275 million in deadline cap space in the event they want to make a move Friday.<\/p>\n The draft picks they received for Carlson mean they now have two first-round picks for 2026 and four picks in the first three rounds in 2027 as they seek to figure out their future for whenever the time comes for the 40-year-old Ovechkin to move on.<\/p>\n Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leader in goals, is in the final season of his five-year deal worth $9.5 million annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan S. ClarkMar 6, 2026, 02:28 AM ET CloseRyan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN. Multiple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-207342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}