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WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 2: John Carlson #74 of the Washington Capitals skates the puck up the ice during a game against the New York Islanders at Capital One Arena on February 2, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by John McCreary\/NHLI via Getty Image <\/p>\n
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Veteran NHL defenseman John Carlson was traded<\/a> from the Washington Capitals<\/a> to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday as the NHL trade deadline nears.<\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n The Washington Capitals have sent defenseman John Carlson to the Anaheim Ducks in a surprise trade ahead of the NHL\u2019s 2026 deadline, according to ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n Carlson, 36, had spent his entire 17-year NHL career with the Capitals before the move, becoming one of the most decorated defensemen in franchise history.<\/p>\n In exchange, the Ducks are sending a conditional first-round pick (2026 or 2027) and a third-round pick in 2027 to Washington.<\/p>\n The pick conditions depend on whether Anaheim qualifies for the Stanley Cup Playoffs \u2014 if the Ducks miss the 2026 postseason, they can keep the 2026 first-rounder and instead send the 2027 pick.<\/p>\n Carlson\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and current status <\/p>\n Carlson leaves the Capitals as one of the franchise\u2019s all-time leaders in goals, assists and points by a defenseman.<\/p>\n The veteran had slowed action due to a lower-body injury, but in his 55 games this season he had already recorded 46 points.<\/p>\n He\u2019s in the final year of an eight-year contract signed in 2018, and could become an unrestricted free agent after the season if no new deal is reached.<\/p>\n What the Ducks are saying <\/p>\n Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek praised the acquisition<\/a>, saying Carlson brings “leadership, character, a high hockey IQ and a presence to our lineup” and expects him to boost Anaheim\u2019s stretch run down the stretch.<\/p>\n Anaheim is aiming to return to the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season and hopes Carlson\u2019s experience will help.<\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n Carlson could make his Ducks debut once he\u2019s healthy, potentially slotting into a top-four defensive role and contributing on special teams once cleared to play.<\/p>\n Washington will look to build around remaining defensemen and prospect depth following the departure of one of its stalwarts.<\/p>\n The NHL trade deadline is set to close Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n The Source: This article was written using multiple verified reports on the John Carlson trade from national NHL news outlets and team press information.<\/p>\n Washington Capitals<\/a>Sports<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 2: John Carlson #74 of the Washington Capitals skates the puck up the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,45823,100,404,127],"class_list":["post-207526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-capitals","tag-news","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207526","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=207526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}