{"id":208273,"date":"2026-03-07T01:47:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/208273\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T01:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:47:07","slug":"carlson-carrying-mixed-emotions-to-ducks-after-trade-from-capitals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/208273\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlson carrying mixed emotions to Ducks after trade from Capitals"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Carlson<\/a> had gone to bed, but his phone kept buzzing while he tried to sleep Thursday night. Eventually, he figured he\u2019d better look at it.<\/p>\n

Awaiting him was a phone message from Washington Capitals general manager Chris Patrick, but among the many others was one from Carlson\u2019s cousin, who was out in the middle of the night plowing snow in Massachusetts. Even he had heard the news before Carlson that the Capitals had traded the 36-year-old defenseman to the Anaheim Ducks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the middle of the night is not the best way to find out some very altering news like that,\u201d Carlson said Friday before heading to the airport to join the Ducks in Anaheim. \u201cBut it\u2019s just been a crazy day, I would say; a crazy day with my family, a crazy day, packing, getting ready, saying goodbyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being traded after 17 seasons with the Capitals was a gut punch for Carlson, who, until recently, had envisioned playing his entire career for the team that selected him in the first round (No. 27) of the 2008 NHL Draft. It was not a complete surprise, though, with the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline approaching at 3 p.m. ET on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, in the days leading up, I became more aware of the potential for something like this to happen, and that’s where I stood,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cSo, it wasn’t a total blindside or anything like that. Maybe the timing of the whole situation was a little wacky, but I guess that’s just part of it and whatnot. But I’m excited, thrilled to be with the Ducks.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the final season of an eight-year, $64 million contract he signed in the days after he helped the Capitals win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 2018, Carlson can become an unrestricted free agent after the season. Carlson\u2019s agent, Rick Curran, had been in talks with Washington about a new contract, but Patrick said he informed them about two weeks ago that he wanted to pause discussions with the team\u2019s hopes of qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs fading.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, we were four points out of the playoffs,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cI said, \u2018Teams are calling. I don’t know if something’s going to happen. I don’t necessarily want something to happen, but I also have to do my job. And if there’s an offer there that I think makes sense, then we’ll have to pursue it.\u2019 So, I think he knew. He’s not naive to where he is in his contract status.\u201d<\/p>\n

In exchange for Carlson, the Capitals received a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. If the Ducks do not qualify for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, they will have the option to retain their first-round selection in the 2026 draft and instead send the Capitals their first-round pick in the 2027\u00a0NHL Draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, that first-round pick is potentially a really good pick,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cWe can use it to try to add something, or we can use it to get a good player. I mean, we weren’t going to do it for just anything, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ducks (34-24-3), who are second in the Pacific Division, one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights, are attempting to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season and valued Carlson\u2019s experience and puck-moving skill. Carlson has 46 points (10 goals, 36 assists) in 55 games this season and is Washington’s all-time leader among defensemen in goals (166), assists (605), points (771), power-play points (273) and games played (1,143).<\/p>\n

He jumps into the Ducks\u2019 playoff push from the Capitals (31-25-7), who are fifth in the Metropolitan Division, four points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

“I think I can add a lot of value, both in my play and what I can do out there, but also what I think I can impart on them mentally, or through talking and chatting,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cI think there’s so much talent there, there’s so much fun to be had, that it’s an exciting proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlson sees a good mix in Anaheim of young players and veterans. The Ducks have players looking to get their first taste of the playoffs such as forwards Leo Carlsson<\/a>, 21, Cutter Gauthier<\/a>, 22, Mason McTavish<\/a>, 23, and Beckett Sennecke<\/a>, 20, and defensemen Jackson LaCombe<\/a>, 25, Pavel Mintyukov<\/a>, 22, and Olen Zellweger<\/a>, 22, and those, like him, who have been through the postseason grind before such as forwards Chris Kreider<\/a>, Mikael Granlund<\/a>, and Alex Killorn<\/a> and defensemen Jacob Trouba<\/a> and Radko Gudas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“They’ve got all the makings of a team that’s more than capable of (going deep in the playoffs),\u201d Carlson said. \u201cSo, that’s obviously very attractive to me and very advantageous and I’m grateful to land in a spot like this, really truly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heading to Anaheim means leaving behind, at least temporarily, his wife Gina, and sons Lucca, 10; Rudy, 7; and Sawyer, 5; and daughter Isabella, 2. That was among the tough conversations Carlson had after an emotional phone call with Patrick around 6 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was upset and so was I,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cBut he’s a pro. I was expecting him to be angry, and he wasn’t angry. He understood, and I think he was just sad that it ended this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlson also had emotional conversations with longtime Capitals teammates Alex Ovechkin<\/a> and Tom Wilson<\/a>, as well as former teammates T.J. Oshie<\/a> and Nicklas Backstrom<\/a>. But he didn\u2019t take long to start wrapping his mind around the opportunity ahead of him with the Ducks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve had a very long run here, a lot of great friendships on and off the ice, in the community and not, that I\u2019m going to miss,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cAnd to have a family and to be away and have to move them maybe across the country, those are all big things in life. [But] it\u2019s an exciting time. It’s a great team to come to. I think they are loaded with talent, loaded with some character guys that I\u2019m really looking forward to playing with after seeing them on TV, seeing the games against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019m excited to take on this new challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Carlson had gone to bed, but his phone kept buzzing while he tried to sleep Thursday night.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-208273","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\/208273","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=208273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}