{"id":502714,"date":"2026-03-04T06:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T06:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/502714\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T06:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T06:48:08","slug":"capitals-reportedly-receiving-calls-from-teams-to-gauge-john-carlsons-availability-ahead-of-trade-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/502714\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitals reportedly receiving calls from teams to gauge John Carlson\u2019s availability ahead of trade deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Capitals have been rumored to be buyers at this year\u2019s trade deadline<\/a>, but there are rumblings that teams could still be trying to pry away one of their top veterans.<\/p>\n

According to The Athletic\u2019s Pierre LeBrun<\/a>, the Capitals are receiving calls from interested parties trying to gauge the availability of alternate captain John Carlson<\/a>. Carlson, 36, is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in July and is currently out with a lower-body injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

LeBrun\u2019s latest report came in the newest edition of his \u201cNHL rumblings\u201d column:<\/a><\/p>\n

Sticking with the Caps, I was asked on The Athletic Hockey Show on Monday about a name from left field \u2014 someone no one is talking about \u2014 to keep an eye on before the deadline. I said John Carlson because that would be a surprising trade.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s unlikely Carlson gets dealt because Washington wants to remain in the race and doesn\u2019t want to take away from the team. But with Carlson a pending UFA, it won\u2019t stop teams from calling on him, and I believe some have. I think it would have to be a really good offer to get Washington\u2019s attention, though.<\/p>\n

Carlson is currently playing in the final season of the eight-year, $64 million contract he signed with the Washington Capitals in 2018. He has spent his entire career with the Caps, and, per the club\u2019s general manager, Chris Patrick<\/a>, the parties began extension talks earlier this season.<\/p>\n

The two-time NHL All-Star is still an effective and very productive defenseman, recording 46 points (10g, 36a) through 55 games this year. Once he hits the 50-point mark this season, he\u2019ll have done so for three straight campaigns.<\/p>\n

With Carlson on the ice at five-on-five this season, the Capitals have seen 53.2 percent of shot attempts, 52.0 percent of expected goals, 52.1 percent of scoring chances, and 51.6 percent of high-danger chances. His overall role with the team has slightly diminished, particularly with Jakob Chychrun<\/a> taking over his first power-play unit responsibilities. Carlson is skating 22:52 of overage time on ice per game, behind only Chychrun (23:41) on the Caps.<\/p>\n

As LeBrun indicates, the Capitals would likely need to be wowed by any prospective offer. The Caps will also know where they stand in the Eastern Conference playoff picture after finishing their game against the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday night. They don\u2019t play again until the day after the deadline, a matinee matchup in Boston against the Bruins.<\/p>\n

While an eventual deal is unlikely, the framework of a possible trade could match or even exceed what the Calgary Flames received from the Vegas Golden Knights for defender Rasmus Andersson<\/a> in January. The Flames, who retained 50 percent of Andersson\u2019s cap hit, got defenseman Zach Whitecloud<\/a>, prospect Abram Wiebe, a 2027 first-round pick, and a conditional 2028 second-round pick in return.<\/p>\n

Carlson is the Capitals\u2019 all-time leader among defensemen in games played (1,143), goals (166), assists (605), and points (771). He became only the 21st defenseman in NHL history to record 600 assists in January<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Capitals have been rumored to be buyers at this year\u2019s trade deadline, but there are rumblings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-502714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}