The Anaheim Ducks made one of the biggest moves at this year\u2019s trade deadline, acquiring star defenseman John Carlson from the Washington Capitals. The 36-year-old rearguard had spent his entire 17-season NHL career with the Capitals until the move, which saw two draft picks head in the other direction.<\/p>\n
Carlson\u2019s exit was a controversial and surprising one in DC, as many believed the Capitals\u2019 all-time best defender should have been allowed to retire with the club. Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek recently spoke to NHL.com\u2019s Mike Zeisberger<\/a> and shed some insight into how the negotiations occurred, and there is some disagreement between how he tells the story and how Capitals GM Chris Patrick outlined the same talks.<\/p>\n \u201cI never mentioned [Carlson\u2019s availability] just because, you know, he\u2019d been with that organization for a long time,\u201d Verbeek told Zeisberger<\/a>. \u201cIt was like a lot of our GMs calls where we discuss a lot of things and tell each other what we\u2019re trying to do to help our individual teams to improve. And then they brought up the name. They asked if we\u2019d be interested in John Carlson.\u201d<\/p>\n Verbeek specifically mentions that Carlson\u2019s name was first brought up on the Capitals side, which directly contradicts how Patrick relayed the trade discussions to 106.7 The Fan\u2019s Grant and Danny in a recent radio interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of approached it as I\u2019m not really going to actively shop him, but if teams come to me, I\u2019m going to listen,\u201d Patrick said Tuesday<\/a>. \u201cAs you\u2019re making phone calls around, in the week or two leading up to the deadline and the week of the deadline, if his name came up, I\u2019d kind of say, \u2018Well, I mean, I\u2019ll listen if you\u2019re interested in doing something.\u2019 And Anaheim was definitely, I think, one of the teams that felt like he would fill a huge need for them, and [Verbeek] was willing to get pretty aggressive right away.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Patrick<\/a>, the Capitals ended extension talks several weeks before the deadline, as the team slid further out of the playoff picture and other teams began to express interest in a trade. While Carlson was aware, in broad terms, that the team had to consider offers for him, he was not directly involved in any talks about his potential landing spot.<\/p>\n The way Carlson was informed of the trade also drew headlines as it was announced shortly after 1 am ET, and he wasn\u2019t notified until around 6 am per Patrick. The GM explained at length<\/a> that the Capitals chose to finalize the trade that night, so that details would not leak beforehand, as they did with Nic Dowd\u2019s trade a day earlier<\/a>, leaving Carlson to learn he\u2019d been traded via social media.<\/p>\n In Verbeek\u2019s interview with Zeisberger, he also revealed that the Ducks would like to explore extending Carlson\u2019s contract past this season.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the answer is yes,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think that, like all my other guys, I\u2019ve got other UFAs, I\u2019ve got RFAs. I think the whole mindset is just, \u2018Let\u2019s just play hockey, let\u2019s get in the playoffs,\u2019 and then we\u2019ll let all that stuff take care of itself at the appropriate time. And so all of us are focused on playing the games. All that other stuff, like I said, will take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n There is the possibility that Verbeek could be trying to position the Ducks better with Carlson by putting the trade on Patrick, knowing the Capitals won\u2019t be able to speak with the defender again until July 1. Patrick was asked about potentially bringing Carlson back this summer in his first media availability after the deadline, but said he couldn\u2019t comment on the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cAs weird as it is to say this and hear this coming out of my mouth, I actually can\u2019t comment on John because he\u2019s a property of another team, and that would be tampering,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cSo it\u2019s kind of bizarre to even say that.\u201d<\/p>\n