The Washington Capitals will go into the 2025-26 NHL season with their entire defense corps from this past year all under contract. John Carlson, the team’s number-one rearguard, is among that group but is entering the final season of an eight-year contract he signed with the Caps in 2018.
Carlson’s contract status makes him eligible for an extension on July 1 this summer. The 35-year-old defender led all Capitals defensemen in scoring this season with 51 points (5g, 46a) in 79 games and finished 22nd in the NHL in time on ice per game (23:34).
Despite another successful season commanding the club’s backend, Caps GM Chris Patrick didn’t sound ready to discuss Carlson’s next deal on Monday. Patrick and president of hockey operations Brian MacLellan both reiterated their goal to keep moving the Capitals in a more youthful direction this offseason during their joint postseason media availability.
“[Carlson] is obviously a huge part of our team and had a great season, and all expectations are he’s going to have another great season next year,” Patrick said. “It probably makes sense just to see how things play out a little bit. We’re a mature team and transitioning to a younger team, and we just want to make sure that we’re putting guys in the right position to have success and that expectations line up. So, nothing imminent [extension-wise] this summer.”
The Capitals have several defenders in the AHL with the Hershey Bears who were draft picks, including Leon Muggli, Ryan Chesley, David Gucciardi, and Vincent Iorio. They also have the highly-touted Cole Hutson ready to make the leap at the end of next season and prospect Cam Allen on the OHL champion London Knights.
MacLellan also spoke about wanting to get 2018 first-round pick Alex Alexeyev more ice time next year after he played in just eight games this season. “Going forward, I think it would be best if we could get [Alexeyev] more games, and we’ll see where it goes from there,” he said.
Carlson, an alternate captain of the Caps for the last six seasons, didn’t sound like he had put much thought into potential contract negotiations this summer either.
“I have to drop the kids off at school on Monday,” Carlson said at Breakdown Day, Saturday. “That’s what I’m worried about right now.”
While the team’s brass may have their eyes on the future, Carlson still produced great results in the present for the Caps five-on-five, seeing 54.1 percent of shot attempts, 54.2 percent of expected goals, 54 percent of scoring chances, and 53.3 percent of high-danger chances during his ice time in 2024-25. The team scored 65 goals with him over the boards, the most of any defender on the team.
Like most Capitals, Carlson’s five-on-five play nose-dived in the playoffs against the relentless Carolina Hurricanes. He was also impacted by the team losing Martin Fehervary due to injury, seeing his regular pairing with Rasmus Sandin broken up so that Jakob Chychrun could move into a larger role.
Carlson is the Capitals’ all-time leader in games played (1,088), goals (156), assists (569), and points (725) among defensemen. He’ll head into the 2025-26 season just 19 points shy of leaping over Mathieu Schneider (743) to become the fifth-highest scoring American defender in NHL history.
