Washington Capitals Player Preview: John Carlson Looking To Re-enter Norris Race

Like many, John Carlson finished last season pretty banged up. There is a difference in “banged up” and just fully injured though. Carlson, make no mistake about it, was injured. It was revealed earlier this training camp that Carlson cracked his kneecap at the end of last season. How guys manage to play with something like that is beyond me.

It is now a few months later, we are getting ready for a brand new season, and it’s looking like when that season begins we will have healthy John Carlson. That’s great news for the Washington Capitals and their fans, and that is probably bad news for opposing teams.

When Carlson is healthy and going at 100% there are very few defensemen in hockey who are better. If you’re trying to count how many guys are better, you will probably have trouble getting past one hand to count on.

Going back to the 2017-18 season, nobody in the NHL has more points among defensemen than number seventy-four for Washington. Carlson has 257 points since then, the next closest is San Jose’s Brent Burns at 224. A pretty massive gap. The next on that same list is Victor Hedman at 217 then Roman Josi at 207. Three of the four guys we just named have Norris Trophies in their cupboards. Will Carlson make it four of four?

We all know what kind of game Carlson has. We can all go look at advanced stats if we want, but at the end of the day, for a guy like Carlson, I tend to think that is a bit of a waste of time. He drives and delivers offense from the back. If he is having a great season he can get you around a point per game for a season.

He will get you somewhere around 15 goals a season and then add in 50-60 assists. He’ll help out on a power play with his heavy shot from the point or slide it over to Ovechkin for a one timer from his office.

Offensively, you don’t often have to worry about Carlson. Defense is more of a question. I’ll never come out and fully say he is bad at defense. I don’t think that is true. I think he, like pretty much the entire Capitals team, is inconsistent on defense. He can make one great play one shift and just a little bit later get beat.

That is describing a whole lot of players in the NHL, but perhaps that is what is holding him back in the Norris voting?

Whatever is holding him back sure isn’t offense (which is what that trophy is all about these days anyways) and offense is something he should excel at once again in the 2021-22 season.

Last season Carlson was on pace for 15 goals and 66 points if he played a full season and played in all of the games he was capable of playing in. (Carlson missed four games last season, I put him on pace to play 78, missing four of 82) Based on the last four seasons, and coming into this year healthy, why would you expect any different this year?

This season I would expect about 12-15 goals from him and he’ll chip in with another 50-60 assists for another 60-75 point season.

Who he’ll play with is more of a question. The guy he spent the majority of last season with, Brenden Dillon, is no longer a Capital. He’ll be enjoying his winters in Winnipeg now. That leaves a hole on D and leaves Carlson without a partner going into the year.

Will he play with a young guy in Martin Fehervary? Will Michal Kempny get a shot coming off a long couple of years of injury troubles? Or will the team go with a more veteran and maybe old reliable pairing in Orlov-Carlson?

That will be the thing to watch early on in the season. Who will nail down a pairing with a Norris favorite. Honestly, when talking about Carlson, there isn’t much question to the upcoming season for him. We likely know what we’re going to get, and it should be another great season from the backend.