Washington Capitals: 3 trade proposals for John Carlson

One unpopular (or maybe it’s popular) opinion some Washington Capitals fans have is that the team should move on from defenseman John Carlson.

Carlson is a good offensive defenseman, in fact he’s a great one. He scored a career high 17 goals to go along with 54 assists for 71 points. So what’s the problem that Caps fans have?

It’s Carlson’s defense, or lake thereof, that’s alarming. He also had a costly turnover in overtime of Game 6 that ended the Capitals season early yet again. He turns 33 in January and has a cap hit of $8 million. He’s under contract through 2026-27 after signing the extension in the summer of 2018 after winning the Cup.

John Carlson for Vince Dunn

Vince Dunn plays for the Seattle Kraken and can play both right handed and left handed. He’s a versatile option with a cap hit of four million. He’s also just 25 years old. Other defenseman on the Kraken include Jamie Oleksiak and Adam Larsson but they both have no trade clauses.

Dunn had seven goals and 28 assists for 35 points which is good production. The only downside is that his plus minus is a minus 21. He averages 20:41 minutes of ice time. He would be a good cheap option.