Washington Capitals: Three Predictions for John Carlson
By CJ Witt
Our series continues with John Carlson.
With the National Hockey League regular season less than one month away it’s time to take a look at the current team rosters and throw out guesses or predictions on how the season could go. This time around we’ll be looking at Capitals defenseman John Carlson.
Carlson is a major part of this Caps team, there’s no hiding or denying that. Need some proof to how good the twenty-nine year old American defenseman is? Last off-season he signed an eight-year $64 million contract. He rewarded the Capitals with a tremendous year and finished fourth in Norris Trophy voting, the award given to the NHL’s best defenseman of the season.
It will be a different year for Carlson though. The Capitals lost two veteran and key D men losing Brooks Orpik to retirement and trading away Matt Niskanen to the Philadelphia Flyers. Losing those two guys will surely mean more responsibility for the now ten year veteran Carlson.
You shouldn’t expect any cracking under the pressure from him though. Carlson has shown us over the years he can step up however and whenever needed. He’s a guy that’s come up pretty big in clutch moments and even scored some huge goals including OT winners and goals in Stanley Cup Finals.
With all that said, what can we possibly expect from the Capitals best defenseman next season. Well…