Top 3 key Capitals to watch against Blues

#1 John Carlson

John Carlson plays in his 900th career game tonight against the St. Louis Blues. He will become the sixth player in Washington Capitals franchise history to play 900 games, all with the Caps, joining Alex Ovechkin (1,292), Nicklas Backstrom (1,058), Calle Johansson (983), Peter Bondra (961), and Kelly Miller (940).

Since becoming a regular in the Caps lineup in 2010-11, Carlson has played in 877 of the Capitals 929 games which equates to 94.4 percent. His 877 games in that span trails only Alex Ovechkin (896).

Carlson was the 27th overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft. He ranks fourth among his draft class in games played trailing Steven Stamkos, Josh Bailey, and Drew Doughty.

Carlson recorded his 600th career point on Nov. 11 against the Tampa Bay Lightning and simultaneously passed Michal Pivonka (599) for the fifth most points in franchise history.

Carlson is the Capitals franchise leader in assists with 467 and points with 602 among defensemen and ranks second in games played (899) and third in goals (135) among Washington blue liners.

Since the 2017-18 season, Carlson ranks first in the NHL in points among defensemen (337), holding a 24 point lead over the next closest defensemen which is Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators with 313 points.

Congrats to Carlson on reaching this milestone and those are the three Capitals to watch in tonight’s game. Let’s hope for a better result than the last two games.