John Carlson and the Washington Capitals to Talk Contract During Olympic Break
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined NHL Now with Adan Virk and Michael Del Zotto and was asked about John Carlson and his potential to extend with the Washington Capitals beyond this season.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
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Adnan Virk: “A pleasure to be joined now by Dave Pagnotta. Always does a fantastic job when it comes to things that happen in the rumour mill. John Carlson, right now, Dave, in the final year of his contract. He plans to continue playing beyond this season. What are the odds of the Capitals signing this guy, who has been so valuable to them, to an extension this year?”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah. Well, Adan, he’s planning on playing. This is his last year of an eight-year contract; eight times eight, he’s anticipating, expecting to play again beyond this season. He’s already surpassed his goal totals this season from last year, and he’s almost at a point of game. He’s still contributing at a high level, and he wants to keep going.
They haven’t talked about the contract extension yet, but my understanding is that’s on the docket for later on in the season, perhaps during the Olympic Break, to give the Capitals time to chat with his agent to see what type of deal they may be looking at.
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Now the Caps have a lot of cap space next season and beyond, they want to figure out how to utilize that money, monetize the roster, so to speak. And they’re going to have those conversations in due course, I’m told the negotiation should not be difficult at all. He intends to play next season. He’s hoping, and would like to have it happen with the Caps. The Caps want to keep him around. This should be a marriage that continues to go beyond this season.”
NHLRumors.com Note: The free agent class in 2026 is not very appealing with all the high-priced talent coming off the board. Artemi Panarin and Alex Tuch could be the top dogs this year. The expectation is that John Carlson will be made a Washington Capital for life.
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