Caps ink Carlson to eight-year, $64M deal

The Washington Capitals have resigned John Carlson to a $64 million, eight-year contract that allows the Stanley Cup champions to keep the do-it-all defenceman.

Carlson will count $8 million against the salary cap through the 2026-27 season. General manager Brian MacLellan announced the deal Sunday.

“John has been an exceptional and consistent player for our franchise and has blossomed into being one of the top defencemen in the NHL,” MacLellan said. “Defenceman like John are a rare commodity in our League and, at 28 years of age, we feel he is just entering his prime. As a right-handed defenceman, John plays in all key situations and has contributed greatly to our team’s success on the special teams. ”

That’s not necessary for the 28year-old who has made the Washington area his home and wanted to stay if there was a fit. The Capitals got the cap space necessary to re-sign Carlson by trading veteran defenceman Brooks Orpik and backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer on Friday night at the NHL draft.

Carlson outperformed his last deal that paid him just under $4 million a season and was at his best in a contract year. He led all defencemen with 68 points in the regular season and 20 in the playoffs to help Washington win the Metropolitan Division and then the Stanley Cup.

The contract makes Carlson the second-highest-paid player on the Capitals behind Alex Ovechkin.

Carlson averaged about 25 minutes a game all season, stepping up early when top-pairing defenceman Matt Niskanen missed time with injury and playing an important role on the power play and penalty kill on the Cup run.

“His value is immense,” goaltender Braden Holtby said. “You can see that, how much he meant to our team in this run. As far as growth, I think he’s grown steadily but I think he’s been pretty good for a long time. He’s been really good for a long time. I think this year it just showed through a bit more because we just