Carlson Named as Nominee for Norris

Over the course of nearly a half a century in the National Hockey League, the Capitals have had their share of top defensemen. Starting with Robert Picard in 1978-79, thirteen different Washington blueliners have earned Norris Trophy votes over the years. Picard finished sixth in Norris balloting that season, and four years later Rod Langway - now a Hockey Hall of Famer - won the first of two Norris Trophies. No other Caps defenseman has ever won the award, but that could change later this year.

On Monday, the league announced that Caps defenseman John Carlson is a finalist for the 2019-20 Norris Trophy, along with Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman and Nashville's Roman Josi. This is the fourth season in which Carlson has drawn Norris attention; he finished 10th in Norris voting in 2014-15, he placed fifth in 2017-18 and was fourth in 2018-19 when he fell 34 votes shy of being one of the three finalists for the Norris.

"I'm obviously in great company," says Carlson upon learning of the honor. "I was very pleased with getting that call, I was excited. It's been a goal of mine to be talked about in that sort of category of players as a defenseman, and I was super excited and I'm looking forward to keep pushing this thing forward."

Given the season Carlson had in 2019-20, "pushing it forward" will be a tall task. With 75 points (15 goals, 60 assists) in 2019-20, he set a single-season franchise record (1.09) for points per game by a defenseman. No other NHL blueliner has managed a higher rate of points per game in more than a quarter century, since Raymond Bourque, Sergei Zubov and Al MacInnis all did so in 1993-94. In league history, only 13 other defensemen averaged 1.09 or more points per game after 69 games, the number of games Carlson played in a pandemic-shortened season. Nine of those 13 defensemen won the Norris at least once in their respective careers.

Carlson also led all NHL defensemen in assists, points and game-winning goals (six) in '19-20. He topped all defenders in the circuit with 49 points at even strength and finished second with 26 power-play points. Carlson finished seventh in the league with just a few ticks under 1,700 minutes in ice time this season.

Carlson finished 10 points ahead of second-place Josi (65 points) in scoring among defensemen, and he was 20 points ahead of third-place Hedman (55). Carlson is the eighth blueliner in league history to finish 10 or more points ahead of the second-place finisher and 20 or more points ahead of the third-place finisher. The last NHL defenseman to achieve that feat was Ottawa's Erik Karlsson, who did so in 2011-12. Karlsson won the Norris that season.

"For the most part, I've been put in a great position," says Carlson. "It's something that certainly I had talked about in the past to work towards as a goal of mine. So just thinking about something, working at it, and then seeing it fulfilled is a pretty cool achievement for me. and, yeah, like, like I said before, it's, it's more important what's ahead of us right now and but it is to be nominated."

Drafted in the first round (27th overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Carlson debuted in D.C. in November of 2009, weeks ahead of his 20th birthday. He has been a durable and stalwart fixture on the Capitals' blueline since the outset of the 2010-11 season, when he started a stretch of 412 consecutive games played, a streak that was halted midway through the 2015-16 season.

Carlson required only 48 games worth of AHL seasoning before his permanent ascension to Washington, and he finished fifth in Calder Trophy balloting in his first full season of '10-11, kicking off a string of 10 straight seasons in which he has averaged at least 21:52. Over the years, he has been remarkably consistent while gradually elevating his game to its current elite level, although he doesn't necessarily see it that way.

"I think the trajectory and talking about my play personally," says Carlson, "it has obviously been a pretty big curve, and a lot of years of ups and downs for sure. When I did come in, I was a little bit raw and wary on certain plays. And now as I've gotten confidence off my standing within the organization and all that means, it means a lot to me as a player. That has helped me kind of transform my game and focus more on certain areas.

"I was good at a few things early on, and I tried to evolve and tried to get better throughout. I've been lucky to have some great coaches here to help me along the way."

Langway won the Norris twice with Washington, taking the hardware in 1982-83 and again in '83-84. While Caps defensemen have garnered Norris attention over the years since, no Washington defenseman has won the Norris in that stretch of 36 years. Carlson joins Langway, Larry Murphy (third in 1986-87), Scott Stevens (second in 1987-88) and Mike Green (second in 2008-09 and 2009-10) as the fifth Caps defenseman ever to finish in the top three in Norris voting.

While the likes of Picard, Langway, Murphy, Stevens, Kevin Hatcher, Al Iafrate, Mark Tinordi, Calle Johansson, Sergei Gonchar, Kevin Shattenkirk and Dmitry Orlov have all drawn Norris votes in a Washington sweater, Carlson is on his way to standing alone as perhaps the best blueliner in the franchise's history.

Under contract with the Caps for six more seasons, Carlson is already the team's all-time leader in assists (373) and points (478), and his total of 757 games played is second only to Johansson (983) on the team's all-time blueline ledger. Many Caps blueliners have been among the best in the league during and after their respective tenures in D.C., but Carlson has a chance to stand alone as the best blueliner in franchise history by the time he hangs them up or moves on to another NHL destination.

Langway, Murphy and Stevens are now Hall of Famers, and Gonchar has a legitimate chance to earn that distinction at some point as well. But among that quartet, only Stevens and Gonchar were drafted and developed in Washington, and both of those players drew more Norris attention after departing the District.

Carlson obviously had no control over when he would be drafted and which NHL team would claim him a dozen summers ago, but his career has played out splendidly here in the nation's capital.

"I didn't choose to be here although I was very happy when it did happen," says Carlson. "Some of those [franchise leader] stats are more so just because I have been here for so long, but I think the type of guy I am, I love this area, I love this team and I've been lucky to play with a lot of the same teammates over all of all or most of my career here in D.C. I always looked at the guys growing up - whether it was hockey or whether it was other sports - that stayed with their teams the longest. I always thought that was such an accomplishment, and so cool that you spend your entire career in one place and hopefully that happens with me. Certainly we have had a decently long run here with me in D.C., and that, that means a lot to me and my family to be able to contribute over all these years."

We've said it before in this space and elsewhere, but along with teammates Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Braden Holtby, the Caps have had a quartet of players together on the roster continuously for the better part of a decade now, each of whom might be the best player at his respective position in franchise history.