(Caps Outsider)
In the first year of his 8-year, $64 million deal – and tenth season with the Caps – defenseman John Carlson already hit a career high for points in a season, but hit 70 for the first time after assisting on an Evgeny Kuznetsov goal on Monday. He’s two better than his 68-point total from last season.
While Carlson does find the back of the net sometimes – his career high in goals is 15 – it’s his assist total that has boosted his numbers. With 57 assists this year and 53 last year, he’s leading the team this season and has more assists than Nicklas Backstrom in the past two seasons.
Playing the point on the power play and dishing it over to Alex Ovechkin has also boosted those assist totals, as he has 33 power play points this season and 32 last season.
In the Ovechkin era, only Mike Green has outscored Carlson among defensemen in a single season, which he did twice with 73 points and 76. However, Carlson leads all defensemen in that era with 403 points. One more season like this and Carlson will be the all-time leading Caps scorer for a defenseman. He only trails Sergei Gonchar, Kevin Hatcher, Scott Stevens and Calle Johansson.
