John Carlson Wants To Head Back East, But What Teams Are the Best Fits?
Jim Biringer of NHLRumors.com and Full Press Media joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio, The Point with Jake Hahn and Victoria Matiash, and was asked about John Carlson and where some of the best fits for him will be as he hits free agency and wants to come back East.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, and the Detroit Red Wings
Victoria Matish: “Speaking of change of scenery, last one quick one from me, Jim, we just learned in the last 10 minutes, that John Carlson is going to explore the free agent market. He’s not going to sign an extension with the Ducks. We do understand he wants to come back East. Where do you see the best fit?”
Jim Biringer: “A couple of teams, realistically, I think a team like Florida could use him, right? He could be a good fit there, depending on the AAV. Apparently, there was a deal in place at the trade deadline they were working on, but the term and the dollar amount were just not the team’s liking, so they decided to move on from him.
Tampa, again, if Darren Raddysh is going to be a free agent and he gets paid some place, if Tampa doesn’t want to go. I heard somewhere a team could pay Raddysh up to $7 million a season, and if that’s the case, they may have to move on from him.
Philadelphia could be a landing spot. Pittsburgh would be a good fit. Imagine all those years of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin going up against Carlson. Carlson jumps onto Pittsburgh’s team, which would be a really good addition for Kyle Dubas. Those are some teams.
Nashville Predators Make a Trade and Will Keep Coaching Staff But Want to Improve
The Islanders could use him. The Rangers. There’s a lot of good fits for John Carlson over in the Eastern Conference, especially if he wants to come back East. I don’t see a reunion in Washington. That doesn’t make sense, because if they were going to keep him, they were going to sign him.
But so many good teams out East for John Carlson, that his services are still on the power play, and everything in the defensive zone, it’s a really good addition.”
Jake Hahn: “And also, if you’re John Carlson, the individual, you probably look at a huge potential here to cash in. I know he’s an older defenseman, but a guy with something effective in a market that isn’t exactly bustling with talent and a cap that’s going up.
I think maybe a bit of a perfect storm, and I think if you’re John Carlson and John Carlson’s agent, you go, “Okay, maybe we should test the market, and we could cash in pretty nice here. As Victoria said, still an effective player playing some really good hockey. So, interesting. Adds another element to July 1 as we get closer and closer to that.”
NHLRumors.com Note: As it was reported on Tuesday, John Carlson is going to market. Again, if Carlson was going to stay in Washington, they would have re-signed him on the reported two-year deal paying him $9 million per season, but the plan was always to move on from Carlson.
NHL Rumors: NY Rangers, John Carlson, and Offseason NHL Trade Tiers
While Anaheim is not out of the question, he wants to come back East. It will be interesting to see what the market demands for an aging player. Could Carlson be similar to Klingberg, and might he be overplaying his hand? There will be suitors, but at $10 million a season, that might be a little far-fetched.
We had to restart our X account. Please follow @MyNHLRumorsX
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? Rumor roundups and hot topics from around the league. We’re also posting some stuff on Instagram.
If you love our reporting, choose NHLrumors.com as a preferred source on Google.
