The Tampa Bay Lightning have added a proven veteran on the back end, signing unrestricted free agent defenceman John Carlson to a two-year, $17 million deal, the team announced Wednesday. The contract carries an $8.5 million cap hit.
Carlson, 36, arrives after finishing last season with the Anaheim Ducks, who acquired him from the Washington Capitals for two draft picks at the trade deadline. He split the year between Washington and Anaheim and put up 14 goals and 60 points in 71 games, while logging 23:10 of ice time per night.
He stayed productive into the postseason, collecting six assists in 12 playoff games and averaging 24:03 on the ice as the Ducks were knocked out in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
There was another twist before he landed in Tampa Bay. The Carolina Hurricanes acquired his signing rights on June 27 in exchange for defenceman Kyle Masters and a draft pick, but Carlson chose not to sign there.
The 6-foot-3, right-shot blueliner was coming off an eight-year, $64 million contract that carried an $8 million cap hit. Drafted 27th overall by the Capitals in 2008, he has totaled 170 goals and 785 points in 1,159 career games between Washington and Anaheim.
Carlson’s résumé also includes a major championship run with the Capitals in 2018, when he helped deliver the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title with five goals and 20 points in 24 playoff games.
On the international stage, the Natick, Mass., native represented the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics, where the team finished fourth, and again at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, where the Americans placed seventh.
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