Quoting: Go_Bruins
the toronto trade sucks. you didnt get half of what carlsons worth
I'd love to hear an offer that better fills the Caps' need for a defenseman in his prime who can play 23 minutes per game, starts a majority of shifts in the defensive zone, and has a corsi that's significantly higher than his offensive zone starts percentage.
Carlson is also one of the best in the business at power plays, but he learned some of that from guys like Ovechkin, Backstrom, Oshie.. they're all still around to teach Bowey or Zaitsev a few tricks, assuming Niskanen is still playing all the penalty kills on this team, and doesn't go back to playing all the power plays like he did that year in Pittsburgh when everybody else got injured and he got fifty points and signed his massive contract with Washington.
If Toronto wants to sweeten this deal, it's probably at the prospect level. I don't see Washington opening up salary cap space for anyone else they might care to part with, and a top four defenseman, for five years, seems like a pretty good rental price for even a Norris candidate defenseman for a couple months.
Obviously the Caps would rather keep Carlson, but if they haven't signed him yet, I'm certainly open to suggestions.