Edited Jun. 15, 2018 at 7:33 a.m.
Quoting: hawksfan88
You're right that they should trade his rights, if they can't sign him, but no way anyone gives up three second rounders. Keith Yandle got a 4th and a 6th a few years ago when he was still considered pretty damn good. Of course Carlson could fetch more but I'd limit it to a single second rounder OR two third rounders MAX
29 teams outbid that offer, real quick. Especially with Green signed.
Carlson led defensemen in points in the regular season and the playoffs. He was one of two of the top ten guys from the regular season to start most of his shifts behind the red line. The other was PK Subban, who will win the Norris Trophy for it.
Yandle was 16th among defensemen in points that season:
http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20152016&seasonTo=20152016&gameType=2&position=D&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=points,goals,assists
In the postseason of 2016, right before that trade, he was 61st among defensemen, posting one point in five games.
http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20152016&seasonTo=20152016&gameType=3&position=D&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=points,goals,assists
Eric Staal was also considered to have little value after a disappointing playoff. These are not really comparables for the #1 offensive defenseman through the year and the playoffs on the Cup winner. Here are the playoff stats from this year. Please note that John Carlson recorded more than one point, and actually led defensemen in goals (tied with Byfuglien, sure), assists, points, power play goals (tied with Subban, okay, fine) and power play points..
http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20172018&seasonTo=20172018&gameType=3&position=D&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=points,goals,assists
Yeah. I think they're keeping Carlson, but in the theoretical discussion of what his rights would trade for, let's not kid ourselves that Keith Yandlein 2016 is relevant information.
That was a situation where a team did not have a roster spot for a player, at any price, becuase he had burned their Cup hopes. If you don't look at defensemen, Carlson this playoff year was 10th in points, fourth in power play points, and tied for third in plus/minus. Yandle, once again, was reported not to have shown up.
Honestly, I won't make the case that Carlson is a make or break player for any team looking for a defenseman. I think he's a good player who has built great chemistry over nearly a decade of power play opportunities with Ovechkin and Backstrom. This year, the third straight year that they were joined by Kuznetsov and Oshie on the top unit, they all did really well together.
So I'm not going to suggest Stevens' five first round pick UFA compensation as a reasonable return, and I'm not going to suggest that some other team needs to build around John Carlson and nobody else. I'm just going to say that he's part of something that works really well in Washington and that they should keep that going.