In 12 months Caps rookie defenseman John Carlson has gone from the Canadian junior hockey playoffs in London, Ontario to the AHL playoffs with the Hershey Bears to an American hero after his game-winning goal for the United States over Canada at the prestigious world junior championships in January. Now comes the ultimate step for a hockey player: The Stanley Cup playoffs.
Carlson is just minutes away from playing top-four minutes in a Stanley Cup playoff game when the Caps host the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of their first-round series at Verizon Center. If this morning’s pairings hold, Carlson skates with veteran Tom Poti. The 20-year-old has far surpassed the Caps’ expectations when a fortuitous trade with the Philadelphia Flyers landed a low-first round draft pick in 2008. Carlson skated in 22 games for Washington this season, but he’s been up in the NHL full time since March 3. So will he visualize how his first few shifts will go at this level?
“I don’t know about visualizing. I try not to psyche myself out,” Carlson said after Wednesday’s practice. “For me at least if I do a lot of that stuff I’ll myself out. But I just got to go in and play with confidence. I think I’m good enough to play with any of these guys and against any of these teams.”
Wait – is he really 20? That’s the kind of inner confidence that have allowed Carlson to make the leap from juniors to the NHL playoffs so quickly. We’ll see if he passes his first test tonight. Carlson said he’s never even attended an NHL playoff game in person – let alone played in one.
“I’ve talked to a few of the older guys. As the year had been going on I talked to a few about the big games – like when we were playing Pittsburgh and when we were playing Chicago,” Carlson said. “And they were like ‘This is as close as you’re going to get to the playoffs in the regular season.’ But I’ve never been in the building for an NHL playoff game, either, so it’ll be a test…That’s what hockey players are supposed to do.”
