John Carlson breaks silence ahead of 1,000th career game with Capitals

John Carlson has played his entire 15-year career with the Washington Capitals, winning a Stanley Cup with the franchise in 2018 and establishing himself as one of the best defensemen in franchise history in the process.

On Saturday night, the 34-year-old will play in game No. 1,000 when the Caps welcome the Boston Bruins to Capital One Arena. And the former first-round pick is excited to reach the milestone.

“When you first break into the League you think about certain things, and you see guys hitting milestones and you think, ‘Oh my God. There’s no way I’m going to be able to do that’ or ‘That seems so far away,’” Carlson explained recently, per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti.

“And here we are.”

Carlson will be the third player — and just the first defenseman — in Capitals history to reach the millennium mark. He passed Calle Johansson back on February 26, who played in 984 games with the team.

Both Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom have already eclipsed the milestone; The Great Eight has skated in 1,416 contests for the Caps, while one of the greatest Swedish players of all time is at 1,105.

The Caps selected Carlson No. 27 overall back in the 2008 NHL Draft, and being able to play every game for one franchise is special for the veteran.

“It means a lot. Obviously, everyone wants a good career, and everyone wants to have a long career and to do it for one team would be even more special just based on all the relationships and the ties that I do have to this organization now,” Carlson continued, per Gulitti.

“There’s so much that goes into it. There’s so many factors that makes it special. I think timing and where the team is and how you perform, there’s so much that goes into it, but I don’t take it lightly that I get to do it for one team.”

1,000 games is incredible, but Carlson and the Caps have bigger fish to fry