How Hurricanes traded for John Carlson but lost him almost immediately to Lightning originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Carolina Hurricanes put themselves in the driver’s seat for John Carlson.
They couldn’t finish the deal with the star defenseman, though, meaning their recent trade with the Anaheim Ducks was for naught.
Carlson signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night for two years and $17 million, the team announced.
It’s a quick return to the Eastern Conference for the long-time Washington Capitals star.
He had been sent to the Ducks before this season’s trade deadline in a bit of a shocking deal, but he was on an expiring contract.
Now, he’s going to the Bolts.
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How did the Hurricanes lose John Carlson?
The Hurricanes didn’t actually trade for Carlson on any kind of contract in their recent deal with the Ducks.
They were acquiring his rights, which allowed them to negotiate with him before free agency opened.
That didn’t guarantee anything would get done.
It does seem like generally when teams do this, they already have a sense that they’ll be able to pull a deal off, and so it happens.
But in this case, Carlson evidently wasn’t convinced, and the Lightning won out instead.
The Hurricanes only traded a sixth-round pick for those rights, so it’s probably not a big deal, but in retrospect, it didn’t work out.
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