John Carlson has been named the NHL’s first star of the month for October after scoring seven goals and 23 points in just 14 games. He is the first Capital to get a star of the month since Evgeny Kuznetsov earned the honor back in February of 2017.
Carlson was “just” third in scoring in the NHL for the month… but with all due respect to second and third stars of the month David Pastrnak (24 points) and Leon Draisaitl (25), the fact that Carlson racked up his points as a defensemen probably helped him overtake that high-scoring duo for top honors. It probably didn’t hurt that Carlson’s 23 points checks in as the second-best October by a defenseman in NHL history, second only to Al MacInnis’s 25-point start to the 1990-91 season.
While Carlson probably isn’t destined to hit the 135 points for which he’s currently on pace, he certainly seems to be on track to demolish his previous career high of 70 points, set last season.
Congrats, Carlson!