Background
Carlson was born in Natick, Massachusetts, but grew up in Colonia, New Jersey.
Carlson was born in Natick, Massachusetts, but grew up in Colonia, New Jersey.
Carlson lived in the Colonia neighborhood of Woodbridge Township, New Jersey near the New Jersey Rockets Organization based in Newark, New Jersey for Tier II and Juniors and Somerset, New Jersey for Tier I. He attended Saint Joseph High School in New Jersey for three years before he attended Cathedral High School in Indianapolis.
He was drafted by the Capitals in the first round, 27th overall, in the 2008 National Hockey League Entry Draft. Carlson began his ice hockey career with the New Jersey Rockets Youth Hockey Organization of the Atlantic Youth Hockey League. Carlson played in the United States Hockey League with the Indiana Ice in 2007-2008, but signed to play for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League in 2008-2009.
The following night he scored his first professional goal in Game 2 of the series.
Carlson made his National Hockey League debut for the Capitals on November 21, 2009 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. On January 21, 2010, Carlson was recalled by the Capitals.
Carlson would go on to score his first National Hockey League goal against Cam Ward of the Carolina Hurricanes on March 25, 2010. Carlson was an alternate captain for the United States in the 2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
On January 5, 2010, Carlson scored the game-winning goal in overtime of the Gold Medal game as part of a two-goal effort to beat Team Canada 6-5.
Additionally, he was named to the WJC all-star team In December 2010 Carlson was named to National Hockey League.com"s All-Time World Junior Championship team On January 1, 2014, Carlson was named to the United States of America Men"s Ice Hockey Team for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
On February 13, 2014, Carlson scored Team United States of America"s first goal of the tournament, at 15:27 of the first period of the opening match versus
Slovakia. His goal was scored on his first shot in the tournament, giving him consecutive goals on shots in international play for Team United States of America.