Jeff Carter was reportedly sold to the Pittsburgh Penguins by the Los Angeles Kings. (Bruce Kluckhohn / NHLI via Getty Images)
The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired Jeff Carter from the Los Angeles Kings, reports TSN’s Bob McKenzie.
Carter has one year left on his current contract, with a cap hit of $ 5.27 million in the 2021-22 season.
In 40 games, Carter has eight goals and 19 points, and while he’s not the world-class player he used to be, he could deliver an extra hit to a penguin team that lingers as a competitor.
Carter’s underlying numbers aren’t that good this year, with Corsi For, Fenwick For under 50 percent, and expected percentages for the percentages while playing 16:27 per game. The 36-year-old is now four years away from his last season by more than 60 points, and frankly, his notoriety outweighs his real worth. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad business in and of itself for the penguins, although further analysis will depend on knowing under what conditions the selection will be made.
Pittsburgh is betting on Carter, who serves as an immediate upgrade in the third-line center over the inexperienced Frederick Gaudreau, who has scored one goal and four points in 13 games to date and is likely more productive than Teddy Blueger, who was just taken from the injured reserve inactive after almost a month.
Brian Burke, Penguin president for hockey operations, has an affinity for big-name players with an advantage and likely wants to remember Carter as the compulsory member of two kings teams that won the Stanley Cup, along with his major contributions to Canada Gold medal won in 2014 at the Olympic Games in Sochi. Carter just isn’t that guy anymore, and the expectation that he’ll turn the clock back prepares him for failure. However, it’s an instant upgrade to the bottom six options for the Penguins. If he adds more veteran experience to a team with two future Hall of Famers and pushes the team back to the cup competition, that is a short-term win, long-term consequences be damned.
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