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TRADE ALERT: LA Kings Send Jeff Carter to the Pittsburgh Penguins

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The Los Angeles Kings have reportedly acquired a pair of conditional draft picks from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Jeff Carter.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie first reported the news on twitter.

One of the picks coming to LA is believed to be a 2022 selection with a condition tied to games played next season. We’re awaiting confirmation of this information.

UPDATE: The trade involves a conditional 2022 third-round pick and 2023 fourth-round selection.

Conditions on the third rounder are tied to Pittsburgh making it to the Stanley Cup Final, with Carter playing in 50% of the games. Should that happen, the pick upgrades to a second round pick.

If Carter plays 50 games next season, the fourth rounder becomes a third round selection.

LA is retaining 50% of the money in the deal, which is the maximum allowed, per CBA rules.

Carter’s contract is a unique one, in that his his cap hit is $5,27M, yet his actual cash salary is only $2M due to the deal being largely front-loaded. He has one year remaining on the contract.

In the summer of 2019 we specifically asked Carter about the rumors that he would retire if traded and he immediately shot them down.

“I’m 20 games from 1,000, so I don’t think I’m retiring,” said the two-time Stanley Cup champion. “I have three years left on my contract. I want to be an LA King. I want to help change things around here, but I don’t have no-trade protection so whatever happens, happens.”

Then, just as we were about to move on, with a very serious facial expression and a near death stare back, Carter added, “And I never talked about retiring either. That never came out of my mouth.”

That full article can be found here.

Penguins GM Rob Hextall knows Carter well, as he was the Assistant GM when the Kings traded for Carter in the push for their 2012 playoff appearance – which ultimately resulted in LA’s first Stanley Cup.

Hextall was also part of the Philadelphia Flyers management group that originally selected Carter 11th overall at the legendary 2003 Draft. Since that time, Carter has won two Stanley Cups, earned a gold medal at the Olympics, and played in 1,080 NHL regular season games.

This season, the 36-year-old forward had played in all 40 Kings games, scoring 8 goals, including one Saturday night in San Jose, which ended up being his last game in an LA uniform.

Overall, he leaves the Kings having played 580 games for the team, recording 383 points (194G, 189A).

His 194 goals in LA ties him with Mike Murphy for 10th most in franchise history.

Additionally, since LA acquired him from the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2012, Carter scored the second most goals for the Kings (194) and third most points (383). He also produced the most power-play goals (57), game-winning goals (44), and overtime goals (11) during that time period.

After playing center for most of his time with the Kings, Carter had played on the right wing this year for coach Todd McLellan.

In recent weeks, Blake had confirmed that even without trade protection, he would confer with Carter, Dustin Brown, and Jonathan Quick before moving them to another team. LA’s GM felt the trio had earned that privilege for all they had given to the franchise over the past decade. From what we understand, Carter was presented the latest trade scenario to Pittsburgh after the Kings returned home from their recent road trip. He ultimately signed off on being moved to the Penguins.

For Blake and the Kings, their immediate attention now turns to pending UFA Alex Iafallo. The latest on that situation can be found here.

In Pittsburgh, Hextall and team president Brian Burke are said to now be focusing their interests on Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf. Allegedly, Burke, who was the Ducks GM when they won the 2007 Stanley Cup, is waiting to see if his former center will waive his No Movement Clause to come to the Penguins. Even if the 35-year-old center agrees to play for the Penguins over the final month of the season and through the playoffs, he’s on an expiring contract and could return to Anaheim in just a few months.

We will be updating this article further throughout the night.



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Why the LA Kings should trade for Jeff Carter, not Rick Nash

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Comments

  1. I enjoyed Carter’s game play all the way until the trade deadline for the past couple years. I hate speculation, but I felt he was making himself undesirable for trade.
    He’s a great player and I think all of us appreciate the cups he brought to LA.
    Sign AI the dude is a pucking puck magnet, you rarely see a player that is able to retrieve and steal pucks the way he has shown, he will be a staple for the young goal scorers.

  2. One thing I’m not yet clear on. Is the retained money salary or salary cap money? Put another way, do the Kings pay $1m of Carts’ salary, or do they have $2.6m counted against their cap? Thanks.