A year after being traded to the Penguins, Jeff Carter still embraces his challenge
Kasperi Kapanen was despondent.
On March 15, in a 4-1 road loss for the Penguins, Kapanen had a wonderful opportunity to pull his team back into the contest in the third period. Trailing by two goals, Kapanen was sprung on a breakaway but was stoned by goaltender Juuse Saros.
A few moments later, Kapanen was on the bench getting a much-needed pick-me-up from veteran forward Jeff Carter.
“He’s always taking care of me,” Kapanen said four days later to media in Glendale, Ariz. “When I’m down, he picks me up. He’s gone through it. He’s a veteran guy. Just lucky to have him on the team.”
Carter joined the team roughly one year ago (April 12, 2021).
In his first major transaction as Penguins general manager, Ron Hextall brought in a familiar face from his days as a front office staffer with the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings by dealing for Carter.
And since then, it’s been a mostly appetizing union for both parties. In exactly 82 regular-season games — the equivalent of a full uninterrupted schedule — Carter has 50 points (26 goals, 24 assists).
Such figures will get you paid, and they did for Carter, who signed a two-year contract extension worth $3.125 million with the Penguins on Jan. 26.
“I’m getting to the end of my career here, and I want to win,” the 37-year-old Carter said that day. “You look at the team that we have and group that we have in there, it’s got a lot of potential to do something special. That was a big part of it. The other side of it is my family really likes it here. They’ve adjusted well. … It’s been a good fit all around for us. It was really an easy decision for us.”
Carter has made decisions easier for Penguins coaches this season as they’ve dealt with all sorts of absences to the lineup, ranging to major offseason surgeries that sidelined franchise centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to open the season as well as the seemingly daily obstacle covid-19 has been.
Carter even served as an alternate captain for a handful of games with Crosby and Malkin sidelined.
Carter’s versatility — he can play center and wing — has made the Penguins lineup highly malleable in the likely event one of their top-12 forwards is missing.
“He’s familiar with playing wing just as much as he is at playing center,” Sullivan said earlier this month when explaining a decision to place him on Malkin’s wing. “We prefer him in the middle … but given the circumstances that we’re in now, we felt he was the best guy to put there. The things that he brings to (Malkin’s) line is just his awareness. He can take faceoffs. He’s good in the defensive zone. He can score himself. He’s got finishing capability.”
Carter also is highly capable of simply being a good teammate.
When the Penguins traded for Rickard Rakell from the Anaheim Ducks on March 12, Rakell all but parachuted in from the West Coast to be in the lineup the next day for a 5-1 home win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Without the benefit of much rest or preparation, the Penguins opted to ease Rakell into the lineup and placed him on the left wing of the third line, centered by Carter.
Before his faceoff on Rakell’s first shift, Carter gave Rakell a pretty thorough briefing on what to do.
“He’s a great skater, a great shot,” said Rakell, who as a member of the Ducks regularly battled Carter and the Kings in a division rivalry. “A great two-way center. You can just tell he gets a lot of responsibilities here. He’s a great leader on the team. He’s always a positive guy and a really nice guy that makes sure everyone feels good coming into the rink.”
One person who definitely feels good about coming to the rink with Carter on his side is Crosby.
The two were part of a sterling rookie class for the NHL in the 2005-06 season. Carter was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers and regularly bumped heads with Crosby during some fierce battles between the cross-state rivals.
Even before that, Carter and Crosby were members of Canada’s gold medal-winning squad in the 2004 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship tournament.
“I played with (Carter) in World Juniors and things like that,” Crosby said. “So I had a pretty good idea of what he brought. He’s always had a ton of speed. His shot, his knack for scoring has always been there. It seemed like something that came pretty easy for him. He’s a strong guy. As he’s kind of played in the NHL over the years, his game (has become) so well-rounded. He does so many things well. Faceoffs, defensively, he’s strong on pucks. And the skating and the shot haven’t gone anywhere.
“It’s incredible what he’s done over the course of his career. He’s obviously won and been parts of successful teams. I prefer to have him on our team than playing against him, that’s for sure.”
If the 2021-22 Penguins are to be successful — and make no mistake, a Stanley Cup championship is the only qualifier attached to that adjective — Carter will be a vital component to that endeavor.
Having won the Cup with the Kings in 2012 and 2014, Carter embraces the responsibility of that challenge, particularly after some lean seasons with the Kings before being traded to the Penguins.
“The last couple of years in (Los Angeles) were tough years. To come to a team that’s winning games and has a chance to go on a run, it just gives you that boost and gets you back into it.”
“Obviously, I wanted a chance to win and I think that’s what this team gives me.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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