June 23rd, 2011 is a day that fans of the Blue Jackets would like to forget. They made a big splash at the draft that day, acquiring center Jeff Carter from Philadelphia. He was supposed to be one of the centerpieces of their forward group but it didn’t work out like that at all.
Before even looking at what they gave up to get him, let’s look at Carter’s tenure with Columbus. It lasted all of 39 games where he picked up 11 goals and 10 assists, numbers that were considerably down from his time with the Flyers.
Some may want to attribute that to the fact that he simply didn’t want to be there. Philadelphia dealt Carter before his trade protection kicked in and he didn’t hide the fact that he wasn’t happy about it.
So, what did the Blue Jackets give up for those 39 unhappy games? A young winger and two draft picks. That doesn’t sound terrible until you look at who those players wound up being.
The young winger was Jakub Voracek who was coming off his entry-level deal and had already established himself as a capable top-six forward. The seventh overall pick in 2007 took his game to another level in Philadelphia as expected and has spent a large portion of his time since then as a fixture on their front line.
One of the two draft picks was the eighth overall selection in 2011. That was used on center Sean Couturier. While it took some time for the offensive side of his game to blossom, he has been an effective defensive pivot throughout his career. Heading into this season, he had back-to-back 76-point seasons and was on pace for another 70-point year before the pandemic hit. Couple that with his defensive skill set and you have a legitimate number one center which is what Columbus was trying to get when they added Carter. The other draft pick, a third-round selection, was used on Nick Cousins who has carved out a decent career thus far even though he has bounced around over the last few years.
(It wasn’t all good news for Philadelphia though. This move, coupled with the swap of Mike Richards to Los Angeles, gave them enough cap savings to pave the way for them to sign Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year contract. He was bought out two years later and the Flyers are now paying him through the 2026-27 season to not play for them.)
Needless to say, that initial trade didn’t work out very well for Columbus at all. Unfortunately, this wound up being somewhat of a double whammy situation as the deal that saw him leave the Blue Jackets wasn’t much better. Unfortunately, that’s what happens when you have a disgruntled and underachieving player who still had 10 years left on a now-illegal contract with a cap hit of over $5.27MM per season.
Carter wound up being moved to the Kings with Columbus receiving defenseman Jack Johnson and a first-round pick in return, a far cry from what they gave up to get him only eight months earlier.
While Johnson has taken a lot of heat for his current contract with Pittsburgh, he was a quality defender with the Blue Jackets, logging more than 23 minutes a night over parts of seven seasons with them. However, while he was trending toward being a two-way threat in Los Angeles, that part of his game rarely resurfaced in Columbus as he was more of a physical, stay-at-home defender. The upside was there but he didn’t live up to it.
The same can be said for who they selected with the 2013 first-round pick which turned out to be Marko Dano. He was holding down a regular spot in the KHL in his draft-eligible season which is no small feat but his offensive game never really materialized and instead, he has spent the bulk of his six full years in North America in the minors. They salvaged a bit of value by including him as part of the Brandon Saad–Artemi Panarin swap but that’s still not a great return on a first-round selection. As it turns out, Dano is now actually back with Columbus and could be among their recalls for their play-in series against Toronto after spending most of the year with AHL Cleveland.
Carter, meanwhile, went on to have a bit of a resurgence with the Kings, posting at least 50 points in each of his first four full seasons after the trade. He has slowed down since then though as injuries have limited him to just 82 points combined in the last three years. The 35-year-old still has two years left on his current contract.
In acquiring Carter, then-GM Scott Howson was hoping to pair a star center with their star winger in Rick Nash. Instead, they wound up with a trade tree to forget.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
You forgot the best part of this trade’s butterfly effect.
They traded Bobrovsky because they got Bryz.
As a Pens fan, I laughed so hard that day.
Holmer more than made up for it by sending JVR to TOR the following year.
The Flyers did also get Simmonds in the Richards deal so it wasn’t all that bad. He was a great Flyer for most of his tenure there. The Bryz signing wasn’t really bad at first because he had played so well in Anaheim and Arizona. Hindsight is always 20/20 but it wasn’t a mistake at the time. You could argue they were only a solid goaltender away from a Stanley Cup.
Brayden Schenn came from LA as well
Argument could also be made that Bob showed enough in 2010-11 to prove he could be their guy. 59 games .915 sv% 2.59 gaa in his rookie year. Then you don’t have to trade your captain and leading scorer (who proved capable of winning a cup a year after the trades).
As you said though about the hindsight but to me would of been comparable (not the same thing) as signing Lehner or Varlamov after Hart’s rookie year (very similar (not the same) numbers between Hart-Bob).
Exactly. I actually think Schenn and Simmonds for Richards was a steal for Philly, but LA did win two Cups, so hard to argue their end.
But, if they had just kept Carter and Richards and didn’t toss Bob aside after one or two bad playoff games, they could have had a stacked team with an elite netminder.
Bob killed the Pens as a Flyer. So glad to see them ditch him and not realize that Bryz would get lazy after getting that big deal.
Didn’t care if we got bubble gum back for Carter he was a cancer for the Jackets Loved Jack Johnson but his financial problems was a big mess for him Hope that is all being cleared up for him
Carter was a cancer in Columbus who didn’t want to be there and did a “lay down job” until the Jackets moved him. Professionally he stunk and set the franchise back several years. He convinced Rick Nash to ask for a trade and bad mouthed the city and the franchise all over the NHL. There’s a cozy place in hell for people like him. The next trade the Jackets made with Philadelphia worked out much better- three draft picks for Sergei Bobrovsky. Eight years later only two of those picks ever made it to the NHL. Taylor Leier has appeared in 55 games and Anthony Stolarz has appeared in 26 games. Bobrovsky won two Vezina’s in Columbus and the Blue Jackets are making their 4th straight playoff appearance. Try as he might, Jeff Carter could not destroy the franchise.
You really think there’s a special place in hell for Jeff Carter? Ha, that’s a bit dramatic.
Dramatic? A bit. Correct about what Carter said/did to city/franchise? Accurate. He was a d bag. That’s me saying it nicely. Rick Nash still kept his home here because his family loves it here. It’s just the classic story of a superstar player giving his all for a building franchise that was making mistakes likes this one even though said player didn’t necessarily want to leave the team and city but just wanted to win. Couldn’t ever keep a GM or coach either, we were looked as the NHL’s Cleveland Browns, no lie.
Yeah sure I don’t disagree and his checkered past in Philly is no secret either but a special place in hell for Jeff Carter? Come on that’s just ridiculous.
So, basically…
He couldn’t find a guy in Columbus and wanted to move to LA to meet Mike Richards’ and Jarret Stoll’s guy.
And he was willing to ruin the franchise to do it.
I can see why Jacket fans would hate him.
I’m not sure if he requested a trade there specifically or not. I know recouping a first rounder and getting Jack Johnson was the best they got because I do recall talking to other teams and trying like hell to trade him and get the best value. Still, Philly was wanted to move him and I wonder if we still would’ve got Bob from them later on. Would’ve been interesting to see what more Voracek and Nash looked like with a stable goaltender at the same time.