The Penguins announced postgame that veteran center Jeff Carter is retiring after a 19-year NHL career. He’d spent the last three seasons and change in Pittsburgh, maintaining his status as a regular but slipping to bottom-six minutes as his point production and all-around game declined.
The two-time Stanley Cup champion cited family reasons as his primary reason for stepping away from the game, confirming he’ll stick around in the Pittsburgh area moving forward:
Yeah, we’re staying. We moved here in August full-time. We’ve loved it. It’s been a great fit for our family. It’s central to both our extended families. It has worked out really well.
Carter’s career began with the cross-state rival Flyers, who selected him with the 11th overall pick in 2003 as part of arguably the most star-studded first round in modern history. The now-39-year-old wouldn’t make his NHL debut for another two years, sticking around with the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League while a labor lockout canceled the 2004-05 campaign. At age 21, he immediately stepped in as a solid complementary scorer, scoring 23 goals and 42 points in 2005-06 while averaging only 12:04 per game.
He was promoted to Philadelphia’s top six the following season, where he largely remained for the Flyers and three other clubs before being demoted last season. By 2008-09, he’d cemented himself as one of the better two-way centers in the league, leading a deep Flyers offense in scoring with a career-high 46 goals and 84 points, averaging nearly 21 minutes per game.
His point production trailed off marginally over the next two seasons but nonetheless remained a top-six fixture. Injuries began to take a minor toll, as he was limited to 12 appearances in the Flyers’ run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final. Philly inked him to an 11-year, $58MM extension early in the 2010-11 campaign, but he would never play a game for the franchise under that deal. Then-Flyers GM Paul Holmgren had a quick case of buyer’s remorse amid his early 2010s roster-retooling, dealing Carter to the Blue Jackets for young winger Jakub Voráček, a first-round pick that became captain Sean Couturier, and a third-round pick that became depth contributor Nick Cousins.
It was a slam-dunk deal for Philly, who got 604 points and 727 games out of Voráček, 795 games and 498 points (and counting) out of Couturier, and three seasons of decent depth scoring out of Cousins. Carter played less than a full season in Columbus, as he was flipped to the Kings at the 2012 trade deadline after just 15 goals and 39 games in a Blue Jackets uniform.
His offensive peak may have been in Philadelphia, but he found the most success in Los Angeles. He posted nine points in 16 games down the stretch in 2012 before tying for the league lead with eight goals in 20 postseason games as the eight-seed Kings had one of the most dominant Cinderella runs in professional sports, winning the first Stanley Cup in franchise history while going 16-4. Splitting duties with former Flyers teammate Mike Richards as some of the Kings’ primary secondary scorers behind Anže Kopitar, he returned with a vengeance in 2014, erupting for 10 goals and 25 points in 26 playoff games as L.A. captured its second championship in three years.
Carter eclipsed the 60-point mark in each of the next three seasons and was on his way to doing so again in 2017-18 until an October skate cut caused tendon damage in his lower left leg, requiring surgery and keeping him out for over four months. He was strong in limited action, posting 22 points in 27 games, but was held without a point in four playoff games as the Kings were quickly dispatched by the expansion Golden Knights in the first round.
Unfortunately, he was never the same after that. He managed 60 points combined over the following two seasons (136 games), posting a -41 rating in the process. After he was limited to eight goals and 19 points through the first 40 games of the COVID-shortened 2021 season, the retooling Kings traded the final season-and-a-half of his aforementioned extension to the Penguins for a pair of mid-round draft picks, retaining half his $5.27MM cap hit in the swap.
The move worked out well in the short-term for Pittsburgh. Carter had a resurgence in slightly increased minutes down the stretch, recording 11 points in 14 games and four goals and six playoff games as the Pens were eliminated in the first round by the Islanders. He put up 45 points the following season, his highest total in five years, but Pittsburgh was again dispatched in the first round, this time by the Rangers.
Given his mild rebound, Penguins GM Ron Hextall inked Carter to a two-year, $6.25MM extension midway through the 2021-22 campaign. Unfortunately, the unavoidable aging curve took effect sooner than they’d hoped, knocking his production down to 13 goals and 29 points last season while having his ice time slashed to its lowest since his rookie season. This year marked another significant slide, posting 11 goals and just four assists in 72 contests. He is coming off his best-ever year in the faceoff dot, winning 61.5% of his draws.
Carter’s final goal came earlier tonight in a 5-4 loss to the Isles, a power-play tally assisted by Sidney Crosby and Michael Bunting. All told, his 1,321 career games played stand alone at 63rd on the all-time list. He tallied 441 goals, 409 assists, and 850 points with a career +9 rating and captured Selke Trophy votes on four occasions (2009, 2011, 2016, 2017). His estimated career earnings to date are $76.5MM, per CapFriendly.
With Carter sticking around in Pittsburgh, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him take an off-ice role in GM Kyle Dubas’ front office. PHR extends its best wishes to Carter and his family in their next chapter.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.