Carter's agent: Holmgren lied
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- If you have been looking for a reason, aside from sheer disappointment, that Jeff Carter has yet to publicly address his stunning trade to Columbus on Thursday, listen to his agent.
Carter's agent: Holmgren lied
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- If you have been looking for a reason, aside from sheer disappointment, that Jeff Carter has yet to publicly address his stunning trade to Columbus on Thursday, listen to his agent.
Carter’s agent, Philadelphia based Rick Curran, told the Columbus Dispatch on Friday that Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren lied to Carter earlier in the week in a face-to-face meeting.
“He is disappointed,” Curran said on Friday morning in the Minneapolis Hilton lobby. “But that’s no reflection of Columbus. It’s more that he made a commitment to Philadelphia.”
Curran said that commitment started three years ago when his client was presented with an offer sheet when he was a restricted free agent. Carter declined.
“He had the opportunity to go somewhere on an offer sheet,” Curran said. “The Flyers told him that he would be one of their cornerstone players.”
Then, last November, in the final year of his 3-year, $15 million deal, the Flyers approached Carter to sign a long-term deal.
“They said that they would need some help on the AAV [average annual value] of the deal [a longer deal to produce a lower cap number],” Curran said. “He said that he liked it here [in Philadelphia] and liked his teammates. He said that if they wanted him, he would make the commitment.”
Carter, 26, inked an 11-year, $58 million deal on Nov. 13, 2010. He surely could have earned more on the open market. Instead, Carter did what he could to stay in Philly.
Last summer, he purchased a new beach house in Sea Isle City, N.J., fully expecting to be in the area for the duration of his career. That all changed on Thursday, when his life was turned upside down on Friday.
His no-trade clause was set to kick in on July 1, 2012.
The shocking part is that Carter and Holmgren met face-to-face earlier in the week, to discuss the apparent rumors, and Holmgren re-assured Carter he was not being moved.
Carter had long been discussed as an option for the Flyers to move once they acquired Ilya Bryzgalov’s rights on June 7. It was apparent that they would need to move a significant chunk of salary in order to sign the free agent goaltender. Carter’s cap number was the only fit.
“Jeff called me and asked about the rumors two weeks ago,” Curran said. “He figured teams were asking about him anyways. I called Paul and I asked him if this is something we should be concerned about.
“Paul assured me that there was nothing to worry about, that they weren’t interested in trading Jeff. He told me that Jeff could come in and meet with him to tell him the same things. And he did. He assured him that they weren’t trading him.”
Rumored or not, you can imagine Carter’s shock when he heard about the trade on Thursday.
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- it's very good, ernie. :-)
— BuckeyeFlyersFan - flyers2thecup, osu land is called Columbus and it is a very nice city. Thank you very much. Get a clue before you post moronic comments.— BuckeyeFlyersFan
- Carter could have gotten money anywhere. He did good by the Flyers because he wanted to be here and he wanted them to win. And Holmgren screwed him. Get it in writing! Carter is probably more pissed at the agent than anything. $5 mil per year in 4 years will be a DIRT cheap salary to pay a guy like Carter.— thefadd
- Seems Holmgren is a graduate of the Andy Reid School of Player Contract Negotiation and Public Pronouncement. Their MO's sure are similar. Results are kind of the same too.— ijj
- Awwwwwww. Poor Jeff Carter. A stuck up snob off the ice won't get to party in Old City any more. Go to Ohio and stay they there. I am glad he got traded to the most boring area possible. Maybe he'll start focusing on winning instead of women.— Ferrell31
- Let's see.. dude has $58 million; during the winter he'll have the pick of any of the coeds at OSU and the day after the regular season ends in April every year( he's on the Jackets don't forget) he can go to his shore home in Sea Isle until September. Sounds like a pretty good life to me.— drbob1
- It's not personal Jeff, it's business. Move on.— stinky_pete
- So a beach house is for the summer, right?
June, July, August and part of September in Sea Isle sounds like a plan even if you play for Moose Jaw in the fall, winter and spring.
Carter had Game 6 on his stick and he failed to lift the puck.
Giroux, Briere, JVR, Pronger, Leighton, Umberger and even Prospal were the recent playoff heroes. Carter never looked like a sniper in the playoffs. He traded himself by not playing like a 1st line player in the real season.
Good luck to him in Columbus on that meager sum of 50+ million dollars. If going to a less "party" town makes him sad, he should rethink his career.— 87ConnSmythe 
This "hometown discount" star was traded to Columbus. Isn't that telling? Many here think Philly did him dirt. If he was really the marquee player so many think he is, doesn't it seem logical that a cup contender should've been after him? Richards, after all, was taken by L.A., and they're not the only Western team that needs to boost its lineup.— icarus- An agent whining about a GM lying?— squiller
- @icarus - By your own logic, maybe a Cup contender WAS after him, but it's just business. Homer wanted the best deal possible, and that was Voracek and the #8.
You people are all missing the point. Carter signed a sweetheart deal to stay in Philly for his entire career, and Homer seems to have lied to his face about his intention to keep the pair in Philly for their entire careers. You may think he's garbage, but that does not reflect what anyone else in hockey thinks of Jeff Carter. Around the league, he's regarded as a defensively responsible, very-skilled forward who is willing to play through pain (ie, 2 broken legs) to compete. You don't like that he parties? Guess what? THEY ALL PARTY! Our beloved Broad Street Bullies were the biggest partiers of them all! There's even a segment on it in the HBO documentary about their collective love affair with a South Jersey bar, if you don't believe me. Get your freaking priorities straight. Richards and Carter both sweated blood for the Flyers, and by the age of 25, they had taken the Flyers to 2 ECFs and 1 SCF. Given some better goaltending, they might have won the Cup last year, and they certainly would have been a good bet to produce a Cup in Philly before they retired. You might not like it, but those are the facts.— Mike P - My logic is that unless Holmgren was really after picks, this deal is not a top-for-top trade that a contender would make. Philly got Voracek, not Nash. Ever hear of Voracek before June 24th? — icarus
- I overheard Carter say this yesterday:'Homer, you lied when you told me you loved me...and I had no cause to doubt you, but I'd rather go on hearing your lies, than to go on living without you...now the place is bare, and I'm standing there( in F##$#$#$$ing Columbus)with emptiness all around,and if I have to play in that town, well, they can bring the curtain down!. Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again? Tell me Homer, are you lonesome tonight???— drbob1
- Just speculating, but I'd guess that neither Datsyuk or Zetterberg felt the need to call Ken Holland for reassurances following Detroit's 2nd round exit. Ditto for Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, Semin, etc. and their GM's.— icarus
- Hey sulshawn...those "old Flyers" won a damn cup. They earned the right to party.— amass1972
