Carter's agent: Holmgren lied
Daily News Flyers blog
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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$58 mil...why did he buy in Sea Isle???— sarah89- Curran blew this for his client. Should have had a no trade clause in from the beginning but he gave that up for the $.
At the time Holmgran said it he might have meant it but things change.
This has to be Homer last chance also if no Cup in two years he goes too,— irish01 
Comment removed.- Good bye Carter. We really don't care about who did/said what to whom. Time to move on. Good luck and success in Columbus.— billtfla
- Play hockey for a couple more years and retire in your 30s a very rich man. Sorry, I can't feel sorry for you.— ACBaughman
- Boo hoo. He only banked 58 million. Why doesn't obama confiscate his wealth for a stimulus package.— PresidentSpock
- At least the Flyers wives will be safe now— TKL008
- He had to do and say what he had to for the team. Things changed that's all. Carter's just pissed.— bossrjc
- Hard to feel bad for a guy making $5M/year to serve as black hole on the ice and flick wrist shots. great shot but dude: stfu and move on. Sure you regret not holding out for Stone Harbor or Avalon rather than Sea Isle. But now you can get a beach house on the left coast near your bud; you two can wine and whine together again.
maybe 'the meeting' enlightened Holmgren to the fact that Carter was never going to grow up in Philly. Do hope he thrives in Columbus.
next week's colum will reveal Richards was traded only because he threw a temper tantrum upon hearing of the Carter deal.— raoool - Boo Hoo Jeff you and your agent need to grow a set.
fff— fff - As usual the haters are out in full force but the fact is, he and his agent were both lied to by Holmgren. For those who said his agent should have negotiated the NTC, it's against CBA rules. I don't remember exactly what the rule is but I believe that as long as you are RFA eligible, you can't have one. So put your hatred aside for a second and look at this for what it is, a big, fat lie produced by the Flyers. Just wait till Giroux, JvR and others are working on their next contracts, you don't think their agents will remember what happened here? It spells the end of hometown discounts. For a team that is always up against the cap ceiling, this is a horrible business decision and shows that the team did nothing but act in bad faith.— MissMolly
- what, they don't have beach houses in columbus?— bababooey2yall
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- i think holmgren didnt lie to carter.. i think snider forced homer to make this move along with the bryz signing.. snider is 78 now and afraid he wont see another cup so he is starting to interfere with gm... thats my guess..— zwarte piet
