Report: Carter requesting trade?
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Report: Carter requesting trade?
He has been there for just 8 games.
But does Jeff Carter want out of Columbus?
The hot rumor circulating throughout the NHL is that Carter has asked the Blue Jackets, who are in the midst of the worst start in team history, for a trade.
Renaud Lavoie, a respected French Canadian journalist from RDS, said he spoke to Carter’s agent, Philadelphia-based Rick Curran, who denied the report.
Here is a rough translation Lavoie’s report:
“By the American Thanksgiving (a week), several general managers will try to trade to improve their team. A name that is currently circulating is that of Jeff Carter.
Not that the Blue Jackets want to trade him, but because he is asking a trade.
Many GMs are aware of this fact.
But when I contacted the agent for Jeff Carter, Rick Curran, the latter told me that his client did not request a trade, contrary to rumors.”
How bad are things in Columbus?
Carter is still looking for his first goal in a Blue Jackets uniform. He missed 10 games - including a rematch here in Philly on Nov. 5 in which the Flyers whacked Columbus, 9-2 - but has collected just 3 assists in 8 games played. He returned to the lineup on Nov. 12 after missing nearly a full month.
There are only 5 teams in the NHL who have not won at least 3 times on the road this season. Columbus has just 3 wins total. They are 0-7-1 on the road after Thursday’s 2-1 shootout loss in Boston.
With that, they have all but eliminated themselves from the super tight playoff race in the Western Conference, though it is only the middle of November. Columbus is already 13 points back of 8th place.
The Blue Jackets have not made any big moves to try and shake things up. There have been no major trades, other than acquiring Mark Letestu from Pittsburgh. Coach Scott Arniel and GM Scott Howson still have their jobs.
In fact, former coach Ken Hitchcock - who was still under contract with the Blue Jackets this season - was hired in St. Louis on Nov. 6. Under Hitchcock, the Blues (4-0-1) have amassed as more points in 12 nights (9) than the Blue Jackets have all season (8).
Still, we have a hard time believing that the Blue Jackets have any interest in dealing Carter, even if he did request a deal.
Carter was one of their marquee offseason acquisitions, brought in to be the centerpiece on a line with Rick Nash. They haven’t yet had enough time to create any chemistry.
Besides, there were reports in the Columbus Dispatch that Carter and Nash - who are just a year apart - have become close friends and attended Ohio State football games together.
Then again, it’s not hard to imagine that it has been a miserable ride in Columbus for Carter, who was clearly not expecting to get dealt last summer. Not after signing an 11-year deal with the Flyers a few months earlier. Not after reportedly being told by general manager Paul Holmgren that he would not be traded in a face-to-face meeting.
After being sent from a perennial contender to a franchise in the middle of Ohio with a tepid fan-base that has seen the playoffs just once in 11 seasons, it is more or less a culture shock.
If you recall, it took Columbus sending Arniel and Howson to Carter’s shore house in Sea Isle City, N.J., a full 4 days after the trade before he would publicly address the trade. Carter said that he felt “betrayed” and “angered.”
Knowing Carter, it is hard to believe that he wouldn’t be willing to stick it out a bit longer to see how things play out.
At the very least, there would not be any shortage of interested general managers if Carter did indeed request a trade. Consistent 35-goal scorers with long-term, manageable salary cap hits don’t exactly grow on trees.
We’ll keep you posted.
REALIGNMENT TALK: One interesting bit of news regarding the upcoming vote on realignment by the NHL’s Board of Governors in the playoff format.
According to CBC’s Elliotte Friedman, who has been at the forefront of the realignment news, one of the topics is a playoff system that would feature the first two rounds of intra-division play. Once the division “winners” are determined, then the remaining 4 teams would be re-seeded regardless of conference.
That would allow, say, teams like the Flyers and Penguins to play each other in the Stanley Cup Finals if they were indeed to play in different divisions next season. It would also mean that teams from the East and West could square off one round earlier than usual.
What do you think?
BRING A JACKET: After topping Phoenix on Thursday night, the Flyers boarded their charter jet. Destination: Winnipeg, Manitoba - also known as the coldest city in the world with a population of more than 600,000 people.
The Flyers arrived at 1:31 am CST (2:31 am EST) and were scheduled for an afternoon practice at the MTS Centre.
The high daytime temperature in Winnipeg on Saturday is a balmy 16 degrees Fahrenheit. The puck drops in the prairie town at 3 o’clock.
It is the Flyers’ first trip to Winnipeg since March 22, 1996.
The Jets walloped Washington, 4-1, on Thursday night, as they notched their first back-to-back home wins since moving to Winnipeg from Atlanta last summer.
“A lot of my friends and family are excited to get back to Winnipeg,” said Chris Pronger, who is one of just two Flyers to have played in the old Winnipeg Arena. For Pronger, a 4-hour drive to Winnipeg from his hometown of Dryden, Ontario, made it easily his closest NHL city. “I know the fans are real excited to have a team back. You’ve seen the sold out crowds. They’ve gotten off to a rough start but they’re playing better of late. We’ve got to be focused and prepared. It should be a good game. It will be a lot of fun.”
QUOTABLE:
“Honestly, I think I have, but I don’t even know what it is. You’d know if I was starting a riot out there.”
-Forward Zac Rinaldo, who was given a 10-minute misconduct for “inciting,” was asked whether he had ever been called for the penalty before.
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers
i'll bet everyone in columbus wants out.
enough with the carter/richards bashing, they are both great players. they probably didn't party as much as the hack journalist in philly potrayed.— stanley- Who is Jeff Carter? I vaguely remember he played here during the regular season.— atdean1
- You know what I LOVE about my fellow Flyers Fans? They value GOONS like Rinaldo because they "work hard" and HATE on Carter because they see him as lazy. Let me educate you animals, Rinaldo "works hard" or so it seems because he has as much hockey talent as a bag of pucks and while Carter looks "lazy" he just has ACTUAL TALENT. I swear Flyers fans are only happy when they've got GOONS out there fightin', but when they've got actual talent their soft and want them run out of town. How soon before you morons turn on Giroux and JVR?— PhillyPuckDude
- Next time you want to compare Carter to someone, at least pick someone who has less goals than him this season to make your point. Oh wait, there is NO ONE in the NHL with less goals than him this season. Say what you want about Rinaldo, but the kid has the same amount of points as Carter (despite seeing no PP time and playing on the 4th line), a better +\-, and at least he provides some energy. Oh yeah, and he makes a fraction of Carter's salary.
Carter is the epitome of the saying "you can't win on talent alone."
And lastly, I can't recall EVER seeing a post on here about wanting to run Giroux out of town and Gagne (for example) was one of the most beloved Flyers of all time. See, Gagne had talent AND heart.
- "See, Gagne had talent AND heart." LOLOLOL
The ultimate in hypocrisy from the great Snipes.
Last year Gags got off to a slow start at Tampa Bay
and Snipes badmouthed Simon the the max. At that time
the great Snipes posted extensive stats showing that
Gags was last in the league in plus/minus and near the
bottom in goals scored. Snipes couldn't say enough negative things about Gagne then, but now he says Gagne had talent AND heart...What a hypocrite...LOLOLOL - There you are, was wondering when you would use this Id again (over your 15 others). So, me pointing out his stats is bad mouthing him? Those would be called facts. And I never, ever said he was a player without talent or heart (or I am sure you would have dug into your archives to post the link). Tough to deny that a guy with Gagne's career numbers doesn't have talent, and his consistent stellar play in the playoffs and ability to play through injury has repeatedly proven he has heart. I was sad to see him go, and relieved to see that he was having a down year, as it made me feel better about the situation. Pointing out facts of his stats is hardly bad mouthing him, but good try.
By the way, I've got about 15 signed Gagne items in my Flyers room, and was wearing his jersey at the Finals game when we lost the Cup. Were you there? Yeah, that's what I thought. In any event - Who cares?
- Reseeding the final 4!!! Great move!!! I hate the arbitraryness of the east/west finals. Imagine how cool it would be for a philly/ny, mtl/tor, etc.. the finals never have rivals because the teams rarely play— fredhits
- I don't like the new division format. There will be 4 divisions 2 with 7 teams and 2 with 8 teams. Four teams from each division will make the playoffs but what if one division is much better than the other. You could have the a fifth place team in one division have a higher point total than the fourth place team in the other and miss the playoffs.— flyers2thecup
- PhillyPuckDude = Jeff Carters daddy— 7xChamp
- Puckdude - why do you think Carter was exiled, only a few years into his career, to hockey hell in Columbus. Any star player who is worthy of his value IS NOT traded that early in his career. Despite his stats, don't you see any red flags????? One of them is the overwhelming majority of posters making similar comments. The second one is the Flyers sending him packing. You seem to be too much of a Carter homer to admit anything other than the reality of the situation.— flyers87
- The Flyers are a bunch of bozo's. They could have had the #1 pick in each entry draft since 1975 and still wouldn't win the Cup. Why? Because they aren't happy until they're pissing on some promising player for their own ineptude with building an ACTUAL hockey team. They couldn't get it done prior to the Salary Cap and there's no reason to think they can do it now. Mark my words, JVR and Giroux are next. Yeah, everything's warm and fuzzy for now, bur in time the two of them will be burned and broken goods given away for "promising" players who prove to be nothing but a promise. It's ridiculous how the Flyers never learn from their mistakes. And don't get me started about their propensity for lying. Oh yeah, the proposed playoff idea is unneccessary. Leave the league alone and stop expanding.— Atomic Fury
- It's funny. Frank describes this as "the hot rumor in the NHL", and yet I just went to the NHL page at ESPN.com, and "the hot rumor in the NHL" isn't so much as mentioned there. By the way, neither is Stamkos-to-Flyers.— 1980
- Espn still covers hockey? To convince myself that is the case, I just went there to check it out. 1980 is right-- no mention of Carter. Actually, no mention I could find of speculating on anything, trades or otherwise. They have a riveting couple sentences about jagr's injury though in which they confirm he is injured and mention that he played in Russia. Wow, deep. I'm not thinking that is the place to go to find out about any rumors (or valuable hockey news).
Oh wait, I stand corrected. I just found it on their "rumor" page: http://m.espn.go.com/nhl/rumors? - Wow. snipes is Frank's girlfriend.— 1980
