No matter what fans beg for, the Pittsburgh Penguins are stuck with Jeff Carter.
The NHL trade deadline is under a month and a half away and fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins are starting to get antsy.
The Penguins have suffered a pair of losing streaks lasting longer than five games and are in desperate need of a healthy lineup and some changes to the personnel.
To be more specific, the bottom six is arguably the biggest flaw on the team right now, and there is a player who has drawn a lot of the heat.
Jeff Carter has drawn much of the fan base’s ire and for good reason; he hasn’t been the same player ever since signing a two-year contract extension and isn’t showing any sings of getting better.
At 38-years-old, it’s safe to assume that Carter won’t show flashes of improvement and is likey stuck in his state of inability to produce.
Why don’t the Penguins find a trade partner and ship him off? That’s what many of the fans have desired all season, but that’s not going to happen.
To be frank, the Penguins are stuck with Carter and there’s only one person to blame.
Ron Hextall traded for Carter at the 2021 trade deadline and at first, Carter was a useful addition.
Carter was a veteran center who knew how to score goals and added depth scoring; everything that has happened ever since, however, has been problematic.
Before Hextall traded for Carter, it was believed that the veteran forward would rather retire than change teams again.
After all, he didn’t have much more to prove in the league; he had won two Stanley Cups with the Los Angeles Kings and was an Olympic Gold medalist.
Thanks to Carter’s former general manager Hextall in the Penguins’ front office, Pittsburgh became an appealing spot for Carter.
Not only was it appealing, but Hextall likely offered great job security to Carter and that’s obvious in the moves that have happened since.
When the 2021 Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft rolled around, Carter was protected while Hextall traded away Jared McCann and allowed players like Jason Zucker and Brandon Tanev to be exposed.
Tanev was eventually taken by Seattle and McCann was selected from the Toronto Maple Leafs; those two have taken off on the Kraken and wouldn’t have had the same roles in Pittsburgh, but they at least would have been steps up from Carter.
Following the Expansion Draft, Hextall not only penned Carter to a two-year contract, but the deal came with a full no-move clause, all but guaranteeing he wouldn’t be traded anywhere.
For all the fans that continue to beg for Carter to be traded, they should know he’s not going anywhere.
Hextall protecting Carter in the Expansion Draft and signing a new deal where Carter has the final say on a move shows that there are no such plans in place.
Even if there wasn’t a clause on the contract, what team would take Carter at this point? He’s 38 and his best hockey is far behind him.
The Penguins need a jump to their bottom six, but it won’t come from the subtraction of Carter.
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