Over the last 30 years, the Pittsburgh Penguins have cobbled together a long history of in-season “swing from the heels” trades. Some with markedly better results than others.
Pre-deadline acquisitions of Larry Murphy, Peter Taglianetti, Scott Young, Ulf Samuelsson, Grant Jennings and Ron Francis in 1991. Kjell Samuelsson and Ken Wregget in 1992. Gary Roberts in 2007 and Marian Hossa in 2008. Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz in 2009. Trevor Daley, Justin Schultz and Carl Hagelin in 2015-16.
Ahh, the memories!
Then there were swaps such as Markus Naslund going to the Vancouver Canucks in 1996. The useless acquisition of Patrick Marleau last year. Derick Brassard coming to the Penguins in 2018. And Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow and Douglas Murray hopping on board in 2013.
Oy, the memories.
With a track record like that, it’s no wonder we tend to get hyperbolic any time a deal is made in advance of a playoff run. So let’s make an agreement regarding Monday’s acquisition of 36-year-old Los Angeles Kings forward Jeff Carter.
Let’s make a deal about the deal, so to speak.
I’ll stop comparing Carter to Marleau if those of you who have been flooding my email and social media stop suggesting Carter will become Guerin 2.0.
How does that sound? Let’s meet in the middle on this one. Because truth be told, it’s highly unlikely this trade is ever going to be as easily remembered for being close to as good or bad as any of those extreme trade examples I just recapped above.
Think more along the lines of Erik Gudbranson for Tanner Pearson (don’t worry, I had to look it up to jog my memory, too).
Since this trade is the first notable deal under the new management team of general manager Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke, it feels more substantial than it probably should. It stands alone as the team’s only noteworthy move before the deadline, in a year where things were pretty quiet in the NHL.
On top of that, Carter is a recognizable name in Pittsburgh since he was hated as a Philadelphia Flyer a decade ago. And he’s gone on to be a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Kings.
However, the truth is, so little is being risked for Carter (just a pair of conditional draft picks between 2022 and 2023), the potential risk of getting burned for taking this chance is minimal. So, too, are the salary cap implications, as the Kings are retaining 50% of Carter’s $5.2 million charges for the prorated portion of the rest of this year and next year. That’s if Carter even decides to play in 2021-22.
But, on the positive end, expectations should be tempered. After all, unlike when Guerin came on board in 2009, this edition of the Penguins isn’t coming off a postseason where they almost won the Stanley Cup.
Plus, for as much ice time as Carter could see in the rest of the regular season, the hope is that he’ll be pushed down the lineup to merely a third- or fourth-line role when injured players return.
As for Guerin, he not only took on a big role during games en route to the 2009 crown but in the locker room as well. The best-case scenario for this Carter trade is that he helps offset the absences of Evgeni Malkin, Kasperi Kapanen and Brandon Tanev throughout the rest of the regular season. Then — hopefully — as those guys make their way back to the lineup, Carter can step back into a third- or fourth-line capacity.
Think less of Guerin and more of Craig Adams up front in 2009 or Ron Hainsey on defense in 2017.
Where the analogy does hold for Marleau, though, is that if Carter is washed up, will his minutes on the ice become even more vacuous and useless than Marleau’s were a season ago?
In his eight regular-season games as a Penguin before the coronavirus shutdown last year, Marleau had just two points while averaging roughly 15:30 of ice time. In the four-game playoff loss to Montreal, he was a minus-4 with no points while consuming 10:38 of ice time.
Head coach Mike Sullivan couldn’t keep Marleau on the ice. When he did, good things rarely happened. Yet Sullivan still seemed obligated to keep throwing Marleau over the boards.
If things go badly with Carter, I’d expect a similar result. Keep in mind, Carter (8 goals, 19 points) is coming off a two-point night on Saturday. That was his first multi-point game since Jan. 16. Carter’s shooting percentage of 6.8 is on pace for the second lowest of his career.
That said — in an effort to keep up my end of the bargain — there is reason to believe Carter will yield more positives than Marleau. Word is he is skating better than Marleau did when the Pens acquired the 40-year-old in March of last year.
Let’s just hope the vision the Penguins have of him filling out a third- or fourth-line role with the team once Malkin and Kapanen come back is a result of him playing with the kind of grit, tenacity and responsibility associated with those duties. Not just because he’s a former top-6 skater who has basically lost his scoring touch.
Just like Marl … oops! There I go again.
I’ll keep trying, I swear. You do the same.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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April 13, 2021 at 05:00PM
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