A Villan Wears the Crown

            Jeff Carter is an agitator. Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke kicks himself each time the Ontario-born center tallies. The Philadelphia front office seethes when it catches wind that the man who ruined their “dry island” experiment is two games away from drinking from Lord Stanley’s Cup. Then there’s Blue Jackets who recall how Carter immaturely pouted his way out of Columbus.

            In Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, Jeff Carter continued his agitation by scoring the overtime winner to give the Los Angeles Kings a 2-0 series advantage. The goal led many to the assumption that if the Hockey Gods are real, then Carter must have convinced them to take a few days off, something he’s pretty familiar with doing.

Photograph By: Jeff Gross, Getty Images

Toronto

            The Maple Leafs have been under fire in the past several years for their struggles to make the postseason. Burke, in his fourth year with the Toronto, has been given the task of trying to turn this team around.   

            During the 2012 trade deadline, Burke opted to steer clear of acquiring Carter because of his heavily front-loaded contract and the Leafs desire to hold onto their younger prospects. Next season, Carter will have 10 more years remaining on his contract along with a full no-trade clause that extends to 2014-2015.

            Burke’s option to stay away from Carter was supported, though it’s a hard sell to a fan base that hasn’t hosted a Stanley Cup parade since 1967. For the record, Jeff Carter has 10 points in 16 playoff games, the Maple Leafs have zero.

Philadelphia

            Part of the Flyers’ offseason overhaul included parting ways with two players that grabbed as much attention on the ice as they did away from it. Carter and Mike Richards, whom he has since been reunited with in Los Angeles, presumably spent time engaging in the sorts of extra curricular activities that could land somebody in the sin bin for a bit longer than two minutes.

            When the rest of the team signed a petition to abstain from alcohol, Carter did not write his name alongside his teammates’. Stories about Philadelphia’s failed experiment with the “dry island” leaked to the Internet and added to speculation that Carter was not much of a team player.

            GM Paul Holmgren’s decision to move Carter looked solid until the New Jersey Devils abruptly halted the Flyers’ run to the Cup. In retrospect, Holmgren undoubtedly got the better end of the deal, but that doesn’t make it any easier to watch Carter’s beard grow longer and the cheesy grin on his face widen as he draws closer to the Cup.

Columbus

            When a team makes the playoffs once in eleven seasons and still considers the acquisition of one player to be one of its most egregious mistakes, that is saying something.  When a team offers complimentary jersey nameplate changes after trading that same player, that is saying something on an entirely new level.

            Jeff Carter was not well received in Columbus. Following the offseason trade, GM Scott Howson and Rick Nash had to fly to Philadelphia to pull Carter away from his week of sulking. Perhaps it would had been better to leave Carter there, he would have been just as effective.      

            During his time in Columbus the former All-Star managed 15 goals in 39 games and never developed chemistry with Nash. To top it off, he spent the majority of his post-game interviews incessantly sniffing, leaving everyone to question if he was using drugs or he had actually gotten sick of his own inadequacy.

            As a Blue Jackets fan, the most demoralizing part is to see Carter score huge goals for a potential Stanley Cup winning team when his efforts in Columbus wouldn’t have landed him a spot on the Future Jackets who play cross-ice games during intermission.