The Los Angeles Kings traded Jeff Carter to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a third-round pick in 2022 and a fourth-round pick in 2023, the teams announced Sunday night.
Los Angeles will keep 50% of Carter’s salary, which is in the 2021-22 season and has a maximum success of 5.272 million dollars.
Two-time Stanley Cup champion alongside Kings in 2012 and 2014, Carter is tied for 10th place on the franchise’s list of all-time goals and ranks first in overtime goals.
He spent the last nine years of his 16-year NHL career in Los Angeles. He also played for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers, who drafted him at number 11 in 2003, when Penguins current general manager Ron Hextall was the Flyers’ personnel director. Hextall has also been GM’s assistant at Kings for seven seasons, including the 2012 Stanley Cup-winning season.
Carter, 36, has scored eight goals, 11 assists and 19 points in 40 games this season. His departure leaves only four members of the two teams in the Stanley Cup of Kings, which still have the franchise – captain Anze Kopitar, striker Dustin Brown, defender Drew Doughty and goalkeeper Jonathan Quick.
The Kings, who lost seven of their nine games before Saturday’s victory at the San Jose Sharks, are now six points clear of a playoff spot with 16 games left.
The Penguins, at 27-13-2, are third in the Eastern Division, but only two points behind the division’s leaders, the Washington Capitals and the New York Islanders.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.