city of pain

One year ago, Jeff Carter was a good, but not great, player for the Philadelphia Flyers. He was sort of bunched in with Mike Richards and other former Philadelphia Phantoms who were supposed to be the youth movement for our young team. He’s been living in the shadows of Mike Richards and Simon Gagne even though Carter was the Flyers first round draft pick in 2003, being selected 11th overall. He showed glimpses of potential, but nothing more. Shit, at the beginning of last year people were creaming their jockeys talking about the potential of players like Joffrey Lupul, Scottie Upshall, and newcomer Danny Briere. Jeff Carter was on the outside looking in, with nowhere to really go. Does anyone remember the name of the player, right before last year’s trade deadline, that was being thrown around in every possible trade scenario involving the team? Yep, Jeff Carter. Let’s not overreact here though…. The guy was only 23 and still a few years away from starting the potential prime of his career, but he wasn’t producing. We didn’t need a Jeff Carter anymore because we already had five of the same player.

Then, sometime during the month of May last season, Jeff Carter transformed. He became a fucking rapist monster in the playoffs, finishing with six goals and five assists in 17 games. Not bad for a team who spreads the wealth around and produced zero offense during the Eastern Conference Finals against the Penguins. Something tells me that if Sidney Crosby wasn’t having his period during that series Jeff Carter would have raped him too. He’s 6′4″ and probably hung like a beluga whale.

His career stats are as follows:

Year        GP   G   A   Pts
2005-06    81  23  19   42
2006-07    62  14  23   37 
2007-08    82  29  24   53 
2008-09    19  14   4    18
 
Totals:     244  80  70  150

I hate projections, but right now Jeff Carter is on pace to finish with 61 goals, 16 assists, and 77 points this season (not including playoffs). Looking at his career thus far and assuming improvement, you can expect Carter to have at least 25 assists to go along with his 50-55 goals. Through 19 games he’s already halfway to his career high for goals in a season. Something has changed. 

It’s unfortunate that he’s going to have to contend with ugly Eastern European players like Malkin and Ovechkin, and Canadian closet homosexuals like Sidney Crosby for the MVP, but right now keep Carter on your radar. Something special is happening. 

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