The Los Angeles Kings exchanged Jeff Carter for the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a conditional pick in the third round in 2022 and a conditional pick in the fourth round in 2023, the teams announced Sunday evening.
Los Angeles will keep 50% of Carter’s salary, which will run through the 2021-22 season and hit a cap of $ 5.272 million.
Carter, two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Kings, in 2012 and 2014, ranks tenth on the franchise’s all-time goalscoring list and number one in overtime goals.
He has spent the past nine years of his 16-year NHL career in Los Angeles. He also played for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers, which put him in eleventh place in 2003, when Ron Hextall, the current Penguins general manager, was the Flyers’ director of player staff. Hextall was also assistant GM with the Kings for seven seasons, including their 2012-winning season in the Stanley Cup.
Carter, 36, has scored eight goals, 11 assists and 19 points in 40 games this season. With his departure, only four members of the Kings’ two Stanley Cup teams remain in the franchise: captain Anze Kopitar, striker Dustin Brown, defender Drew Doughty and goalkeeper Jonathan Quick.
The Kings, who had lost seven of nine games before Saturday’s San Jose Sharks win, are currently six points from a playoff spot with sixteen games to go.
The Penguins are third in the East Division, 27-13-2, but only two points behind divisional leaders Washington Capitals and New York Islanders.
This report uses information from The Associated Press.