In one of our last content posts we talked about the evolution of Jeff Carter from his mid-Philadelphia days to his current role with the Los Angeles Kings.
What inevitably happened was a standard overall evaluation of the trades that brought Carter to the Kings. Did Columbus get fair value? Did Philly get fair value? Who "won" the trade?
In today's NHL there seems to be no greater feeling to a fanbase than having had your GM pull one over on an opposing GM/fanbase and "Win" a trade. Seems a bit cynical, yes? However, it is one of the many things that gives fans legitimate chirp-worthy material. Whenever we see a big trade break we always immediately want to speak about who got the better end. Do you think Islander fans will ever hear the end of it from Senators fans when it comes to the infamous Chara/1st (Spezza) for Yashin deal in 2001? How about Boston turning Phil Kessel into Dougie Hamilton and Tyler Seguin Riley Smith, Loui Eriksson, and a handful of 1st and 2nd round picks?
From most of the reactions on the aforementioned Carter piece, many felt Columbus got the raw end. However, when you take in the entire scope of the trade and the various moving parts and subsequent deals, it does not look all that lopsided.
First, let's establish the immediate deals it took to get Carter from Philly to Columbus, and from Columbus to Los Angeles.
To Columbus:
Jeff Carter
To Philadelphia:
Jakub Voracek 1st round pick (Sean Couturier) 3rd round pick (Nick Cousins)
Now, the second part, from Columbus to Los Angeles.
To Columbus:
Jack Johnson 1st round pick (Marko Dano)
To Los Angeles:
Jeff Carter
So for the cut and dry immediate impact, it looks like Columbus essentially turned Jakub Voracek, a 1st round pick and a 3nd round pick, into Jack Johnson and a 1st round pick.
In hindsight, maybe not the best value for value trade you could think of. Be that as it may, both Voracek and Johnson were still developing players at the time (Johnson a little less so), and draft picks are always a crap shoot. Would we be seeing the trade the same if the Flyers had taken Sven Baertschi or Duncan Seimens with that 2011 top half 1st round pick? Couturier was a great selection, but could have easily been a bad pick that slanted the trade in the end. Drafting does play a huge part in these deals most the time. If you miss on your picks, it becomes all the more damning if you gave up a quality roster player.
However, we are forgetting other parts that pulled this trade together and also expanded it to where it is now.
Now, if you have done any research on the Jeff Carter trade lineage you may have found out that his trade lineage of swapped picks and players involved in numerous deals stretches as far as Marcel Dionne and beyond. It is actually the longest running trade in the NHL.
For this subject matter we went simply with major pieces from the major deals that would become of major import to the Jeff Carter trades.
For that reason we have included two teams that you may not have previously considered as part of this whole thing: The Chicago Blackhawks and the New York Rangers.
Why include the Chicago Blackhawks?
This one is simple. Marko Dano was the 1st round selection that came back to Columbus in the Carter/Johnson swap. He recently landed in Chicago as part of a trade that brought Brandon Saad to Ohio.
Why include the New York Rangers?
The Rangers dealt Artem Anisimov to the Blue Jackets in the 2011 Rick Nash blockbuster that saw the Jackets land Dubinsky, a 1st (Kerby Rychel), Anisimov, and Tim Erixon (Who was later claimed on waivers by Toronto after being traded to Chicago). Anisimov was the other key piece in the Hawks/Jackets trade along with Dano.
The full deal was Corey Tropp, Jeremy Morin, Anisimov, and Dano, for Brandon Saad, Alex Broadhurst, and Michael Paliotta.
Morin, ironically, was previously a member in the salary dump trade that sent Ben Eager and Dustin Byfuglien to the then Atlanta Thrashers in 2010. He is coming BACK to Chicago in a similar salary dump-esque deal in 2015 after having been trade by Chicago to Columbus for non-other than...Tim Erixon.
As you can see, these teams have been involved in some dealings in the past using a lot of the same players.
Anyways, back on topic, you could argue that the trades for Saad do not happen without the pieces acquired in the Kings and Rangers deal. Thus, in the grand scheme of things it might be unfair to evaluate the impact of the Jeff Carter trade without considering those.
In the end, we get a key player acquisition breakdown for each team that looks something like this:
To Kings:
Jeff Carter
To Flyers
Jakub Voracek Sean Couturier Nick Cousins
To Columbus
Jack Johnson Brandon Saad Brandon Dubinsky Kerby Rychel
to Blackhawks …¨ Artem Anisimov Marko Dano Jeremy Morin Corey Tropp
to Rangers
Rick Nash
While some teams definitely took a more long approach than immediate impact, it does not look bad in any way for any team involved. The Blackhawks are still on the fence, but with Anisimov they get a proven player, and they get long term potential with Marko Dano. Jury will be out on that, but it looks to be a decent move. The same could be said for Saad and how he will fare away from the high octane offense of Chicago. The Blue Jackets are no slouches in that department either mind you, and Saad should fit in nicely.
In the end you have three very different sort of things happening. You have two teams, Philadelphia and Chicago, giving this more of a long approach. Pieces acquired were and are young. With the Kings and the Rangers it was more immediate impact. Carter helped the Kings win two cups, and Nash has been one of the most prominent goal scorers in the league. Then you have Columbus, which is somewhere in the middle with their bounty on these deals.
You could chase these trades even further. Heck, you could do what Eric Morris did and trace the lineage of the Carter deal all the way back to the likes of Paul Coffee getting moved for Jimmy Carson and Gary Shuchuck back in 1993. Or you could trade to a more immediate place and factor in the Oleg Tverdovsky deal that sent Johnson and Oleg to the Kings for Eric Belanger and Tim Gleason in 2006. It really is a fun line to follow with a lot of interesting names and deals moving about.
For the current state of history though, it is hard to say any one team out of the five involved here "got the better" of another team. Columbus made use of the different assets acquired in the other trades to make further deals. If they sat on their assets it may have turned out a little different.
Pretty complex and it seems to have taken a while for some of these to develop (And they are still developing), but everyone seemed to make "A good hockey trade" in the end.
We are going to be getting into some pre-season power rankings and team/division previews coming up. So check back in later in the week for some more season gear-up oriented content!
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