With the Penguins’ 2021-22 season coming to a quick ending in the first round of the playoffs, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until the 2022-23 season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

Jeff Carter

Position: Center

Shoots: Right

Age: 37

Height: 6-foot-3

Weight: 219 pounds

2021-22 NHL statistics: 76 games, 45 points (19 goals, 26 assists)

Contract: In the final year of an 11-year contract with a salary cap hit of $5,272,727. Entering the first year of two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $3.125 million and a no-movement clause. Pending unrestricted free agent in the 2024 offseason.

(Note: As a condition of the 2021 trade that brought Carter to the Penguins, the Penguins incurred only $2,636,364 of his salary cap hit on his incumbent contract.)

Acquired: Trade, April 12, 2021.

(Note: As a result of Carter reaching conditions of the trade that brought him to the Penguins — Carter needed to play in at least 50 games during the 2021-22 season — the 2023 draft pick the Penguins sent to the Los Angeles Kings was upgraded from a fourth-rounder to a third-rounder.)

Last season: Expectations were big for Jeff Carter entering the 2021-22 season.

First, after his marvelous post-trade run to cap off the 2020-21 season with the Penguins, Carter showed there was still plenty of tread left on his well-traveled tires.

And second, he had to step up to open the 2021-22 season as franchise centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were sidelined to open the campaign following offseason surgeries.

He did that for the most part through Dec. 19 (when the Penguins’ season was halted due to an outbreak of covid infections around the NHL). In his first 27 games of 2021-22, while playing on either of the top two lines, the top power-play unit and on the penalty kill, Carter generated a respectable 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) while averaging an ample 18:48 of ice time per contest.

Perhaps Carter’s finest moment of the season came during a 4-1 road win against the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 11. With Malkin returning to the lineup after a prolonged absence, Carter lined up on the left wing — a position he had rarely been deployed to throughout his lengthy career — and took on a lot of the center duties in order to ease Malkin into the lineup. Carter’s reward for aiding Malkin came in the form of two goals.

Just over two weeks later, Carter got a greater reward in the form of a two-year contract extension on Jan. 26.

Carter’s production dipped a bit as the season wore on. In his final 41 games of the season (the equivalent of half a normal regular season schedule), Carter only scored 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) while primarily being used in lesser roles than he enjoyed in the earlier portions of the season (as evidenced by the 16:56 of ice time he registered over those 41 contests).

In the postseason, Carter was one of the Penguins’ more prolific players, scoring four goals (second-most on the team) and five points total.

The future: There are plenty of big questions about the Penguins entering this offseason, but one answer in place is Carter by virtue of his contract.

The future of Malkin, a pending unrestricted free agent, will impact Carter’s status entering the 2022-23 season the most. If Malkin re-signs, Carter slots in as the third-line center, a role that is ideal for what he can offer at his age.

If Malkin moves on, Carter potentially becomes the leading candidate to be Penguins’ second-line center. And given how fatigued Carter looked in the final stages of the regular season, it’s fair to wonder if Carter can handle such a workload — including his duties on the power play and penalty kill — at 37. (He will turn 38 on New Year’s Day.)

Carter is still a big part of the Penguins. But he shouldn’t be asked to take on too large of a role.

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