Jeff Carter thought he might end his career in Los Angeles as a member of the Los Angeles Kings.
If nothing else, he’ll prolong it by at least two more years as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
On Wednesday, the team announced it had signed the 37-year-old veteran to a two-year contract extension that carries a salary cap hit of $3.125 million.
Carter is in the final year of an 11-year contract he signed as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010.
The Penguins acquired Carter from the Kings via trade April 12, 2021. As a condition of the trade, the Kings retained half of his salary cap hit ($5,272,727) resulting in only a $2,636,363 cap hit for the Penguins last season and this season.
With the Penguins, Carter has appeared in 50 regular-season games and scored 37 points (21 goals, 16 assists).
This season, Carter is the team’s sixth-leading scorer with 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) in 36 games while averaging 18 minutes, 30 seconds of ice time.
Recently, Carter spoke about how being traded to the Penguins provided a boost during the late stages of his career.
“I wanted to finish my career here,” Carter said while speaking with media in Los Angeles earlier this month. “But I understand (the Kings’ motivations) and what they were trying to do here. The trade has worked out great for me. I feel like it’s given me another kind of boost in my career and probably prolonged it a few more years.”
