Flyers

This is Where Those Jeff Carter Rumors Came From

By Kyle Scott

Published: May 25th, 2011 · 9:15 AM EDT

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Source: Lady Neat's always awesome Flick account

Or rumour, if you’re an asshole (Canadian).

The trade Jeff Carter talk has reached full throat. The latest discussion has Carts heading to Toronto, and Maple Leafs fans all over the interwebtuals are eating it up.

But before you going regurgitating this as truth, make sure you know where it came from: the Twitter account of Incarcerated Bob. 

For those of you who don’t know, Incarcerated Bob is a “famous” NY talk radio caller who routinely takes to his Twitter account to “break” trade news, claiming he has inside sources most everywhere. To be fair, he has been right on several occasions, but, like with everything, if you throw enough logical shit at the wall, some of it is bound to stick.

This is what he Tweeted the other day:

First of all, that's not "breaking news," but whatevs… That Tweet has led to a lot of internet speculation and this, an article on Maple Leafs Hot Stove, which is an at least legitimate looking site.

As I mentioned here, it’s entirely possible the Flyers would trade Carter to free up money for a top-line goaltender. However, Carter going to Toronto is nothing more than wild speculation at this point.

Reasons for trading One Seven… In short, the Flyers have four front-line centers, Carter makes a lot of money which could be freed up to get a goalie, and he’s notorious for disappearing in big games. A reader at Broad Street Hockey, perhaps further fueling the rumors, went significantly more in depth, giving reasons why trading Carter would make sense. I’ll counter.

Carter is only 26-years-old and one of the most naturally gifted players in the league (that shot doesn’t fall off trees). He scores 30 goals a season almost by accident, and, this year, was seventh in the league in goal scoring. Trading a young player with that type of talent is only wise if there is immediate return for the Flyers: a goaltender. Even if that was the case, and the Flyers could move Carter to free up space for said ‘tender, the move may ultimately come back to haunt them.

As much as we pick on Carts for his partying, he’s been very productive and durable – only one season did he play less than 74 games – throughout his first six years in the league. Further, the Flyers have him locked up for the next decade. Is it really wise to trade away 10 years of guaranteed goal scoring? Probably not.

Either way, the Toronto thing… take that with a grain of salt.