Jeff Carter has been a goal-producing machine most of his career, but when you look at the Los Angeles Kings sometimes he gets lost in the mix. With guys like Drew Doughty, Jonathan Quick, and Anze Kopitar it’s understandable.
Kings coach Darryl Sutter understands what he’s got in Carter though and can’t say enough good things about him as Eric Duhatschek of The Globe And Mail shared.
“I think Jeff Carter gets overlooked,” said Sutter on Thursday. “He was the leading goal scorer in our conference last year. I know a lot of the talk in this series has been about a player on our team [Kopitar] and a player on their team [Toews].
“Jeff is just as important to our team as both those players that are getting talked about. Those kids get an opportunity to play with a top player in the Western Conference. That pretty much speaks for it.”
Carter has been huge for Los Angeles ever since his arrival from Columbus in 2012. That season he helped spark a Kings offense that wasn’t performing well to a Stanley Cup.
This season, he had 27 goals in the regular season and has another seven in the playoffs, second behind only Marian Gaborik’s nine. Three of those goals came in Game 2 against Chicago.
Staying out of the headlines is probably OK by Carter and it’s working well for L.A. With the attention focused on the Kings’ other stars, it gives him a chance to do his thing.