Former Flyers star Jeff Carter has retired after 19 seasons in the NHL.
The 39-year old played and scored in his final game on Wednesday night, pushing the Pittsburgh Penguins into a late tie with the New York Islanders before the Isles ultimately triumphed 5-4, and in a game that was rendered meaningless to the Penguins after the Flyers' 2-1 loss to the Washington Capitals the night before also eliminated them from last-minute playoff contention.
The scene after the final horn was full of hugs and congratulations from his teammates, along with his handshakes from the Islanders players before he left the ice for the final time.
“You miss a lot being a hockey player. You’re in and out and away. And even when you’re home, you’re not really there. My family — all hockey families — they sacrifice a lot for us to live out our dreams.”
And after 1,321 games, Carter definitely lived out a memorable one.
The Flyers drafted Carter 11th overall in the 2003 draft and was developed to be a key piece of their next core alongside future captain Mike Richards, and especially after they dominated the AHL on the then Philadelphia Phantoms' roll straight to the Calder Cup during the 2004-05 lockout season.
He debuted for the Flyers the year after and scored 23 goals. Then, after the Flyers washed out with the 2006-07 campaign, came back with 29 more for a retooled club that pushed straight to the Eastern Conference Finals before running into Sidney Crosby and the Penguins.
In the 2008-09 season, he put up his best showing for the Flyers with 46 goals and 84 points, and in the 2010 run to the Stanley Cup Final, potted five goals, including two in the clinching game of the Eastern Conference Final over Montreal.
A few months later, the Flyers signed Carter to an 11-year deal to keep him, along with Richards, in Philadelphia for the long haul, but those plans quickly – and abruptly – shifted.
In the summer of 2011, the Flyers traded Richards to the Los Angeles Kings and Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets in sudden succession of one another as the organization pivoted to a Claude Giroux and Chris Pronger-centered core.
At the time, the moves were hardly popular, and Carter and the Blue Jackets never took to one another, with Columbus reuniting him with Richards in LA at that season's deadline after only 39 games.
The Kings went on to win the Stanley Cup, with Richards and Carter, once the Flyers' core, as key pieces to it. It was a bittersweet pill to swallow for fans back here in Philadelphia.
Then they went and did it again in 2014 after topping the New York Rangers.
Carter remained as a regular source of offense for the Kings for several more seasons, but as they aged out of their Cup window and began shifting to get younger, he would be put on the move again.
He was dealt to Pittsburgh at the 2021 trade deadline, and still with a year remaining on his original Flyers contract at that point, where he settled into a depth role for a few more years trying to help the Crosby-led Penguins push into the playoffs.
Carter hangs them up having scored 404 career goals and 768 points, with the first 144 having been racked up as a Flyer.
MORE: The Flyers gave Philly something to be proud of
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