CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Jeff Carter doesn't want to dwell too much on last season.
Heck, he doesn't even want to talk about it.
"We're past last season, aren't we?" he quipped with a smile when I asked him about last season following Day 1 of the Penguins' training camp at the Lemieux Complex on Thursday.
Both Carter and the team are coming off of quite the down year. Carter's 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists) in 79 games was the lowest total in his career among years in which he's had a full season. He spent most of the year centering a third line that had no identity and struggled on both sides of the puck until it was broken up leading up to the trade deadline. It's not possible to blame any one facet of the team for its inability to clinch a playoff spot, but given how closely the Penguins came to securing the last wild card spot, one has to figure that had the third-line been able to contribute more in the first half of the year, that could have been a difference-maker.
Carter, who will turn 39 years old this season, is entering the last year of his contract with the Penguins that carries a $3.125 million cap hit. While the bottom six underwent a complete overhaul this summer, Carter's contract was the one piece that was totally immovable, having a full no-movement clause that prevents trades and assignments to the minors without his consent, and the 35+ designation that adds additional insurance against buyouts.
Carter wasn't going anywhere this summer unless he wanted to go, and leaving here was never on his mind. He's happy here, and his family is, too. He and his wife Megan and their two children put some roots in Pittsburgh, buying a home in the area over the offseason.
Carter seems refreshed after the long offseason. He was in a better mood Thursday as I've ever seen since he's been in Pittsburgh, and he's put in some work over the summer too. He had a program in the weight room put together by Penguins director of performance and sport science Jesse Green, and he was one of the first players back in town for the informal, voluntary skates that preceded training camp. Training camp may have just opened, but he's been skating at the Lemieux Complex for weeks.
While Carter was one of the early attendees, there was an exceptionally large number of players here in town for those informal skates, long before players needed to report on Sept. 20. From stars like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson down to the AHL-contracted invites, it was close to a full house at the Lemieux Complex well before camp started, so full that players needed to break into separate groups and utilize both sheets of ice. They were high-energy, intense skates with full scrimmages, and the excitement for the new season was palpable. Players were hungry for the start of the season, a result of the disappointment over the failure to make playoffs last season and the buzz surrounding Kyle Dubas' new moves over the summer.
"You can feel the energy," Carter said. "Everybody was here a little earlier this year, which is nice. There's a lot of new guys so we're trying to get accustomed to everybody. But there's a lot of energy in the room. I think guys are focused and from Day 1 seemed like they're ready to go. ... (The team looks) a lot different everywhere, the organization as a whole. It's exciting. You never want to lose your teammates, but sometimes it's good to get some fresh blood and some new energy. Everybody's coming in with a positive attitude after last year and it seems like they're hungry and ready to go."
Carter's role looks like it might be a bit different this year, too. In the informal skates he skated with newcomers Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto, and there was some movement back and forth when it came to who was at wing vs. center. Now that these practices are for real, Carter is still with Acciari and Nieto. While it's typically unwise to read too much into training camp line combinations -- for example, Vinnie Hinostroza probably won't be Crosby's winger like we saw today -- this line with Carter, Acciari and Nieto seems like it could be the real deal. And there was no mistaking it today, Carter was not at center. He was on the right wing, opposite Nieto, centered by Acciari.
If Carter does start on the wing, that would be a real change of pace for him, especially since he's coming off of a season in which he was one of the top centermen in the league in faceoffs at 59.4%.
The coaching staff hasn't told Carter anything concrete yet when it comes to where he'll be playing -- that hasn't been decided yet. But as Carter observed, it "kind of looks that way" that he'll be shifted to the wing.
Playing center can be both physically and mentally more taxing than playing the wing. There is more skating and there are more defensive responsibilities involved with the position. For someone like Carter, who is nearing the end of his career and seemed to slow down over the course of an 82-game season, a shift to wing could be what's best for everyone. I asked him if he thinks a shift to wing would be less taxing over a full season, though, and he didn't think the switch would be that much of a change.
"To be honest with you, with how we play, positions don't really matter," Carter told me. "Whoever's first back is playing low. We've got to know how to play everywhere. So center, right wing, left wing, beside for maybe a faceoff, it doesn't change anything."
Carter said that he didn't set any specific, personal goals for himself coming into this season. He's never been one to do that. Rather, he just goes out each season and tries to do the best he can. He hasn't worried too much about his future beyond this season, responding with a "no" without a moment of hesitation when asked if he's given his future any thought. Just like he isn't looking backward, he's not looking too forward in time either. He's just worrying about the day ahead of him.
It's not easy to say specifically what a successful season for Carter would look like, but one thing's certain -- he's got to be better than last year. It's not out of the realm of possibility that he could bounce back, either. He's only a little over a year removed from his 2021-22 campaign in which he amassed 45 points (19 goals, 26 assists) in 76 games. It was only in 2020-21 when Carter put up 11 points (nine goals, two assists) in 14 games, a showing that earned him that two-year contract extension with every possible protection and concession to make sure he stays in Pittsburgh through the end of the deal.
The Penguins don't need Carter to be the star he was earlier in his career, he's just got to be better. If he can do that, it'd go a long way toward improving the entire bottom six entering this season.
