Carter scores in last glad second of the first

[King Knut]

You gotta love the way this guy is just completely defying the common perceptions. Who really is it under that beard? Can't be Jeff Carter. He's busy getting drunk high and laid someplace in wildwood right now.

[Poulin20]

Yes the Flyers have become the farm team for Stanley Cup Champions.

[jammer2]

Yes the Flyers have become the farm team for Stanley Cup Champions.

 

 Talk about kicking sand in our face....WTF....Justin Williams is the most clutch player in playoff history...LMAO, just the Flyers luck. When we mess up, we don't screw around....they are monumental blunders!

[sarsippius]

@King Knut

You mean the common perceptions of what he actually was/wasn't doing three years ago in Philly, which was being a good but not great player? That was three years, not 3 months ago, right? Yes, he's become in LA what he wasn't here, a consistent and clutch performer, does the chiding of his detractors from his Philly days ever end. **** gets old after the 473rd time. People talk like he was doing this all along but we fools just couldn't see it. Congratulations to him, hope he continues to have success. Even though it means we'll have to continue suffereing revisionist historians who now supposedly knew it all along.

[Poulin20]

Hey and there goes Mike Richards chipping one in too for good measure!

[OccamsRazor]

 Talk about kicking sand in our face....WTF....Justin Williams is the most clutch player in playoff history...LMAO, just the Flyers luck. When we mess up, we don't screw around....they are monumental blunders!

 

 

Yeah could he win the Conn Smythe??? I don't know who is going to win it....i think it between Justin and Crater.

[radoran]

@King Knut

You mean the common perceptions of what he actually was/wasn't doing three years ago in Philly, which was being a good but not great player? That was three years, not 3 months ago, right? Yes, he's become in LA what he wasn't here, a consistent and clutch performer, does the chiding of his detractors from his Philly days ever end. **** gets old after the 473rd time. People talk like he was doing this all along but we fools just couldn't see it. Congratulations to him, hope he continues to have success. Even though it means we'll have to continue suffereing revisionist historians who now supposedly knew it all along.

 

Just for the record.

 

This "inconsistent" player put up

29/53 as a 23 year old and then

46/84

33/61

36/66

 

Before being traded.

 

The "not clutch" performer who came back in 2010 recovering from a broken foot to score the series-clinching goal against the Habs?

 

There is a lot of revisionist history about the Crater and Richards era. I don't for a second regret the trades, but I don't need them to be worthless or to discount their contributions while they were here to feel that way.

[OccamsRazor]

Talk about kicking sand in our face....WTF....Justin Williams is the most clutch player in playoff history...LMAO, just the Flyers luck

 

Kings' Justin Williams thinks it's 'pretty cool' Flyers fans root for LA to win Stanley Cup

You could see a smile blossom through Justin Williams’ bushy dark beard Monday morning when the Los Angeles Kings right wing was told a lot of Flyers fans are pulling for his team to win another Stanley Cup.

“That's pretty cool,” Williams said from his locker in the visiting locker room at Madison Square Garden after the Kings’ morning skate.

In Philadelphia, the Kings are known as Flyers West because of the three forwards who were traded away and ended up together again in Los Angeles - former Flyers captain Mike Richards and right wing Jeff Carter during the summer of 2011, and Williams way back in 2004.

“We’re not guys who left either,” Williams said. “We wanted to stay.”

 

Richards and Carter leaving in separate deals on the same day – Richards to LA and Carter to Columbus – was a big deal at the time.

Williams being shipped to Carolina late into the 2003-04 season for defenseman Danny Markov wasn’t that big of a deal.

It sure is now.

With the Kings up 2-games-to-0 on the Rangers in the Stanley Cup Final heading into Monday night’s Game 3, Williams is two wins away from become a three-time Stanley Cup champion.

And if the Kings win, Williams will be one of the favorites to win the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP in a postseason in which he’s earned the nickname Mr. Game 7.

“Sometimes you need a trade to open up your eyes or to get a better shot – to get your career to the next level,” Williams said. “That’s certainly what it was. Opportunity knocks and I got a chance to take it.’’

Williams, 32, was the Flyers’ first round draft pick in 2000, 28th overall, the year the Islanders took goaltender Rick DiPietro with the first pick and Nashville took left wing Scott Hartnell sixth.

Williams quickly impressed the Flyers, as he made their team the season in which he was drafted, scoring 12 goals and 25 points over 62 games as a rookie in 2000-01. The next season, Williams was more of an impact player, scoring 17 goals.

But Williams missed half of the next season with a shoulder injury, then was dealt the following season with the Flyers looking for defensive help in Markov, who didn’t pan out.

“I was a guy just trying to find my way (in Philadelphia) … trying to find out how to be a professional and see where he fits in the NHL game.’’ Williams said. “I think I got plenty of opportunity in Philadelphia. Heck, I played as an (19)-year-old. They gave me every opportunity that I could have asked for.

“You know, time marches on and I was able to find my way in Carolina and find out the player that I could be and I got an opportunity.”

Williams went onto quickly become a top player in Carolina, scoring 30 goals in each of his first two seasons with the Hurricanes, winning the Cup there in 2005-06 and playing in the NHL All-Star Game in 2007.

By March 2009, Carolina was rebuilding and Williams, after missing a bunch of games with a knee injury, was traded again to the Kings for center Patrick O'Sullivan.

Carolina had stolen Williams from the Flyers, then Kings did the same to the Hurricanes.

Williams scored 22 goals in each of his first two full seasons with the Kings, winning a Stanley Cup in 2012, and he had 19 goals along with 43 points this season.

He’s been much better scoring a point-a-game in the playoffs, especially when the Kings’ won three Game 7s to get to the Final, scoring three goals and two assists.

“Justin is the most underrated player on our team by a mile,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. “He doesn’t get enough credit for what he does.”

For his career, Williams now is 7-0 in Game 7s with seven goals, which ties Hall of Famer Glenn Anderson for the most ever, and 14 points, one more than Hall of Famer Doug Gilmour for the most ever.

“When I look at the names up there, it’s kind of a trivia question: Who doesn’t belong?” Williams said. “I’ve been able to have some success there and I’m very humbled by the company I have there.”

On the contrary, Williams has carved out a pretty nice career for himself, one in which the Cobourg, Ontario native often is reminded of his NHL roots, as he makes his summer home in Ventnor, N.J., with his wife, a school teacher, and their two children.

Williams has no regrets. He’s grateful for where he is now … and where he began his NHL career.

“I don’t know if it’s fair to say I couldn’t break through (in Philadelphia),” he said. “The Flyers were a very deep hockey team and we’re deep here.”

 

http://www.nj.com/flyers/index.ssf/2014/06/kings_justin_williams_thinks_its_pretty_cool_flyers_fans_root_for_la_to_win_stanley_cup.html

 

I'm pulling for them. 

Edited June 10, 2014 by OccamsRazor

[OccamsRazor]

Kings' Justin Williams Making a Strong Conn Smythe Case with Clutch Play

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2074836-kings-justin-williams-making-a-strong-conn-smythe-case-with-clutch-play

 

Bolstered by three more Game 7s this spring, Williams has become a hot topic because of his incredible career statistics in those games. He averages a goal and an assist per game for an NHL-record 14 points in Game 7s, and his team has won all seven of those he’s appeared in.

 

Neck and neck him and Crater.............

[sarsippius]

Just for the record.

This "inconsistent" player put up

29/53 as a 23 year old and then

46/84

33/61

36/66

Before being traded.

The "not clutch" performer who came back in 2010 recovering from a broken foot to score the series-clinching goal against the Habs?

There is a lot of revisionist history about the Crater and Richards era. I don't for a second regret the trades, but I don't need them to be worthless or to discount their contributions while they were here to feel that way.

I don't devalue his contributions nor nor did I say he was worthless. I'm railing against this mentality that because a player goes on to great things, that somehow that means he was doing it along. I'm not ripping the dude, he always had decent numbers, but I'm sorry one clutch goal doesn't make him Mr Clutch. That's a guy that would have buried the puck into a yawning net in Game 6 of the Final that same year. I said he was not a "consistent clutch performer" when he was here and I stand by that. To say he was clutch then IS revising history.

Serious question, do you think Carter was then the player he is now?

[radoran]

Serious question, do you think Carter was then the player he is now?

 

I've said on other threads about this topic that the Flyers pretty much traded him "at the height of value" - and got a first rounder (Couturier) and first line player (Voracek) for him. I consistently call him "Crater" for a reason - I was never overly impressed with his play here. I thought he and Richards were handed far too much by the organization.

 

That said, Crater's been "on pace" for 30+ goal seasons (.422 goals per game) every year since he left. And the Flyers have had two players who hit 30 goals and 60+ points since (Hartnell in 11-12, Voracek "on pace" in 12-13 and Simmonds was 29/60 this year). They had two on each of the previous two seasons and three in 08-09.

 

Obviously players who have been to the Finals and have that experience and extra years of competition in the league aren't the "same player" they are as young men. That's why they get paid more, for one thing. 

 

 

Previous to the trade, the Flyers clearly saw Crater as a player worth investing with a nine-year deal.

 

For whatever reason the team decided to go in a different direction and - as I said on the day the trades were completed - got younger, cheaper and potentially better. But that it would be a couple of years of steps backwards before the young potential would grow into their roles.

 

It's time for the young potential to make those important next steps that Crater and Richards had taken over 10 playoff rounds in four years - which is part of the process of becoming the better players that veterans typically are. As it is, they've played one playoff round in the past two seasons.

 

But in the end, as Homer himself said when he left as GM, you're judged by whether or not you win the Cup. Winning percentage, playoff appearances, etc. are all well and good, but the litmus test is winning the championship. It's the huge hole in San Jose's resume, for example.

 

Crater and Richards see another Cup Final and the Flyers have three playoff rounds in the past three seasons.

 

Time to see if the kids are going to rise to the challenge and lead to dozens of posts saying how much the Kings and Blue Jackets gave up.

[jammer2]

  There is no doubt that Carter chipped in a lot of offense when he was here, there is no denying that. The part that irks me is he did not score any series altering goals in the O&B. He seems to do that on a regular basis in LA. Even more maddening is the utter and complete desperation he is playing with as a King...that is the part that burns me, we *rarely* saw that in a Flyers jersey. He is fighting so hard for loose pucks, utilizing every little bit of his speed, geez....I gotta quit now. Just sickening!!

[sarsippius]

Well stated rad.

[sarsippius]

@jammer2

Exactly. That's the intensity we never saw here. It's why I always looked at him as a floater. He's changed his ways. Good for him. But its tough to watch.

[radoran]

The part that irks me is he did not score any series altering goals in the O&B.

 

You mean like the series-winner against the Habs coming back from a broken foot?

 

That was the year before the deal. He was all of 26 when dealt - that's exactly the point at which you are expecting players to start scoring those sorts of goals, which he did at 24. There simply aren't a whole boatload of 21, 22 and 23 year olds "expected" to score "series altering" goals. Fewer still that were drafted outside the Top 10.

 

For example, that's more "series altering" goals than Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek and Sean Couturier combined.

 

And those players are just getting to the point where we can expect them to start scoring those sorts of goals.

 

Should they deal them because they haven't scored any yet?

[fanaticV3.0]

@King Knut

You mean the common perceptions of what he actually was/wasn't doing three years ago in Philly, which was being a good but not great player? That was three years, not 3 months ago, right? Yes, he's become in LA what he wasn't here, a consistent and clutch performer, does the chiding of his detractors from his Philly days ever end. **** gets old after the 473rd time. People talk like he was doing this all along but we fools just couldn't see it. Congratulations to him, hope he continues to have success. Even though it means we'll have to continue suffereing revisionist historians who now supposedly knew it all along.

 

You don't even have to go back three years. Just look at his regular season numbers in LA. 50 points this past season. Nothing spectacular about that at all.

 

His success bothers me less than these folk. I could very easily come up with a list of things that bother me  about how this organIzation does business, but this type of fan just likes to pile on. There's no worse logic than "well he's winning now, so it was a bad trade."

[murraycraven]

I think we should offer the Kings Cooter and Schenn to get Carter back in the O&B!  Get it done Hexy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AndyS]

If we had even an average NHL caliber goalie in that Finals against the Blackhawks, we would not still be having these conversations 4 years later.  The Flyers should have won the Cup that year.

 

And if so, Richards, Carter, and Briere are golden in this town forever.

 

Personally, I am nothing but happy for Richards & Carter that they are about to win their 2nd Stanley Cup in 3 years.  Just wish it had been with the Flyers.