Kings Land Carter for Playoff Run

The Kings, asserting themselves as buyers instead of sellers before today’s trade deadline, acquired power forward Anson Carter on Monday from the Washington Capitals and mortgaged a bit of their future in an effort to secure their present goal -- a playoff spot.

The Kings sent prospect Jared Aulin to the Capitals and received a four-time 20-goal scorer who has struggled this season but, the Kings hope, could regain his scoring touch in time for their playoff run.

Carter, who turns 30 in June, had 28 goals in 2001-02 with the Edmonton Oilers and 26 in 2002-03 with the Oilers and New York Rangers, but he fell to 15 goals in 62 games this season with the Rangers and Capitals.

Carter is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles this morning and is expected to be in the lineup tonight against the Phoenix Coyotes. With 15 games left, the Kings are ninth in the Western Conference, one slot below the conference’s eighth and final playoff spot.

“We think we can get Anson going and certainly expect he can give us a lift,” General Manager Dave Taylor said. “I don’t think Anson has played as well as he’d like and certainly hasn’t put up the numbers this year like he has in the past, [but] he has had some success in the Western Conference. He had some success with Edmonton. We had chances to see him many times.”

The Kings have tried for weeks, if not longer, to acquire Carter, who lives in Marina del Rey during the off-season and has a cell phone with a Los Angeles area code. The Kings have scouted several recent Capital games and eventually parted with Aulin despite publicly stating in the last few months their desire to hold on to their prospects.

Carter was on the ice for warmups before the Capitals’ game Monday against the Ottawa Senators when he was called off and informed of the deal, the latest in a salary-purging sweep by the Capitals.

The Kings will pay about $400,000 of Carter’s $2.8-million salary this season. Carter will be a restricted free agent this summer, although the Kings could re-sign him for one season by paying him the same salary he made last season.

Playing for the Kings is “something I’ve dreamed about for a long time,” Carter said. “To come to the Kings in the thick of a playoff race, it’s an exciting time of the year right now.”

The Kings will be Carter’s third team in less than two months. He was traded in late January from the Rangers to the Capitals for Jaromir Jagr as part of a headline-snaring salary dump by the Capitals. Carter had five goals in 19 games while playing on the Capitals’ top scoring line and top power-play unit.

Carter had only 10 goals in 43 games with the Rangers after a horrific start -- two goals and an assist in his first 14 games.

He was one of a few players who drew criticism from General Manager Glen Sather for what Sather perceived to be a laid-back approach.

“Obviously things didn’t work out in New York,” Carter said.

Carter, 6 feet 1 and 203 pounds, brings a good combination of speed and power. He has good hands and packs a solid one-timer from the wing.

He becomes the fourth African American player to suit up for the Kings in their 37-season history, joining Grant Fuhr, Nathan Lafayette and Mike Marson.

Carter is familiar with King Coach Andy Murray’s approach, having played for Team Canada under Murray at the 1997 and 2003 world championships. Carter scored the winning goal for Canada in the gold-medal game at last year’s championships.

“I know Andy’s a demanding coach, but I know he’s really prepared, and the guys are hanging in and competing despite a lot of injuries,” Carter said. “That’s all you can ask for.”

Aulin, 22 next Monday, was acquired by the Kings in the February 2001 deal that sent Rob Blake to the Colorado Avalanche. He has missed the entire season after dislocating his left shoulder while fighting in a rookie-tournament game in September.

Aulin had two goals and two assists in 17 games for the Kings last season.

“We realize to acquire a player like Anson, we have to give up a good prospect,” Taylor said. “We felt like we could do that because of the depth of prospects we’ve acquired over the last couple of years. [Aulin] remains a player with a high upside and he has an opportunity to pursue his career with Washington.

“We get a player that can help us right now and help us down the stretch.”

Taylor said the dealing might not be done before today’s deadline.

“We’ve had a lot of discussions,” he said. “That will continue right up to noon [Pacific time]. There’s a number of prospects in our system that we’re not interested in talking about but we do have other assets. If there’s another opportunity we think can help us, we’ll move on it.”

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Carter’s Statistics

Anson Carter’s 2003-04 statistics:

Games...62

Goals...15

Assists...12

Points...27

Plus/Minus...--10

Power-play goals...6

Power-play assists...4

Game-winning goals...4

* Helene Elliott on the trade...D4

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By the Numbers

The Kings acquired veteran forward Anson Carter from the Washington Capitals on Monday. A look at Carter’s career statistics:

*--* Year Team GP G A Pts. +/- PIM S S% 96-97 Boston/Washington 38 11 7 18 -7 9 79 13.9 97-98 Boston 78 16 27 43 7 31 179 8.9 98-99 Boston 55 24 16 40 7 22 123 19.5 99-00 Boston 59 22 25 47 8 14 144 15.3 00-01 Edmonton 61 16 26 42 1 23 102 15.7 01-02 Edmonton 82 28 32 60 3 25 181 15.5 02-03 Edmonton/N.Y. 79 26 34 60 -11 26 193 13.5 Rangers 03-04 N.Y. 62 15 12 27 -10 20 96 15.6 Rangers/Washington Total 514 158 179 337 -2 170 1,097 14.4

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