Hurricane Carter And Other Canuck Suitcase Kings

The Carolina Hurricanes have relieved the Columbus Blue Jackets of underperforming forward Anson Carter.

For Carter, the deal will be a refreshing change of pace from an also ran team to a playoff contender. He also qualifies as the new poster boy for Samsonite. An endorsement deal with a luggage manufacturer may not be far from Carter's mind.

The deal slips completely under the trade radar of rumoured deals in the past few. Canes GM Jim Rutherford did well to obtain a player with experience and upside to his team for a mere song - a 5th round pick, two season away.

While it isn't likely to be the blockbuster move that trickles a domino effect among prospective trading GM's nearing the deadline for deals on Tuesday, the move is a smart one for Carolina down the stretch. Carter is just one season removed from scoring 33 goals with the Vancouver Canucks, and shores up the Canes depth at forward. For Carolina, the move is similar to deals the team made last season in aquiring experienced forwards Mark Recchi and Doug Weight.















Carter, who has now been traded 7 times, joins his 9th NHL organization. The player sometimes known as the "Chocolate Rocket" was originally drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the 10th round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft.


It remains to be seen whether hockey fans in Raleigh tag the much travelled vet with the "Hurricane Carter" moniker of former boxer Reuben "Hurricane" Carter, the murderer made infamous by a great Bob Dylan protest song in 1976 that proclaimed his innocence.



The trade does made a little extra work for Joe Pelletier at the Legends of Hockey Network. Joe recently put together an all encompassing post on the little known history of Black Hockey. He will now need to touch up the Carter entry to include this latest trade. He might do well to keep the file open!

Carter might be reluctant to recognize that he is becoming one of the most traded and travelled players in the game. It could be that he is much sought after. It could also be that he wears out welcomes quickly and becomes unwanted soon after. His resume reads like this:

Rights transferred to Colorado after Quebec franchise relocated, June 21, 1995.

Traded to Washington by Colorado for Washington's 4th round choice (Ben Storey) in 1996 Entry Draft, April 3, 1996.

Traded to Boston by Washington with Jim Carey, Jason Allison and Washington's 3rd round choice (Lee Goren) in 1997 Entry Draft for Bill Ranford, Adam Oates and Rick Tocchet, March 1, 1997.

Signed as a free agent by Utah (IHL) with Boston retaining NHL rights, October 20, 1998.

Traded to Edmonton by Boston with Boston's 1st (Ales Hemsky) and 2nd (Doug Lynch) round choices in 2001 Entry Draft for Bill Guerin and future considerations, November 15, 2000.

Traded to NY Rangers by Edmonton with Ales Pisa for Radek Dvorak and Cory Cross, March 11, 2003.

Traded to Washington by NY Rangers for Jaromir Jagr, January 23, 2004.

Traded to Los Angeles by Washington for Jared Aulin, March 8, 2004.

Signed as a free agent by Vancouver, August 17, 2005.

Signed as a free agent by Columbus, September 13, 2006.

Traded to the Carolina, Febuary 23, 2007 for a 5th round pick in 2008 Entry Draft.

Carter is fast approaching another, lengthier NHl tour of duty.

This player's travelogue detailed below, belong to the league's all time most travelled player, now with his 12th franchise.

Traded to Anaheim by Detroit with Jason York for Stu Grimson, Mark Ferner and Anaheim's 6th round choice (Magnus Nilsson) in 1996 Entry Draft, April 4, 1995.

Traded to Vancouver by Anaheim for Roman Oksiuta, March 15, 1996.

Traded to Philadelphia by Vancouver for Philadelphia's 5th round choice (later traded back to Philadelphia - Philadelphia selected Garrett Prosofsky) in 1998 Entry Draft, February 5, 1998.

Traded to Tampa Bay by Philadelphia with Chris Gratton for Mikael Renberg and Daymond Langkow, December 12, 1998.

Traded to Florida by Tampa Bay for Ryan Johnson and Dwayne Hay, March 14, 2000.

Traded to Ottawa by Florida for future considerations, March 13, 2001.

Signed as a free agent by Columbus, July 7, 2001.

Traded to Dallas by Columbus with Columbus' 2nd round choice (Johan Fransson) in 2004 Entry Draft for Darryl Sydor, July 22, 2003.

Traded to Phoenix by Dallas with future considerations for Teppo Numminen, July 22, 2003.

Traded to St. Louis by Phoenix for Brent Johnson, March 4, 2004.

Traded to Nashville by St. Louis for Timofei Shishkanov, January 30, 2006.

Signed as a free agent by NY Islanders, July 2, 2006.

This "feuille de route" belong to none other than Mike "Suitcase" Sillinger, a halfway decent all around player, who despite midling success at several destinations, was never quite able to call anywhere home.

I'm not sure if it qualifies as a Canucks curse, but like Carter and Sillinger, four other nomad skaters also passed through Vancouver for albeit brief stays on the way to suitcase infamy.

The original bagger of luggage, was a goaltender known as Gary "Suitcase" Smith, who started out his NHL life as a 4th stringer in the Maple Leafs organization in the late 1960's. Smith literally lived out of his travel gear as he was always a goalie too many somewhere. Curiously, he played his best hockey for brutal teams, which always tended to speak for an upside potential that never came. Smith toiled for 7 different NHL organization during his 14 year career in the bigs. that might seem like almost nothing in this day and age of rent a players and free agency. From 1964 to 1980 when he retired, Smith also plied his trade in another 10 destinations via minor league affiliated and WHA teams. He likely inspired the Rent-A-Goalie profession.

Brent Ashton succeeded Smith in setting the travel standard. Also beginning in Vancouver, Ashton piled up Air Miles going to 9 different NHL destinations. Seemingly ubiquitous, Ashton seemed jinx-like, passing through failing franchises such as the Colorado Rockies, the Quebec Nordiques and the Winnipeg Jets.

Two defenders drafted in the first round by the Canucks that made Rand McNally rich along their journeys were J.J. Daigneault and Michel Petit. Both bested Ashton's mark and gave Sillinger something to shoot for while becoming the ultimate spare part for an even ten teams. Petit and Daigneault were loaded with fleeting potential at one time. Issues of insecurity hampered their play at every stop.

Reversing the trend of defenders with a Canuck based compass, were backliners Eric Weinrich, now retired, and Keith Carney, currently with the Minnesota Wild. Both nearing the end of a long and winding NHL road, the pair were aquired by Vancouver in a failed attempt to reach the post season in 2005-06.

It's all enough to make one wonder if players won't soon be adding a "No Canuck Trade" contract clause.

Why Trade Sheldon Souray?

Under the NHL's present salary cap structure, hockey's trade rumour mongers haven't had much to proselytize over this season. God forbid the notion, they've almost had to make up their own! With less than a dozen players changing teams so far, phones aren't exactly ringing off the hook in the offices of GM's lately.

It got a little wacky a few weeks back when a nameless Nation's Capital scribe, who deserves to remain nameless, cooked up a beauty involving the stratospherically separated Blue Jackets and Canadiens. It had all the makings of a blockbuster deal. It was all the makings of hotdog helium.

Get this: Sergei (Inflated contract, washed up) Fedorov to the Habs for Janne (Wanna buy a vowel?) Niinimaa and Radek (Knob spelled backwards) Bonk. The guffaws were heard coast to coast. I won't even indulge in the nonsense of the deal's impossible improbability!

There is one trade rumour, however, that refuses to fade, again involving the Canadiens. In this case, where there is smoke, there is clearly nothing but smoke!

It surrounds and hounds Habs defenseman Sheldon Souray.

While most chatter of players being on the market are the usual rank underperformers and castabouts, Souray stands out and gets talked up as he is in the midst of a career year. Possibly even an All-Star season. He has become the prime sought out commodity of every league GM and trade pundit for many reasons.

What it boils down to is the Canadiens have but three NHL roster defensemen under contract for next season. Souray, Andrei Markov, and Craig Rivet are all unrestricted free agents. Mike Komisarek, who is making slightly under a million per season and performing up to expectations should receive his due upance.

Niinimaa, who is ironically the highest paid (2.5M) and least used, will be escorted out of Montreal by pidgeons at seasons end.

It is perceived that GM Bob Gainey will have trouble signing all three. That would depend on where his priorities are placed. Gainey never discusses a player's standing publically, leaving rumours to be pure fantasy and nothing more.

Now there is also the notion that Souray wants to be on the West coast. His off season home is in California. The gossip has long been that he wishes to be closer to his estranged infant daughter. While the wish is certainly true of any caring father, Souray hasn't as much to gain as most assume, as he has been granted the same standard visitation rights, with certain allowances, as any parent has. Living on West coast implies longer road trips and doesn't neccessarily solve that woe.

Relations with his ex-wife Angelica Bridges have not always been smooth, and perhaps being farther away has it's merits in that regard. Bridges has been known to become quite a headache for Souray in the past, with slanderous allegations and such.

As far back as last July, Souray was strongly denying he'd made any trade requests, stating he was quite happy being a Montreal Canadien. His on ice performance and leadership this season would attest to that.

The Canadiens current bind on defense revolves around a Markov signing. Markov, and a prickly Russian agent, have in the past given former Habs GM's cold sweats with signing negotiations that dragged on longer than the team would have liked. The importance of Markov to the team cannot be marginalized with mere offensive statistics. That importance clearly manifested itself to the team in the past whenever Markov was out of the lineup. The Habs instanly became brutal on defense, weaknesses and shortcomings exposed.

How much Markov could command from another team with more cap room than the Canadiens remains to be seen. It has been recently noted that the Russian defender is great friends with the Capitals Alexander Ovechkin. How alluring would that scenario be to him?

Even Souray, when prodded on the question a few weeks back, made no bones about the fact that Markov will be Gainey's most pressing priority. Souray suggested his needs came after that fact.

As far as defenseman Rivet goes, he would likely shed a second layer of skin to remain with the team. At roughly 2.4 million, he's a good bet to resign with little fuss and fanfare.

In the bigger picture of things, the Canadiens have $22,258,00.00 committed toward next seasons cap. It is not unreasonable to suggest that they attempt to resign all three defenseman.

The remaining unrestricted free agents next season are Bonk, Mike Johnson, and goalie David Aebischer. With the Canadiens being organizationally deep in forward strength and goaltending, moreso than defense, the accent surely will be placed on all three rearguards being resigned.

The Canadiens have five restricted free agents, with only Chris Higgins set to srike for gold. The others include Michael Ryder, Tomas Plekanec, Alexander Perezhogin and Komisarek.

Other than the 3 RFA's the Canadiens have possibly 24 million to divy up between the three blueliners and the youngters.

Hardly as bad as it seems, unless Markov and Higgins play hardball.

While Souray's name has been bantered about, gainey hasn't bitten on the rumoured trade bait. Names tossed in the melee have included Pavel Datsyuk, an RFA, who is underachieving while demanding bigger bucks from the Red Wings, and Markus Naslund, a UFA, of the Canucks, who has too often mentioned the possibility of finishing his career in Sweden.

Most tempting to Gainey in exchange for Souray, would be "can't miss" prospects, the likes of which are rarely offered up in trade talks.

While Gainey has listened to offers patiently and unpressed, the Canadiens have unexpectedly climbed in the standings. They are amongst the top three teams in the conference and place in the leagues overall top 5 on some given nights. If the Habs are not quite yet aspirants to the Stanley Cup, they have brought themselves closer to contention. gainey will hardly let the pursuit of the ultimate goal slip backwards.

Souray is a rare breed among defenseman. He brings a threatening arsenal of passing skills and a booming shot to the powerplay, which currently ranks as the leagues best - in no small due to Souray.

On the defensive side, Souray does tend to get augered into the ice by the odd dazzling speedster, but that is also true of many other less fleetfooted D-men. Despite the highlight reels showing him to be a periodic pylon, inside his own zone Souray handles to goings on better than most.

It's hard to find other defenseman with the same attributes. He's the prime reason the Habs powerplay is so killer - teams have become defenseless against that boomer blast he threatens with.

If teams concentrate on eliminating Souray's shot by playing him close, they invariably set up a 4 on 3, with Markov and the slippery Alex Kovalev moving nearer to the net. If teams drop back and box square, Souray gets his cracks - and it's been seen what he can do. Teams are damned if they key on him and damned if they don't. Without him, the habs are not the same threat.

Bob Gainey realizes all this, of course, knowing how irreplacable Souray's become.

Souray may well be thinking few other teams can offer him the same setup.

Did I mention he adores Montreal?

Souray isn't going anywhere soon or even remotely thereafter.