It shouldn't be a shock to hear that Blue Jackets forward Jeff Carter is unhappy in Columbus. When he was traded by the Philadelphia Flyers in June, he sulked at his shore house in New Jersey for several days before reporting to Ohio to meet with his new team.
He and his agent, Rick Curran, have said that the displeasure had more to do with leaving the only professional hockey home he ever knew than it had to do with the City of Columbus. But upon arrival there, a team that was supposed to rally in part around Carter has fallen apart. They are the worst team in the NHL, and there's no real hope for the future. Carter's season has been stolen away by injuries and things are just the complete opposite of fun.
It's not a secret that Carter has a bad attitude, and it's not a secret that the team would like to trade him away. But is the former hurting the latter here? Is Carter's attitude making him unattractive to potential trade partners?
Via Blue Jackets blog The Cannon:
Independent sources have confirmed that there have been inquiries about a Carter trade, but they cooled to the notion of a trade when his unhappiness/attitude with Columbus were confirmed to the interested teams. While this doesn't preclude a trade from happening, there is absolutely no way for Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson to come close to getting in return for Carter, what Philadelphia got when they traded Carter away.
He knows this, and at this point, has to be willing to take almost anything in return for clearing Carter from the team. Jeff Carter is making Adam Foote, and his notorious trade demand, look like a choir boy at Sunday Mass.
Curran says that his client has not requested a trade and that he's focused on returning to the Blue Jackets lineup, but it's getting a little hard to believe such news. Carter was a face of the franchise in Phladelphia, and the Flyers tossed him aside back in June without much of an after thought.
He has the potential to be the same with he Blue Jackets, but whispers of an attitude problem are quickly turning to screams, and whether it's fair or not, Carter's quickly gaining a less-than-favorable reputation around the league. That might determine his future more than anything else.