The Penguins Were Able To Trade For Jeff Carter All Because The Los Angeles Kings Decided To Trade Olli Jokinen One Day
Todd Warshaw. Getty Images.It's a relatively slow day in the news for those of us who are out of the loop on TikTok drama. So one thing I like to do to kill some time is to go through some trades in the NHL and see how far back I can trace the roots of the tree. It's like putting the pieces together of a puzzle I guess. And with the NHL Trade Deadline being yesterday, there were a decent amount of trades to trace back.
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So that Benedict Arnold Ron Hextall went out and acquired a guy who he is very familiar with, Jeff Carter. The two former Flyers won a Cup together in LA, and now Hexy is trying to do the same in Pittsburgh. Hextall was the assistant GM in Los Angeles when the Kings first got Carter from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Jack Johnson on February 23, 2012. The Kings went on to win the Cup later that year.
Now in order to land Jeff Carter, the Kings first had to acquire Jack Johnson. They did that on September 29, 2006 when they traded Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger for Johnson and Oleg Tverdovsky. Gleason was the 23rd overall pick in the 2001 Draft to the Ottawa Senators. He was traded from Ottawa to Los Angeles on March 11, 2003 in exchange for Bryan Smolinski.
Bryan Smolinski had a pretty lengthy NHL career. Over 1000 games played in the show. It started with the Boston Bruins, but he was eventually traded to the the New York Islanders where he played 3 seasons under GM Mike Milbury. As we're all well aware, Mike Milbury has gone down as quite possibly the worst GM in NHL history. But in June of 1999, Milbury actually made a pretty decent trade. He sent Bryan Smolinski, Ziggy Palffy, Marcel Cousinseau and a 4th round pick to Los Angeles in exchange for a package including Olli Jokinen.
So the Los Angeles Kings were able to acquire Jeff Carter because in June '99, they traded Olli Jokinen to the New York Islanders. Carter spent 9.5 seasons in LA, won a couple of Cups, and now the Kings receive a conditional 3rd round pick in 2022 and a conditional 4th rounder in 2023. Which essentially puts an end to that trade tree.
And then I'm sure as everybody is aware of by now, that initial trade for the Islanders to acquire Olli Jokinen opened the door for Mike Milbury to make one of the worst trades in NHL history just one year later when he sent Jokinen and Luongo to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish on June 24, 2000. Amazing.