Sutter on Carter: `Just let him go play’

It’s going to be quite a day for Jeff Carter. He arrived in Los Angeles last night and went through his required physical this morning. In a couple hours, he will be at Staples Center meeting his new teammates, and at 5 p.m. — barring any surprises — he will be on the ice against the Chicago Blackhawks. Carter will have a close friend, Mike Richards, as a linemate, so it stands to reason that Richards will be able to help him through the transition period. Darryl Sutter was asked, after today’s morning skate, what instructions he would have for Carter.

SUTTER: “It’s not really instructions. Just let him go play. Our systems, and all that, are pretty generic, and he has played most of it. Other than the odd tweak, or three feet somewhere (on the ice) where he’s got to be, there’s not much there. Just go and play. The issues, when guys get traded, is skating and travel and the legal part of it. They just want to play.’’

Question: Will you put him out on the power play right away?

SUTTER: `Why not? He’s got eight power-play goals. When you’re struggling to score and you need to score big goals, your power play should do that. That’s not really an issue. He should be able to go right in there. With the position he plays on the power play is the same thing that he’s always done, so that’s nothing different, nothing new.’’

Rules for Blog Commenting

  • No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
  • Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other comments, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
  • Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
  • Please do not discuss, or post links to websites that illegally stream NHL games.
  • Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.

Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.

Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.