Wild Sign Forward Ryan Carter

Today the Minnesota Wild announced that they have signed White Bear Lake, MN-native Ryan Carter to a one-year contract.

Carter, a veteran of seven NHL seasons (he only played over 70 games in one of those seasons), spent the last three seasons with the New Jersey Devils, scoring a career-high seven goals last season (7-3-10). Carter is a depth player who tends to average around 9-11 minutes per game. He’s a third or fourth line guy.

Michael Russo of the Star Tribune is reporting that the contract is a two-way deal worth $725,000 at the NHL level.

After spending three years with the Devils and going through all of camp with them sans contract, there are a few atypical elements to this signing. At 31-years old, it seems unlikely that that Wild signed Carter to start the season down in Iowa. The timing would be strange for that, as would the placement of him in the AHL taking minutes away from developing players. But it’s also not clear where Carter might fit into the Wild’s NHL roster unless it’s in a suit and tie, but it’s not clear why they’d sign a player after the end of the preseason just to make him a healthy scratch. One of his assets is that Carter has playoff experience, joining the Devils on their run to the Cup finals with Zach Parise in 2012.

To be honest, unless general manager Chuck Fletcher has something else up his sleeve (like a trade), I’m not sure I understand this move as the team has their “grit” guys in Stu Bickel and Joel Rechlicz and has enough talented forwards that there are guys in Iowa who are more interesting additions to the NHL lineup than Carter. If he’s staying it may mean that the team has decided not to try out Bickel at wing and will send him back to Iowa, leaving Carter, who has fought 13 times over the last four seasons (plus two preseason fights last season), to play with the NHL squad.

On the other hand, Carter is a fighter and grit guy who managed positive possession numbers over the last two seasons, playing 106 games, which makes him look like a better option than Bickel or Rechlicz on the fourth line. Carter had 51.26% Corsi For % (CF%) last season and a 55.16% CF% the season before (both seasons had negative relative numbers) with 46% offensive zone starts last season and 48% the season before.

Stayed tuned for details on the trade and maybe another move. (Or at least a little clarity on what his role will be and whether or not this is a two-way deal that might place Carter in Iowa.)

Update
It looks like Carter is indeed going to be joining the Wild’s NHL roster.

Tom Gulitti, Devils beat writer for The Record, says that Carter believes he could have worked something out with the Devils, but that he decided to take the Wild’s offer over other offers that were on the table because he believes playing with the Wild gives him the best chance to win the Cup.

Update 5:03pm