Now 18 years removed from being the Can’t-Miss Kid, Bobby Carpenter wouldn’t have liked himself as he is today.
He’s learned.
“I had no respect for that job [as checker] whatsoever. ‘Get ’em off the ice and get the scorers on,’ that’s what I thought,” Carpenter said. “Now it’s great to be able to do it. And I have so much respect for the guys who did it. Doug Jarvis,he was great and he was in Washington. I could have learned a lot from him.”
The former 53-goal scorer has been a checker since he shattered his left kneecap into 14 pieces in 1990. He won a Stanley Cup in this role, one in which he should have won a Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward.
Now, even that longevity-producing job is starting to run out. The Devils have been grooming Denis Pederson as Carpenter’s checking replacement, even if Pederson doesn’t seem sure he wants to be a checker at age 23.
Pederson hasmade no progress this season, as the Devils have been unable to find an important role for Pederson while Carpenter remains on hand. Carpenter sat out – resting for the playoffs – last night as the Devils hosted the Islanders at the Meadowlands.
It could be Carpenter’s last go-round with New Jersey. His $905,000 contract ends this season, and he will again be an unrestricted free agent in July. He had a few feelers two years ago, and with expansion continuing, there could be offers this time, too, even if he’s going to be 36 in July. But since the Devils failed to move Pederson at the trade deadline, and with the acquisition of Sergei Nemchinov, Carpenter seems unlikely to come back to the Meadowlands next fall.
“I have no idea,” Carpenter said. “You just don’t ever want to quit before you’re done – at least for me.”
The veteran of 1,177 games, the former Can’t-Miss Kid, says he hasn’t been scouting out possible destinations.
“Not at all. There’s absolutely no reason to even think about that now. All that takes place during the summer,” Carpenter said. “I’d be dumb not to listen, but I don’t get many offers. They [opposing teams] know my relationship with Lou [Lamoriello]. The only time I’d get a valid offer is if I said Lou doesn’t want me.
“I just don’t want it to go all summer if I have to go anywhere. Last time, it was into training camp, but we knew we were going to get it done.”
Carpenter had little option but to be a checker after he shattered his kneecap, chasing Mathieu Schneider around the net when he lost his edge.
“They were talking about taking it out and putting in a fake kneecap. I’d never skate again. I went home that night and got so drunk. I was retired. The next day, the doctor called and said he’d been talking to a doctor in Florida, and that he’d use these different screws,” Carpenter said.
“The difficult part was going to be dedication needed to rehabilitate it. It was eight weeks on the couch with the machine working my knee 23 hours a day. Sleep? I didn’t. I spent a week in the hospital because I caught pneumonia. It made me appreciate more what I had.”
It made him appreciate all the guys he didn’t respect as a kid.
