Anson Carter says race played a factor in Canucks contract negotiations

[Quantum]

So, after reading the articles, I don't see how race played into anything here?!?

 

He was 32 years old, had signed a 1 year deal with Vancouver after a down year, had a career year and wanted more (likely term and a raise), and was surprised when the Canucks prioritized signing the Sedins over him (ignoring the fact that the Sedins were the 2nd and 3rd overall picks in the 1999 draft and were entering their primes). Salary cap had just become part of the NHL and I think teams were trying to navigate that. He seemed to be caught in a mix of having a great season in an odd year and his age definitely spooked teams (including the Canucks). He didn't even sign a contract until September 12th of that year... and I assume he only did when he rejected other deals in July. 

 

Reading it all, race definitely didn't seem to factor at all... it was just timing.

 

In hindsight, what he should have done, was waited till the Sedins signed, inked his deal, and likely taken the 2 year deal that was probably on the table because he was out of the league not that long after. He definitely had a big season in Vancouver and I do wish he had stuck around because I think he was probably the second best line mate  the Sedins after Burrows.... But also, if Carter had re-signed... do we get the rise of Burrows?!? Was that inevitable?!? Or would we have missed the creation of a franchise legend?!? Hard to say.

 

But this definitely feels like these articles were written by writers looking to stretch out a slow news day.

[Drakrami]

if we only offered him a 100,000 raise with the year that he had; yes we were lowballing him. Was it because of race? Carter has no proof. And playing this card during current political events 15 years later just smells like a bunch of bull$&!#. It race was so important, he wouldn't have gotten a chance on the line with the Sedins in the first place... 

[wesley]

Really? 

[Russ]

17 hours ago, Heretic said:

FTFY: Anson Carter says my ability played a factor in Canucks contract negotiations

 

Just look what he did before and after the Canucks.  

 

Has nothing to do with race and everything to do with his performance.

I remember at the time all the reports were "ok great that was a career year the Canucks want to see if he can duplicate it or if it was a one off"  If he had taken that one year deal that was a bit more, played well, he could have cashed in here or somewhere else.  Instead he wanted to get paid today after a few prior mediocare years and left and then ended up in Switzerland anyways.

[TheRealistOptimist]

As a kid I called him "Stone hands" that year because I feel even though he scored 33 goals he missed so many other opportunities, he should've had like 50 goals that year, the Sedin's set him up on a tee so many times from what I recall. I did like him though and remember thinking he was greedy for not re-signing.

 

As for his statement, I think you really have to parse what he said. He didn't say the Canucks were racist for not signing him. He did say he thinks race played a part in him not getting offered more by the Canucks. 

When it comes to that statement, I am not sure but I think I can see where he is coming from. I am sure he probably feels his season was viewed more as a "fluke" because of his skin colour, whereas a white player may have got a big contract. I mean he had been a consistent player putting up 40+ points in 7 of the past 8 seasons, including 55+ points in 3 of the past 4 seasons. Now it was a weird time because of the NHL Lockout and implementation of the salary cap and the 24% salary rollback that came with that. 

Just as an example, Louis Eriksson had 0.65 ppg over his past 4 seasons heading into Free Agency and was almost 31 years old, he was viewed as one of the top FA and as we all know signed a $6 million per year deal. Well Carter also averaged 0.65 ppg over his past 4 seasons heading into FA, now he was slightly older having just turned 32. 

With all that I can understand why he might feel a certain way. Now he got a decent deal AAV wise but probably a little less than a UFA in his position normally get and also nowhere close to the long term deal most would get. This proved to be a smart move by all teams by not giving him any term but it's definitely a bit unusual in regards to how most teams operate during Free Agency.

Anyways this is just a different way of looking at and understanding his statement. Overall in my opinion not a racist move by the Canucks though.

 

ps. I missed 11 games with NYR where he scored 5 points. This drops his ppg slightly lower to 0.64 ppg.

Edited June 11, 2020 by TheRealistOptimist
correction

[TheRealistOptimist]

16 minutes ago, Russ said:

I remember at the time all the reports were "ok great that was a career year the Canucks want to see if he can duplicate it or if it was a one off"  If he had taken that one year deal that was a bit more, played well, he could have cashed in here or somewhere else.  Instead he wanted to get paid today after a few prior mediocare years and left and then ended up in Switzerland anyways.

I needed a refresher too but go look at his prior stats. There were 3 better than average seasons out of his past 4. They weren't as mediocre as we might've thought. 

[BoKnows]

24 minutes ago, TheRealistOptimist said:

I needed a refresher too but go look at his prior stats. There were 3 better than average seasons out of his past 4. They weren't as mediocre as we might've thought. 

Those were early on in his career.  The season before he joined the Canucks his numbers dropped by over 50%.  He had a bounce back season with the help of the Sedins.

Edited June 11, 2020 by BoKnows

[TheRealistOptimist]

1 hour ago, BoKnows said:

Those were early on in his career.  The season before he joined the Canucks his numbers dropped by over 50%.  He had a bounce back season with the help of the Sedins.

Yes he had a down year the year before the Canucks but you are wrong that those other years were early in his career. 

 

2001-02 - EDM - 60 points in 82 games

2002-03 - EDM/NYR - 60 points in 79 games

2003-04 - NYR/WSH/LAK - 28 points in 77 games

2004-05 - Lockout

2005-06 - VAN - 55 points in 81 games

 

3 of his past 4 seasons with 55 points or more.

Edited June 11, 2020 by TheRealistOptimist
Correction

[BoKnows]

8 minutes ago, TheRealistOptimist said:

Yes he had a down year the year before the Canucks but you are wrong that those other years were early in his career. 

 

2001-02 - EDM - 60 points in 82 games

2002-03 - EDM/NYR - 60 points in 79 games

2003-04 - NYR/WSH/LAK - 28 points in 77 games

2004-05 - Lockout

2005-06 - VAN - 55 points in 8 games

 

3 of his past 4 seasons with 55 points or more.

Still risky giving a 30+ year old a large pay grade.  Especially when you have young promising talent who need to be paid.  

[You Mad Bro?]

[Chickenspear]

Just noticing when Carter was here, he had 33 goals, 22 assists... It's like the Sedins plan these things.

[peaches5]

Everyone loved Carter while he was here. To say he wasn't offered more money because he is black is a complete joke. Maybe other teams around the league didn't offer him a contract because of that but, as he says, Vancouver had a deal for him he just wanted more $$$ than what they were willing to pay. Columbus paid and paid the price for their stupidity. 

[-DLC-]

9 hours ago, Daywalker said:

As a black hockey player growing up in Toronto, playing college in Michigan, and playing in the NHL in the 90s and 2000s, I'm sure the guy endured an enormous amount of racism throughout his hockey career.  Enough that gives him the right to second guess a lot of the events that happened in his career.  

 

Sure he had up and down years, but he was a beauty on the ice, always seemed to work his bag off, and always seemed super positive in interviews. I don't blame him for wondering why, as a very valuable hockey player, he had to play for 9 different teams during a 10 year career. Did the Canucks make the right decision on him? Yes. Is it weird and questionable as to why the dude had to move around so much during his career? Very much yes.

 

Sure, disagree with him, but he has the right to question and think anything he wants about what happened in his career. Even if you think he's wrong about Vancouver don't miss the point of the rest of what he has to say.

 

 

 

 

I guess that's part of it....that if you've experienced racism throughout your lifetime you relate decisions that are made about you to that.  It's sad that he endured struggles due to racism and my angry reaction might have overlooked that.  That if you've been subjected to it it sticks and you carry it around.  It's truly sad...people are people.  Period.

 

I just think that if he looked at this realistically...he was here for a year and we brought in Lu and did have to pay the Sedins and tough decisions were made that were more likely related to money than race.  When we let Jovo go, that hurt (too).  So it wasn't just about him...it was a decision made based on having to let players go.  Happens in hockey all the time and this current team will have to make some of those choices along the way.

 

The wounds of racism likely run deep and it makes people question things.  But I still do feel it does more harm than good to just throw out "racism" when things unfold in an unfavourable way because all hockey players are subject to being traded and let go.  The fact that he was offered a slight increase that he declined made this his decision, not the team's.  

 

Racism is ugly and needs to stop....however, players don't always get what they want when negotiating contracts because it's not ONLY about them.  I mean, Wayne Gretzky got moved...it's not a far stretch to see Anson Carter go too.  He rejected the deal based on wanting more.  Not to say he didn't encounter racism....but this doesn't seem to fit as part of that.  A business deal.  He had some great results during his career, but no player is untouchable.

 

[Ronaldoescobar]

1 hour ago, TheRealistOptimist said:

Yes he had a down year the year before the Canucks but you are wrong that those other years were early in his career. 

 

2001-02 - EDM - 60 points in 82 games

2002-03 - EDM/NYR - 60 points in 79 games

2003-04 - NYR/WSH/LAK - 28 points in 77 games

2004-05 - Lockout

2005-06 - VAN - 55 points in 8 games

 

3 of his past 4 seasons with 55 points or more.

 

1 hour ago, BoKnows said:

Still risky giving a 30+ year old a large pay grade.  Especially when you have young promising talent who need to be paid.  

IDK... when you score 55 points in 8 games you must be a pretty good player at any age ;P

 

Cheers!

[Ghostsof1915]

5 minutes ago, Ronaldoescobar said:

 

IDK... when you score 55 points in 8 games you must be a pretty good player at any age ;P

 

Cheers!

He was Putin's linemate. 

[coho8888]

2 hours ago, TheRealistOptimist said:

As a kid I called him "Stone hands" that year because I feel even though he scored 33 goals he missed so many other opportunities, he should've had like 50 goals that year, the Sedin's set him up on a tee so many times from what I recall. I did like him though and remember thinking he was greedy for not re-signing.

 

As for his statement, I think you really have to parse what he said. He didn't say the Canucks were racist for not signing him. He did say he thinks race played a part in him not getting offered more by the Canucks. 

When it comes to that statement, I am not sure but I think I can see where he is coming from. I am sure he probably feels his season was viewed more as a "fluke" because of his skin colour, whereas a white player may have got a big contract. I mean he had been a consistent player putting up 40+ points in 7 of the past 8 seasons, including 55+ points in 3 of the past 4 seasons. Now it was a weird time because of the NHL Lockout and implementation of the salary cap and the 24% salary rollback that came with that. 

Just as an example, Louis Eriksson had 0.65 ppg over his past 4 seasons heading into Free Agency and was almost 31 years old, he was viewed as one of the top FA and as we all know signed a $6 million per year deal. Well Carter also averaged 0.65 ppg over his past 4 seasons heading into FA, now he was slightly older having just turned 32. 

With all that I can understand why he might feel a certain way. Now he got a decent deal AAV wise but probably a little less than a UFA in his position normally get and also nowhere close to the long term deal most would get. This proved to be a smart move by all teams by not giving him any term but it's definitely a bit unusual in regards to how most teams operate during Free Agency.

Anyways this is just a different way of looking at and understanding his statement. Overall in my opinion not a racist move by the Canucks though.

 

ps. I missed 11 games with NYR where he scored 5 points. This drops his ppg slightly lower to 0.64 ppg.

Umm, isn't that the same as racism.  Treating someone differently because of race or colour?

 

 

[TheRealistOptimist]

1 hour ago, BoKnows said:

Still risky giving a 30+ year old a large pay grade.  Especially when you have young promising talent who need to be paid.  

Absolutely I never said otherwise.

 

Just trying to understand and state how he could feel that he was treated differently.

 

I don’t blame the Canucks at all for not signing him.

[BoKnows]

1 minute ago, TheRealistOptimist said:

Absolutely I never said otherwise.

 

Just trying to understand and state how he could feel that he was treated differently.

 

I don’t blame the Canucks at all for not signing him.

I understand that.

 

I think Carter is just crying wolf.

[-DLC-]

13 minutes ago, coho8888 said:

Umm, isn't that the same as racism.  Treating someone differently because of race or colour?

 

 

But he wasn't treated differently in relation to his departure....other guys were let go too and he was actually offered a chance to stay but declined it.  

 

 

[TheRealistOptimist]

5 minutes ago, coho8888 said:

Umm, isn't that the same as racism.  Treating someone differently because of race or colour?

 

 

Yes. except he didn’t say it was a fact, these are just his thoughts. I can also see why he is thinking the way he is