The Kings made their TNT debut with a 3-2 shootout victory over St. Louis on Wednesday night, which also signified a chance for retired Kings winger and longtime Marina del Rey resident Anson Carter to get a look at his former club.
Carter, who played part of the 2003-04 season for the Kings and later appeared on Fox Sports West telecasts, is now part of the TNT broadcast crew. That came after a fruitful stint at NBC, which saw the NHL’s broadcast rights divided between Turner Sports and ESPN after last season.
Carter joins another former King on the crew, the venerable Wayne Gretzky. In contrast to the stately, magnanimous Gretzky the public generally sees, Carter is privy to his one-liners and “chirps,” in hockey parlance. Finding the roles of veteran and newcomer reversed from their playing days, Carter has encouraged him not to become a broadcaster but to simply be himself and not be tentative on the air.
“Did you ever go into a game saying, ‘I’m only going to get one or two points tonight; I’m just going to dip my toe into the water?’” Carter asked Gretzky. “Or did you go into that game thinking ‘I’m going to score five or six points tonight and crush these guys?’”
While Carter’s arrival in Los Angeles might not have been as heralded as Gretzky’s – Carter was acquired late in the season and recorded a solitary point in 15 games – Carter relished the opportunity to play where he made his offseason home. Despite a pulled groin, an injured shoulder and other maladies, Carter grinded through the season in the same city where he played pickup hockey with entertainers and executives.
“Statistically speaking, I wasn’t very good, but I was skating on one leg and I had one arm. But I was finally playing in L.A., it was too much for me to pass on the opportunity to be in the lineup,” Carter said. “I always had that old-school mentality that if I could bend over and tie my skates, I was playing in the game.”
Carter said he enjoyed seeing the growth of the sport in Southern California, the Kings breaking through with the franchise’s first two Stanley Cup titles and their ascent in popularity under the leadership of team president Luc Robitaille.
“That’s all due to Lucky’s hard work and the group he’s put together to really help grow the game off the ice for the Kings,” Carter said.
Another supersized personality, Pro Basketball Hall of Famer and NBA broadcaster Charles Barkley, stopped by the TNT intermission program for its regular-season premiere and some laughs. But it hasn’t been all quips and giggles for the TNT crew, which also includes player-turned-media-personality Paul Bissonette, former NHL star and coach Rick Tocchet and veteran broadcaster Liam McHugh. The broadcasts have tackled topics like racism and drug abuse during intermission segments.
There has been no shortage of heavy discussions already this season in the NHL, with the Chicago Blackhawks having been fined $2 million for the organization’s negligence and lack of disclosure of allegations of the sexual abuse of a prospect, Kyle Beach, in 2010. Team president Stan Bowman and former coach Joel Quenneville, most recently with Florida, were among those who vacated their posts in the fallout.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said while the league concluded ownership was somehow unaware of the allegations until much later, franchises must be more vigilant going forward.
“You need to make sure that the people that work for you do their jobs in reporting to you what needs to be done in situations that they may find difficult or distasteful,” Bettman said.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league’s investigation into another incident in the Blackhawks’ organization, surrounding the racial abuse of former prospect Akim Aliu by Coach Bill Peters when he was with Chicago’s minor-league affiliate, had concluded. Those allegations came on the heels of controversies in recent years surrounding prominent figures in the sport such as former coach Mike Babcock and former CBC broadcaster Don Cherry.
Carter had long been involved with extending the game’s reach, diversifying its composition, increasing its inclusivity and deepening its talent pool. In Boston, he started the Carter’s Corner program that invited Boys & Girls Club members to Bruins games, a tradition he continued with a suite in Edmonton when he played for the Oilers. Carter is presently the co-chair of the Player Inclusion Committee, along with New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban.
Having had a longstanding commitment to mutual respect and fairness, Carter reacted strongly to the news about Beach’s experience.
“The Blackhawks had each other’s back on the ice, but no one had Kyle’s back off the ice and that, to me, is a terrible, terrible thing,” Carter said.
Carter said the heft of incidents like the one Beach went through must be acknowledged, and then they could become teaching moments.
“People in the hockey community are working hard to eradicate this kind of behavior because for too long it was OK to say nothing,” Carter said.
“Hopefully we’ll have more people that feel empowered to say ‘You know what? I saw this happening and I’m not going to bite my tongue. I don’t care if I’m the lowest man on the totem pole, I’m going to say something to make sure that everyone feels safe.’”