Base Jeff Carter Review - by request, LlamaViews Reviews pt 5 (I think)

What's up guys? We had a new face around here, u/BudHcSunnyvale , asking about a base Jeff Carter review, and having used him for the better part of the early year, I thought I would oblige. I know that most of the reviews here are for higher end players, but it will be nice to do a review once in a while that will benefit some of the members here that might not have a fortune to spend on HUT cards.

About me: I am currently a D1 mainstay, but I have yet to win a league title – I’m just good enough to consistently miss out on any sort of title packs. Therefore, I’m not bad at this, but I’m certainly not the be-all end-all of advice givers. My team currently runs CG, B, TT, TW, and SB for team synergies, and PP, WW, OJ, DR, HH, and IS for individual synergies. (The team that Carter was on is below)

I like to play a possession oriented attack game that focuses on cycling the puck down low and looking for the slot 1t or the point clapper. I also like to keep skaters fast enough that if I get a step or two on the defense that I have a real chance to score on the rush – you know, like literally everyone else’s playstyle.

That said, my reviews are biased towards my playstyle. Here we go, thanks for reading!

If you want to request a review, my teams is here – let me know, I’ll review any one of them! https://hutdb.net/17/builder/169992

Base Jeff Carter Review

Recommended Position: LW

Viable Alternative Position: C

Line: Carter – Base Thornton – Base Zetterberg or

TOTW 88 Stone – Base Carter – Base Skinner

This was a very old team of mine. Certainly not current, and much weaker all around, so recognize that going in. Luckily I still have a copy of that lineup saved on hutdb, so I know how/where I was playing him. Active Synergies were PP, WW, OJ with CG and TT for team syns. Check out the lineup here: https://hutdb.net/17/builder/109633

I’m also doing this from memory, so bear with me, as it has been a month or two since I’ve used this card.

Skating – 7.6/10 I had originally bought this card hoping for a big bodied, possession oriented center. Therefore, I did not require, nor was I expecting, great speed. I prefer guys like Thornton, Getzlaf, Trevor Linden…you get it. That said, Carter still felt slow. His speed rates in at a base level of 90, but I felt as though he did not live up to it. Not only does he feel slow, but he doesn’t have the balance (89 base) to maintain his feet or, often times, the puck, when things get up close and personal. He did not last long at C, at which time he was moved to the LW. He fared a bit better on the wing, but was still a little too easily bumped off the puck for my liking. Couple that with subpar speed, and you have a thoroughly mediocre experience. For 6’4” and 212 lbs, his skating felt more like Henrik Sedin than Jumbo Joe – let alone comparing him to the better shooting version of Getzlaf that he was supposed to be.

Shooting 7.9/10 Frankly, for 20k (down to closer to 10 or 12k on XB now), I shouldn’t have expected much, but I didn’t really get much either. He was noticeably less effective than his cohorts at both C and wing, which included base cards like Thornton, Getzlaf, Zetterberg, Wheeler, and Kessel. Honestly, I could list sub 90 rated base cards that I prefer shooting with for days. I just couldn’t get his shooting going. With WW on, he should be up to a 94/93 rated wrister power/accuracy, and the clappers come in at 89/92. That is not too different from, say, Zetterberg, who, on the same team, buffs out to 90/87 wristers and 92/90 P/A on the slap shots, so it’s tough to explain why I was so much more effective with Zetty – similar stories for other 87-89 rated shooters. He just didn’t shoot as well as his stats said he should. It might be partially because I’m better with slap shots than wristers, but it shouldn’t have been this big a spread.

Puck Skills 8.5/10 He’s not terrible here. With CG and TT on, his passing buffs out to 95, and his puck control to 92. Deking comes in at a usable 89 base, which rounds out to sufficient puck control for his price point. Not much to say here, really – all around puck skills won’t have your jaw hitting the floor, but they won’t have you raging at your TV either.

Defenses 8.0/10 Surprisingly, given how lackluster he plays relative to his offensive stats, defensively he was not too much of a liability. His awareness comes in at a paltry 85, but he doesn’t seem to constantly be out of place, in my book. Hi blocking rating of 80 was not really noticeable in one way or the other, he’s a fairly big body, and so he is able to get in the shooting lanes. His stick checking is about average, no great shakes, but compared to other 88 overall base cards, quite usable. His faceoffs do leave a bit to be desired, at a rating of 80. Now, in fairness, I do not tolerate bad faceoff men – 80 is the absolute lowest rating that I will even consider, and for that, he had better be a wizard in other areas. Carter is not the offensive wizard that I needed, and therefore, his 80 faceoff rating did not work for me. It was noticeable, and very difficult to win faceoffs against skilled opponents.

Physical 8.1/10 Guy can hit, and I think he hits above his middling 85 rating. I found him to be a divided physical player. All of his relevant physical stats (i.e. everything but fighting) are in the mid to high 80s, and he plays a fairly strong physical game defensively. He can move most any of his peers (think sub 90 guys) off of the puck – I wouldn’t go taking a run at Linden or Shanahan, but he holds his own relative to his rating. Offensively, I found him to be fairly easy to move off the puck. I had hoped he would be a bar-down sniper entering the zone, but I found that I had to get closer to the net than I wanted to, and he was getting bumped off the puck before I could pull the trigger.

Intangibles 8.5/10 Really not bad here, as long as he wasn’t the puck carrier entering the zone, he knows how to set up in front, and I didn’t have a huge issue with him getting tied up all the time like with some of my other players (think MOV Marchy). He usually has his stick on the ice and is facing the right direction to rip a cross crease 1t, which, when you give him as much open net to shoot at as your average cross crease, he’ll tuck no problem. Again, his defensive awareness didn’t make him a glaring liability, and for a player like this, at this price point, that’s perfectly acceptable.

Overall Impressions 8.0/10 For 12k, he’s a fine choice. If you’re a very highly skilled player, you can run him in D1. For us mere mortals, he can be solid through D2/3. That said, I was pretty disappointed all around. He did not make a good possession style centerman, and he did not make a particularly dangerous winger either. I couldn’t get his shot going, despite his stats, and despite the WW synergy active. I vastly prefer someone like base Blake Wheeler, or base Phil Kessel, or base Jack Eichel, or any number of 87-89 rated right handed shots to slot in on the left side for more or less the same price. Hope you have better luck with him than I did.

Questions? Comments? Agree? Think I'm full of shit? Let me know!