from Rich Hammond at the website of the LA Kings,

The phone calls came exactly eight months apart, but the emotions couldn’t have been any different.

On the afternoon of June 24, 2011, Jeff Carter learned that he had been traded from the Philadelphia Flyers to the Columbus Blue Jackets. A half-hour later, Mike Richards, Carter’s close friend and teammate with the Flyers, was dealt to the Kings in a head-spinning duo of deals.

On Feb. 24, 2012, Kings coach Darryl Sutter called Richards into his office and asked a question.

“How would you like to play with Jeff Carter?” Sutter said.

No piece of fiction could match the reality. Carter and Richards had both been under long-term contracts in Philadelphia, and enjoyed playing together. When both were jettisoned to the Western Conference, as far apart as possible, who would of thought they would be reunited within a year?

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