Former NHL forward Anson Carter has become a minority owner of the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators, the team announced Tuesday.
Carter, who played for eight NHL franchises over his career, is part of a two-person ownership group that also features Atlanta businessman Alex Campbell. Campbell, who will be the majority owner of the team, and Carter were unanimously approved by the ECHL board of governors, according to a release issued by the Gladiators.
“I am excited to be a part of professional hockey here in my adopted hometown,” the Canadian-born Carter said in a statement. “I’ll be actively involved to ensure that Gladiators hockey is widely accepted not only here in Atlanta, but becomes a brand known internationally in the hockey world.”
Becoming an owner is the latest step in Carter’s post-playing career. He retired in 2008 after playing 10 NHL seasons and one season in Switzerland. Carter and his family moved in 2009 to the Atlanta area and are full-time residents, per the release.
Carter transitioned into television in 2013 when he became a studio analyst with NBC Sports Network as part of its NHL coverage. Carter remained with NBCSN until the network lost its NHL broadcasting rights to ESPN and Turner Sports prior to the start of the 2021-22 season. Carter then joined TNT, where he is in his second season as an analyst.
Carter was drafted in 1992 by the Quebec Nordiques before he became a four-year letter-winner at Michigan State. His rights were traded to the Washington Capitals, with whom he played 19 games before going to the Boston Bruins as part of another trade. Carter played three-plus seasons with the Bruins before playing nearly three full seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, who ultimately traded him to the New York Rangers. He then had a second stint with the Capitals before playing with the Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes. Carter finished his NHL career with 202 goals and 421 points in 674 games.
