BY Nate Moser
The Wayne Gretzky trade rocked the hockey world. Some hockey fans never thought they would see The Great One play in any other jersey other than the Edmonton Oilers. In August of 1988 though, arguably the greatest player in the sport was dealt to the Los Angeles Kings. The full deal was Gretzky, Marty McSorley, and Mike Krushelnyski for Martin Gelinas, Jimmy Carson, three first-round picks (which all eventually became Jason Miller to the New Jersey Devils in the 1989 Draft, Martin Rucinsky in the 1991 Draft, and Nick Stajduhar in the 1993 Draft), as well as $15 million in U.S. cash. As much as the Gretzky side of the huge trade gets discussed, a key talent who also was moved on the other side was Carson. He may be remembered for being a part of that deal, but his career was so much more than being acquired by the Oilers.
First Two Seasons in L.A.
Carson was one of the best players in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft. He was chosen second overall by the Kings, after the Detroit Red Wings selected winger Joe Murphy with the first overall pick. Some notable names that were also selected in this draft included Brian Leetch (New York Rangers), Adam Graves (Red Wings), Teppo Numminen (Winnipeg Jets), and Jyrki Lumme (Montreal Canadiens) among others.
Carson made his NHL debut for L.A. in the 1986-87 season. He joined a stacked Kings lineup that had the likes of Luc Robitaille, Marcel Dionne, Bernie Nicholls, and Dave Taylor. Dionne was traded in the middle of the season to the Rangers, but Carson still finished third on the roster in scoring for the Kings. He had 79 points in 80 games (37 goals and 42 assists). Only Robitaille (84 points) and Nicholls (81 points) had more. L.A. made the 1987 playoffs, and Carson tallied a goal and two assists for three points in five games.
His second campaign for the Kings saw Carson hit the 100-point mark along with Robitaille. Robitaille led the whole team with 111 points (53 goals and 58 assists), while Carson finished with 107 points (55 goals and 52 assists). The Kings made the postseason again, and in five contests, Carson notched five goals and three assists for eight points.
Things were going well for Carson. He was surrounded by great talent in teammates like Robitaille, Nicholls, and Taylor. L.A. was deep with talent as they also had skilled reinforcements like Jim Fox, Bobby Carpenter, and Steve Duchesne. However, Kings management worked on a move that would tip the hockey world sideways.
Going to Edmonton and the Red Wings Years
As previously mentioned, Carson was one of the players who were a part of the Gretzky Trade. While this was exciting for Kings fans landing Gretzky, there was reason for excitement on paper looking at the Oilers roster for Carson. He would not be playing with Gretzky, but other legends of the game were still there like Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, and Kevin Lowe. Carson found his way to achieve 100 points again, which was good enough to be second on the Oilers for 1988-89. Only Kurri had more points with 102 (44 goals and 58 assists). In the 1989 postseason, however, Carson only produced two goals and an assist in seven games.
It became known that Carson was not happy in Edmonton as he requested a trade. He played in four games for the Oilers in 1989-90, before deciding to sit out and was suspended by the organization. Carson wanted to play for a team in the U.S. Oilers general manager Glen Sather eventually dealt Carson to Detroit, which was beneficial as he was born in Michigan. The full deal between the Oilers and Red Wings was Carson, Kevin McClelland, and a fifth-round pick in 1991 for Adam Graves, Petr Klima, Joe Murphy, and Jeff Sharples.
The Red Wings are where Carson spent parts of four seasons. As a member of the Detroit club, he put up the following stats:
- 1989-90: 20 goals and 16 assists for 36 points in 44 games
- 1990-91: 21 goals and 25 assists for 46 points in 64 games
- 1991-92: 34 goals and 35 assists for 69 points in 80 games
- 1992-93: 25 goals and 26 assists for 51 points in 52 games
While in Detroit, Carson got to play on a squad that included Steve Yzerman, Bernie Federko, and Gerard Gallant. Carson was also on the Red Wings when Sergei Fedorov and Nicklas Lidstrom entered the league for the team. In the middle of the 1992-93 campaign though, Carson was traded back to a familiar spot in L.A. He was back in the organization he began with, and now he got to play with Gretzky himself.
Final Seasons with L.A., Vancouver, and Hartford
Carson was reunited with some of his L.A. teammates from his first stint with the club like Robitaille and Taylor. He played in 34 games for the rest of the 1992-93 season and accrued 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points. Carson then split the 1993-94 campaign with the Kings and the Vancouver Canucks. In 25 games with L.A., he scored four goals and provided seven assists for 11 points. With the Canucks, he amassed 17 points in 34 games (seven goals and 10 assists).
The last two campaigns of Carson’s career were with the Hartford Whalers in 1994-95 and 1995-96. He played on two Whalers teams where he was teammates with Chris Pronger, Brendan Shanahan, Andrew Cassels, Darren Turcotte, Geoff Sanderson, Glen Wesley, and Jeff O’Neill. In 1994-95, Carson produced nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points in 38 games. As for 1995-96, he accumulated one goal in 11 games. In total, Carson played in 626 NHL regular season games and amassed 275 goals and 286 assists for 561 points.
Carson was more than just a player who was part of the return in the Gretzky trade. He was a great player in his own right. He will never be able to unlink himself from one of the most famous trades in sports history, but he deserves credit for what he was able to do with his own game. He accrued 100-point seasons on multiple occasions. He notched 55 goals as his career best in 1987-88, and he got 49 goals in 1988-89 with Edmonton. He played with many legendary talents on the various clubs he went to, but he had the skillset to take care of business by himself. I would consider Carson an underrated player. He was not a superstar caliber talent, but he was great when he needed to be. He deserves more credit than he gets.
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