TOP 100 OILERS: JIMMY CARSON (78)
8 years ago
Jimmy Carson’s biggest shortcoming during his brief time with the Edmonton Oilers wasn’t that he didn’t produce. He did, amassing 50 goals and 103 points in just 84 games. Carson’s failing was that he wasn’t Wayne Gretzky and, really, what was he supposed to do about that?
As the most significant player coming to Edmonton from the Los Angeles Kings in the trade that saw the Great One sold to Tinseltown Aug. 9, 1988, Carson, an unquestionably talented young man, had zero chance of getting over with a still stunned and angry Oiler fan base. He didn’t.
JIMMY CARSON #12
NUMBER: | 12 | BIRTHDATE: | July 20, 1968 |
HEIGHT: | 6′ 1″ | BIRTHPLACE: | Southfield, MI, United States |
WEIGHT: | 200 | DRAFTED: | LAK / 1986 NHL Entry Draft |
SHOOTS: | Right | ROUND: | 1st (2nd overall) |
BY THE NUMBERS
SEASON | TEAM | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | S | S% |
1986-87 | 80 | 37 | 42 | 79 | -5 | 22 | 215 | 17.2 | |
1987-88 | 80 | 55 | 52 | 107 | -19 | 45 | 264 | 20.8 | |
1988-89 | 80 | 49 | 51 | 100 | 3 | 36 | 240 | 20.4 | |
1989-90 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -2 | 0 | 11 | 9.1 | |
1989-90 | 44 | 20 | 16 | 36 | -6 | 8 | 127 | 15.8 | |
1990-91 | 64 | 21 | 25 | 46 | 3 | 28 | 175 | 12.0 | |
1991-92 | 80 | 34 | 35 | 69 | 17 | 30 | 150 | 22.7 | |
1992-93 | 52 | 25 | 26 | 51 | 0 | 18 | 108 | 23.2 | |
1992-93 | 34 | 12 | 10 | 22 | -2 | 14 | 81 | 14.8 | |
1993-94 | 25 | 4 | 7 | 11 | -2 | 2 | 47 | 8.5 | |
1993-94 | 34 | 7 | 10 | 17 | -13 | 22 | 82 | 8.5 | |
1994-95 | 38 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 5 | 29 | 58 | 15.5 | |
1995-96 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 11.1 | |
NHL TOTALS | 626 | 275 | 286 | 561 | -20 | 254 | 1,567 | 17.5 |
CAREER PLAYOFF NUMBERS
SEASON | TEAM | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | S | S% |
1986-87 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||||
1987-88 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | -2 | 4 | 16 | 31.2 | |
1988-89 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 15 | 13.3 | |
1990-91 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 4 | 6 | 33.3 | |
1991-92 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 10.0 | |
1992-93 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 30 | 16.7 | |
1993-94 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 | |
NHL TOTALS | 55 | 17 | 15 | 32 | -2 | 22 | 89 |
NOTABLE
Carson, acquired with Marty Gelinas and draft picks in the Gretzky deal, was coming off seasons of 37 and 55 goals In L.A. – giving him more goals, 92, than any other teenager in NHL history, including No. 99. Carson is, to this day, the second-youngest player to reach 100 goals, after Gretzky.
Under any other circumstances, Carson’s numbers in his first season with the Oilers, 49-51-100 in 80 games, would be cause for high-fives. Of course, these weren’t other circumstances. Gretzky, along with Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley, was in L.A. where he had 168 points and, just to rub it in, led the Kings past the Oilers in the first round of the 1989 playoffs.
Four games into the 1989-90 season, Carson asked for a trade. His take at the time after he was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings Nov. 2, 1989: “The end analysis was, I was not Wayne Gretzky.” Los Angeles owner Bruce McNall, who made the Gretzky deal with Peter Pocklington, didn’t seem surprised years later that Carson was out of hockey completely by age 28.
“In a weird way, I knew Jimmy’s heart was not as much into it,” McNall told the L.A. Times. “He was an intellectual, multidimensional guy, read the Wall Street Journal, and so many other players just don’t have his opportunities and interests. So I always thought, deep down, that maybe long-term hockey wouldn’t be for him.”
THE STORY
If there’s a silver lining to Carson’s brief, unhappy stint in Edmonton, it’s that his trade to Detroit (with Kevin McClelland) brought Petr Klima, Joe Murphy and Adam Graves the other way. Klima, Murphy and Graves played significant roles when the Oilers claimed their fifth Stanley Cup in 1990.
If we’re talking about talent alone, Carson probably had more of it than half the players in the top-20 of this list of Top 100 Oilers. It wasn’t just about that, of course, and while the Oilers have yet to sip from the Cup since 1990, Carson long ago slipped into private life out of the NHL spotlight. He’s a financial advisor in Michigan.
This series will look at the top 100 Edmonton Oilers from the NHL era 1979-80 to 2014-15, starting with 100 and working up.
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PREVIOUSLY:
- 79. Raffi Torres
- 80. Mike York
- 81. Andrew Cogliano
- 82. Mariusz Czerkawski
- 83. Eric Brewer
- 84. Tom Poti
- 85. Radek Dvorak
- 86. Igor Kravchuk
- 87. Lubomir Visnovsky
- 88. Luke Richardson
- 89. Willy Lindstrom
- 90. Bryan Marchment
- 91. Miroslav Satan
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