Jimmy Carson scored 55 goals for the Los Angeles Kings at 19 and was the young star the Kings sent to Edmonton to get Wayne Gretzky. He played his last NHL game at 27. His next career had nothing to do with the rink, and it turned into a very different kind of numbers game.
What happened to Jimmy Carson?
Jimmy Carson left hockey for a career in financial services. The Kings’ own website, LA Kings Insider, reported in August 2020 that he had “built an established career in financial services” after his playing days, and the podcast In Search of Excellence described the same move in its episode with Carson.
| Jimmy Carson: then and now | |
|---|---|
| Known for | 55 goals at 19, and the centerpiece of the Wayne Gretzky trade |
| Position | Center, shoots right |
| Born | 20 July 1968, Southfield, Michigan |
| Drafted | 1986, first round, second overall, Los Angeles Kings |
| NHL career | 10 seasons, 626 games, 275 goals, five teams |
| Last NHL season | 1995-96, Hartford Whalers |
| Current role | Financial services, as of August 2020 |
| After the NHL | Two seasons with the Detroit Vipers, IHL |
He played his last NHL game in 1996, at 27, and unlike many former players, he did not stay in the game as a coach or scout. He finished his playing career close to home. After his last NHL games with Hartford, he played for the Detroit Vipers of the International Hockey League.
Jimmy Carson and the Wayne Gretzky trade
On 9 August 1988, Edmonton sent Wayne Gretzky, Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski to Los Angeles. The Oilers received Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, three first-round draft picks and US$15 million, according to NHL.com’s account of the deal. Carson was the centerpiece. He had just scored 55 goals as a 19-year-old, and he told Kings Insider that ownership had told him he was one of the building blocks for the future.
He did his part in Edmonton. In 1988-89 he scored 49 goals and 100 points, more than Mark Messier. He still asked for a trade, and early in the 1989-90 season Edmonton sent him to his hometown Detroit Red Wings. The deal sent Joe Murphy the other way, the only player taken ahead of Carson in 1986.
Carson returned to Los Angeles in 1992-93, to a very different team. “There was more media, everything was centered around Wayne,” he told Kings Insider. He played in the Stanley Cup Final with Gretzky’s Kings that spring, scoring five goals in a first-round win over Calgary. His Kings career ended at exactly a point per game: 219 points in 219 games. For how the rest of the trade played out, see our look at the full Gretzky trade tree.
Is Jimmy Carson in the Hall of Fame?
No. Jimmy Carson has not been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. His NHL career was short for a Hall of Fame case, ten seasons and 626 games, and his best years came before he turned 21.
His rise was fast. He grew up in the Detroit area playing for the Compuware youth program, where coach Real Turcotte, the grandfather of today’s Kings prospect Alex Turcotte, was the first to tell him at 12 that he could make the NHL. He went to Quebec for junior hockey with the Verdun Junior Canadiens, and in 1986 his hometown Red Wings held the first pick but had made clear they would take Joe Murphy. The Kings took Carson second.
He made the team at 18 and played all 80 games as a rookie, scoring 37 goals and 79 points on a club with Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor, Luc Robitaille and Bernie Nicholls. The Kings improved by 17 points in the standings that season.
His place in the record book is different. His 55 goals in 1987-88 set the record for the most goals in a season by an American-born player at the time, and he was only the second teenager to score 50 goals in an NHL season, after Wayne Gretzky.
Jimmy Carson’s NHL stats
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986-87 | Los Angeles | 80 | 37 | 42 | 79 |
| 1987-88 | Los Angeles | 80 | 55 | 52 | 107 |
| 1988-89 | Edmonton | 80 | 49 | 51 | 100 |
| 1989-90 | Edmonton and Detroit | 48 | 21 | 18 | 39 |
| 1990-91 | Detroit | 64 | 21 | 25 | 46 |
| 1991-92 | Detroit | 80 | 34 | 35 | 69 |
| 1992-93 | Detroit and Los Angeles | 86 | 37 | 36 | 73 |
| 1993-94 | Los Angeles and Vancouver | 59 | 11 | 17 | 28 |
| 1994-95 | Hartford | 38 | 9 | 10 | 19 |
| 1995-96 | Hartford | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 626 | 275 | 286 | 561 |
Figures are from Hockey-Reference.
Jimmy Carson scored 141 goals in his first three NHL seasons, all before his 21st birthday. Across the seven seasons after that he scored 134. His last strong season came with Detroit in 1991-92, when he scored 34 goals. After a second spell in Los Angeles he was traded to Vancouver during 1993-94, and he finished with 49 games over two seasons in Hartford, the last of them in 1995-96.
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