James Charles Carson (born July 20, 1968) is an American former professional

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

player. He played 10 seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

with five different teams. In 1988, he became only the second teenager in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season; the first was

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

Playing career

As a youth, Carson played in the 1980 and 1981

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament (french: Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee de Québec) is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, ...

s with the

Detroit Compuware The Detroit Compuware Ambassadors were an elite Midget Major ice hockey team playing in the Tier I Elite Hockey League. The Ambassadors previously had separate franchises that competed in the North American Hockey League and in the Ontario Hocke ...

minor ice hockey Minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body contact, vary from c ...

team. Carson was drafted by the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

in the

1986 NHL Entry Draft The 1986 NHL Entry Draft was the 24th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 21, 1986, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 252 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in the revers ...

as the second overall pick. He scored 37 goals as an 18-year-old rookie in the

1986–87 NHL season The 1986–87 NHL season was the 70th season of the National Hockey League. The Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup by beating the Philadelphia Flyers four games to three in the Cup finals. League business The Chicago-based club officially chan ...

. In just his second NHL season he notched 55 goals, establishing himself as one of the sport's top young players and setting a single season NHL record for most goals by a United States-born player. The record was matched by

Kevin Stevens Kevin Stevens (born April 15, 1965) is an American former ice hockey player and current scout in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played left wing on a line with Mario Lemieux during the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup championships in ...

in the 1992–93 NHL season

QuantHockey Hockey Statistics. At the end of his second season, Carson was part of the August 9, 1988, blockbuster trade that sent himself,

Martin Gélinas Martin Gélinas (; born June 5, 1970) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played 1,273 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, Vancouver Canucks, Carolina Hurricanes, Calgary Flam ...

, the Kings' three first-round draft picks in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, and $15 million cash to the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

for

Marty McSorley Martin James McSorley (born May 18, 1963) is a Canadian former professional hockey player, who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1983 until 2000. A versatile player, he was able to play both the forward and defense positions. A for ...

and

Mike Krushelnyski Michael "Krusher" Krushelnyski (born April 27, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre/left winger who played 14 years in the National Hockey League (NHL). While playing in the NHL, he won three Stanley Cups as a player with the ...

. Carson demanded a trade out of Edmonton in November 1989. He was traded to his hometown of Detroit along with Kevin McClelland and a fifth-round draft pick for Adam Graves, Petr Klíma, Joe Murphy and Jeff Sharples. These players were instrumental in helping Edmonton win their fifth Stanley Cup in seven years in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

. Carson later returned to Los Angeles in January 1993, following a trade for popular all-star defenseman

Paul Coffey Paul Douglas Coffey (born June 1, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played for nine teams over 21 seasons in the National Hockey League. Known for his speed and scoring prowess, Coffey ranks second all-time among ...

. He played with Gretzky and the Kings for parts of two seasons, but never regained the scoring touch he had early in his career. He later played for the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

and the

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...

, where he ended his NHL career in 1996. From 1996-1998 Carson played for his hometown

Detroit Vipers The Detroit Vipers were an International Hockey League team. The team was founded in 1994, and played at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Their mascot was a polar bear named Vipe-bear. History Beginning The Vipers were originally formed as the S ...

of the International Hockey League. He was a member of the 1997

Turner Cup The Turner Cup was the championship trophy of the International Hockey League from 1945 to 2001 and the renamed United Hockey League from 2007 to 2010. The Cup was named for Joe Turner, a goaltender from Windsor, Ontario. Turner became professi ...

-winning team. Carson represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and the 1987 World Ice Hockey Championships. Carson participated in the Red Wings versus Toronto Maple Leafs alumni game before the

2014 NHL Winter Classic The 2014 NHL Winter Classic was an outdoor regular season National Hockey League (NHL) game, part of the Winter Classic series, played on January 1, 2014 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The visiting Toronto Maple Leafs defeated t ...

Comerica Park Comerica Park is a baseball stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It has been the home of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers since 2000, when the team left Tiger Stadium. History Construction Founded in 1894, the Tigers had played at the c ...

Personal life

Carson is of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

descent; his grandfather changed the family name from Kyriazopoulos to Carson upon immigrating to the United States. While still a player in the NHL, Carson began to prepare for a post-hockey career by earning certifications in

financial planning In general usage, a financial plan is a comprehensive evaluation of an individual's current pay and future financial state by using current known variables to predict future income, asset values and withdrawal plans. This often includes a bu ...

in 1992. When his playing career ended, he joined

Northwestern Mutual Northwestern Mutual is an American financial services mutual organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The financial security company provides consultation on wealth and asset income protection, education planning, retirement planning, investm ...

. Carson and his wife have four children and reside in the

Metro Detroit The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. State of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and its Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the a ...

area. They have three sons and one daughter.

Achievements

*Played in

1989 NHL All-Star Game The 40th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, home to the Edmonton Oilers, on February 7, 1989. The return of Wayne Gretzky The previous year saw the then-unthinkable trade of Wayne Gretzky to the Lo ...

. *Named to the

NHL All-Rookie Team The NHL All-Rookie Team is chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association from the best rookies in the National Hockey League at each position for the season just concluded based on their performance in that year. The team was first named a ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

. *NHL single-season record for games played with 86,

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

shared with

Bob Kudelski Robert Richard Kudelski (born March 3, 1964) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1986 NHL Supplemental Draft. Playing career The Hill School Blues Kudelski played high school hocke ...

who also played 86 games in 1993-94 *Scored more goals as a teenager than any player in NHL history- 92 goals *Only

(20 years, 40 days old) scored 100 goals at a younger age than Jimmy Carson who achieved the feat at 20 years, 116 days old.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carson, Jimmy 1968 births American men's ice hockey centers American people of Greek descent Detroit Red Wings players Edmonton Oilers players Hartford Whalers players Ice hockey players from Michigan Living people Los Angeles Kings players Detroit Vipers players Los Angeles Kings draft picks National Hockey League All-Stars National Hockey League first-round draft picks Sportspeople from Southfield, Michigan Vancouver Canucks players Verdun Junior Canadiens players