Carson Trying to Fit In With Oilers : Former King Returns to Forum for First Time Since Trade

There’s nothing wrong with being traded to the team that has just won the Stanley Cup, is there?

And there’s certainly nothing insulting about being the top player going in the other direction in a trade for Wayne Gretzky. That’s downright flattering. Pretty heady stuff for a 20 year old.

It’s not as if the Kings traded Jimmy Carson to the Edmonton Oilers because they wanted to be rid of him. Carson was their top goal-scorer and their most valuable player. In fact, King owner Bruce McNall told reporters in the weeks after the trade that he had offered Oiler owner Peter Pocklington an additional $5 million if the Kings could hold on to their young star.

Pocklington reportedly told McNall that the blockbuster Aug. 9 trade would be off if Carson wasn’t part of the deal.

Carson was wanted, but that doesn’t mean he was thrilled when he heard the news.

On the eve of tonight’s return to the Forum to play with the Oilers against his former King teammates, Carson visited his home in Redondo Beach.

There’s the rub.

“I had two very successful years here, and I was feeling very positive about being with the Kings for many years,” Carson said. “I understand that it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing to get Gretzky, and that I was not traded because of my performance.

“They had just offered to renew my contract, and I was looking forward to that. When I first came to L.A. (as the Kings’ top draft pick and the second pick overall in 1986), I was not too thrilled. But I had just accepted that I was here, that it was my home. I was just thinking, ‘Let’s try to build something here.’

“I went out and got my house in Redondo Beach in May. Mentally, I was set to be an integral part of the team. Luc (Robitaille), Steve (Duchesne) and myself were the so-called foundation, along with the younger guys, who were going to be on the team for years to come.

“That’s what has been toughest for me. Just when I had gotten used to the situation and had gotten a feel for who I was on the team, a part of the foundation, now I’m in a different situation where I don’t quite know what I am.

“It’s still something I’m getting used to.”

Carson got off to a fast start with the Oilers, scoring 2 goals in the opener. But he has not scored since then. He also has 4 assists for a total of 6 points in 8 games. Last year, in his first 8 games with the Kings, he had 7 goals and 3 assists.

He finished the 1987-88 season with 55 goals and 52 assists for 107 points, second on the team only to Robitaille’s 111.

Carson says he isn’t losing his touch.

“I’ve had a lot of chances; they just haven’t been going in,” he said. “I need to bear down and work harder. I’m still getting used to a totally new style and new system. It’s a lot more skating and more forechecking, more pressure. I’m just not used to it.

“In the long run, it’s going to make me a better hockey player.”

Carson has the whole situation in perspective, and he concludes that the deal will be good for everyone. As he put it: “It’s great for the league to have a commodity in L.A. It’s obviously great for L.A. to have the greatest player in the game. Hopefully, it will be good for the Oilers in the long term, having the security of all those first-round draft picks (1989, 1991, 1993) and hopefully, it will be good for me.”

At the start of the season, Carson was skating in Gretzky’s former spot, on a line with Jari Kurri. Now he’s with Glenn Anderson and Esa Tikkanen. All of the lines have been shuffled. “It’s still a feeling-out process for everyone, I think,” Carson said.

“Everyone has to get used to not having Gretzky. I’m not using that as an excuse. We’re at .500. We’re 3-3-2. But we can be better.”

As for how he’ll feel playing at the Forum, he’s sure it won’t be anything like what Gretzky went through when he played at the Northlands Coliseum last week.

He expects to be nervous before the game, but unlike Gretzky, he is not dreading it.

“I’m kind of looking forward to it,” Carson said. “I won’t have to feel like I’m in the wrong uniform, because I never wore those black and silver uniforms.”

And there is very little doubt that he will be greeted warmly by the crowd at the Forum. None of them ever had to wonder whether the whole trade was his idea. None of them ever felt that he deserted them.

“I hope they’ll be glad to see me,” Carson said. “I had quite a few fans and quite a few friends here.”