Another Shot at Belonging : If Carson Can Help End the Kings’ Slump, Perhaps His Critics Will Be Silenced

Maybe it’s because his upbringing, in upper-class Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., reminds them of home. Maybe it’s because he is a rich man’s idea of what a young man should be. Or maybe it’s because he is more conservative than any of them.

Whatever the reason, most hockey owners agree.

They love Jimmy Carson.

Bruce McNall, owner of the Kings, didn’t want to part with Carson in the Wayne Gretzky trade. He called him his adopted son. He offered to pay the Edmonton Oilers an extra $5 million to keep him out of the deal. Failing that, McNall promised he would bring Carson back to the Kings one day.

Mike Ilitch, owner of the Detroit Red Wings, felt much the same way. After the Red Wings bypassed Carson in the 1986 draft, selecting Joe Murphy instead of the hometown hero, Ilitch considered it almost a personal mission to get Carson in a Detroit uniform, which Ilitch did in 1989 in a six-player deal.

Late last month, with Detroit girding for a push for the Stanley Cup, the Red Wings found All-Star defenseman Paul Coffey available, but the asking price was Carson. Persuaded that Coffey was worth the cost, Ilitch reluctantly agreed to the trade, but only if he could tell Carson himself.

Owners are one thing, players another. Carson has never been voted most popular King, Red Wing or Oiler by his teammates, and probably never will.

He keeps winding up in the wrong place at the wrong time--at the center of controversial trades that tend to send that team’s Mr. Congeniality packing.

In Edmonton, he wasn’t Wayne Gretzky.

In Detroit, he could never live up to the acclaim that accompanied his arrival.

And in Los Angeles, he has been no Coffey substitute, not in “the room,” where at least one King actually cried when he heard the news of the trade.

“I miss him,” forward Warren Rychel said of Coffey, 31. “He was my best friend.”

Said a shaken Rob Blake, Coffey’s defensive partner: “I think Paul handled it better than I did.”

Into this pool of emotion, Carson returned to the Kings on Jan. 29, in a trade that sent Coffey, Jim Hiller and minor leaguer Sylvain Courturier to Detroit for Carson and minor leaguers Gary Shuchuk and Marc Potvin.

Then came the first reviews after Carson chipped in one assist in his first three games. Some Kings were quietly saying that by trading the experienced Coffey, the team effectively announced it could not win the Stanley Cup this season. Another player was quoted--anonymously in a Toronto newspaper--as saying the Kings ruined their power play by trading Coffey, and that Carson and Luc Robitaille weren’t strong enough defensively.

Carson has dealt with negative treatment before. He was roundly criticized by the Oilers’ players, owner Peter Pocklington and Canadian media when he walked out on the Oilers early in the 1989-90 season, which forced the trade to Detroit. For once, someone seemed to get the best of Edmonton General Manager Glen Sather and live to tell about it.

“I try to look at the positives,” said Carson, 24. “When I look at all my trades--it wasn’t like, ‘The guy is not producing, let’s move him.’

“The first one was from L.A. to Edmonton. I had just had a wonderful year there and the Kings offered to renegotiate my contract. The Gretzky trade was made for the betterment of hockey in Los Angeles and the Oilers were insisting on me. So that’s a positive.

“From Edmonton to Detroit was kind of my doing. When I left Edmonton, I had just come off a 49-goal season. This latest one, I was producing and it was going well. None of that bothers me.”

Bryan Murray, the Red Wings’ coach and general manager, pointed out that the Red Wings’ surplus at center hurt Carson. His ice time limited, Carson wasn’t going to rack up points the way he did his first three NHL seasons, when he scored 142 goals and had 289 points.

Still, Carson made the most of his playing chances, scoring 25 goals, 51 points and 13 power-play goals in 52 games. But he wasn’t Steve Yzerman or Sergei Fedorov, and the Red Wings weren’t about to trade either of those centers. Plus, there was 6-foot-5 youngster Keith Primeau, who was eager to get more playing time at center.

“He wants to be the first or second guy, and it wasn’t there for him here, so it was a little frustrating for him,” Murray said of Carson. “He’ll go out there (in Los Angeles) and get lots of ice time.”

Carson insists he has no regrets, pointing out few ever get to play in their hometown.

But. . . .

“I’m not a guy to regret, to look back and say, ‘If only this,’ ” he said. “This is a trade that certainly wasn’t expected. But I’m very happy to be in L.A.”

The Kings’ roster has almost been turned inside out since Carson was traded to Edmonton in August of 1988. Only two players remain from the pre-Gretzky days, Carson’s linemates and friends, Robitaille and right wing Dave Taylor. They helped him score 55 goals and 107 points in his second NHL season, 1987-88.

Two more coaches have departed since then--Robbie Ftorek and Tom Webster. One general manager, Rogie Vachon, was moved upstairs and McNall abdicated as president.

Carson isn’t the teen-ager whom King fans remember. He has matured, gotten married and his hair is a bit thinner.

There are differences on the ice, too.

“As a player, I’ve improved my defensive game,” he said. “In Detroit, I had to concentrate a lot more on defense. Because we had so much offense, the pressure wasn’t there to score at all times. I think I’ve become a better all-around player.”

He might never replace Coffey in the hearts and minds of the current Kings, but Carson can point to his two 100-point seasons and the fact that two different teams, the Oilers and Kings, traded away future Hall of Famers, Gretzky and Coffey, in order to get him.

“I always try to turn negatives into positives,” Carson says. “Obviously, it means something that (teams) are asking for me.”

If he can turn one more negative, the current plight of the Kings, into another positive, chances are all will be forgiven.