What broke Carson was Barry Melrose.
After going to Detroit, he put up a string of solid seasons for the Wings. Scored 34 goals and 69 points for Detroit in 1991-92, and was a point-per-game player in 1992-93 over 52 games when he was traded back to LA. Plus this was in 2nd-line icetime out-of-position on the wing with Detroit's center depth.
At the time, it looked like Carson might not reach the heights of his first couple seasons but would probably still have a long quality NHL career. And people thought the trade back to LA where he's been very happy earlier in his career would be great for him.
But in LA he clashed miserably with Melrose, and ended up a regular healthy scratch and stuck on the 4th line. Basically spent a year in that situation, and by the time he was finally traded out, he was ruined. Confidence and offensive ability were gone.
Similar thing happened to Ed Olczyk - great player early in his career, spends a season as Keenan's whipping boy on the 4th line for the Rangers, and was never really the same again after.
After going to Detroit, he put up a string of solid seasons for the Wings. Scored 34 goals and 69 points for Detroit in 1991-92, and was a point-per-game player in 1992-93 over 52 games when he was traded back to LA. Plus this was in 2nd-line icetime out-of-position on the wing with Detroit's center depth.
At the time, it looked like Carson might not reach the heights of his first couple seasons but would probably still have a long quality NHL career. And people thought the trade back to LA where he's been very happy earlier in his career would be great for him.
But in LA he clashed miserably with Melrose, and ended up a regular healthy scratch and stuck on the 4th line. Basically spent a year in that situation, and by the time he was finally traded out, he was ruined. Confidence and offensive ability were gone.
Similar thing happened to Ed Olczyk - great player early in his career, spends a season as Keenan's whipping boy on the 4th line for the Rangers, and was never really the same again after.
