Carolina Hurricanes: Remembering the Players of Color

Anson Carter

Anson Carter is probably my favorite player in this list, well he would be if not for the next guy. He was unapologetically black from the nappy dreads to the fact that he is the founder of a hip hop record label called Big Up Entertainment. For ten games, he was the coolest player on the Carolina Hurricanes roster.

Carter was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1992 NHL entry draft in the TENTH ROUND at 220th overall. He would never play for the Nordiques and had his rights traded by the Avalanche to the Washington Capitals where he would break into the NHL in 1996.

Carter was traded to the Boston Bruins in his debut season which would kick off a ten year NHL career that saw him play for eight different teams. Even though he has 674 games played with 202 goals and 212 assists, good for an incredible 0.61 points/game average he was passed around teams like a hot potato.

During that time he has earned many accolades from scoring the gold-winning goal against Sweden for team Canada in the 2003 IIHF World Championships to being the Canucks “most exciting player” after playing a season on a line with the Sedin brothers. Among all hockey players of color, Carter is sixth overall in points, fifth in goals and ninth in points.

Teams seemed more anxious to move him than actually play him. From 2002 to 2007 he played for seven different teams. His final NHL destination, the Carolina Hurricanes, was also the result of a trade for a draft pick with the Colombus Blue Jackets. He scored one goal for the Hurricanes and was not signed the following season.

He went to Edmonton on a try-out basis, played one preseason game and was dropped. He then tried to play for the European leagues following what many players of color have done but only lasted a single season and 15 games. Today he continues to manage his record label in Atlanta Georgia.