Wilson is a rarity in that he played in the Canadian Hockey League, NCAA, Division I hockey in Europe, and the Canadian National Team all before playing his first game in the NHL. He started his career by playing five games for the Calgary Wranglers of the Western Hockey League in 1978–79, then moved on to play for Dartmouth College for two seasons. He was drafted sixty-seventh overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. In 1982 he was a member of the first Canadian World Junior Hockey team to win a gold medal. After playing college hockey, he played two more seasons for HIFK in Finland's SM-liiga and then finally played the 1983–84 season for the Canadian National Hockey team which resulted in him playing in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. He scored a hat trick in a 4–2 victory of the United States in the opening game. After the Olympics he joined the Calgary Flames, having been traded in 1982 by the Blackhawks for Denis Cyr. Wilson made an impact right away, scoring in only his second NHL shift on his first shot in his first game, against Bob Froese of the Philadelphia Flyers. He finished the season with the Flames, and the next season scored 72 points, and won the Rookie of the Month award for October 1984. Wilson was a solid contributor for the Flames until he was traded to the Hartford Whalers in the middle of the 1987–88 season. A little less than a year later, he was traded again, this time to the New York Rangers. He finished the season on a tear, scoring 55 points in the 41 games he played in 1988–89 for the Rangers. Wilson played one more season with them, before being traded back to the Whalers. He only played 45 games with the Whalers in 1990–91 before being traded back to the Flames, where he played a few more seasons before retiring in 1992–93 because of a knee injury. Wilson came out of retirement in 1996–97 to play seven games for the Manitoba Moose of the IHL, the only time he ever played in the minor leagues. Wilson is the son of NHL player Jerry Wilson. His twin brotherGeoff Wilson was also a hockey player and played for HIFK in Finland's SM-liiga with him.
Wilson was a pre-med student at Dartmouth, and finished his degree in the off-seasons of his playing career. After his retirement, he founded the Carey Wilson Development Program and has his own hockey school in Winnipeg. His son Colin is currently playing hockey with the Colorado Avalanche. The Nashville Predators selected Colin with the seventh overall pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. The BU Terriers won the national championship during Colin's sophomore season in 2009.
