Pete Mahovlich

[Felidae]

I've always been a bit curious about Peter.

Obviously overshadowed by his much more accomplished brother. But he seemed to put it together for 2 seasons as one of the best point producers in the league (5th and 6th in points), then went back to his normal scoring rate at around or just below a PPG.

At first I thought it was the emergence of Lafleur and overall team scoring that caused his uptick in scoring. But both Lafleur and Robinson had the most productive RS of their career by the time Mahovlich's production fell back to earth, a 43 point drop off. The team also scored more in 1976-77 than the last 2 years, so it's not entirely that either.

I'd suspect it's deployment or not getting to play with whoever he played with those 2 years. But then why change it if that's the case?


So what caused it all to click for him between 1974 and 1976?


I'm also curious what was his playstyle like? His biggest strengths and weaknesses? And how did he compare to his brother talent wise and stylistically?

This is the only other thread about him on here.

Best of the Rest Series: Peter Mahovlich

Our summer series, best of the rest, looks at the best players who are not in the Hockey Hall of Fame (but are eligible, ie no recent retirees or current players). Today we look at the career of the Habs Peter Mahovlich...

forums.hfboards.com

Click to read more...

 

[JackSlater]

His big scoring years were due to playing as Lafleur and Shutt's centre after Lafleur emerged. Mahovlich was a very good player though, huge by the standards of any hockey era and good defensively, good physical tools, not super skilled or with the mentality of a superstar but a great complementary player. Replaced by Lemaire, and to be fair Lemaire was definitely a better player.

Both Mahovlich brothers were physically very talented but Frank had a lot more skill and the mentality/iq of a scorer. You'd rather have Frank be the best player on his line, but you'd rather have Pete as the third wheel on a line. Pete was better defensively. Apparently they were very different personality wise with Frank being famously moody and Pete more carefree and the type who was the life of the party.

 

[Felidae]

His big scoring years were due to playing as Lafleur and Shutt's centre after Lafleur emerged. Mahovlich was a very good player though, huge by the standards of any hockey era and good defensively, good physical tools, not super skilled or with the mentality of a superstar but a great complementary player. Replaced by Lemaire, and to be fair Lemaire was definitely a better player.

Both Mahovlich brothers were physically very talented but Frank had a lot more skill and the mentality/iq of a scorer. You'd rather have Frank be the best player on his line, but you'd rather have Pete as the third wheel on a line. Pete was better defensively. Apparently they were very different personality wise with Frank being famously moody and Pete more carefree and the type who was the life of the party.

I guess my question is why wasn't Lemaire playing with Lafleur to begin with then? He was still on the team when Mahovlich had his high end scoring season, so I'm wondering what prompted the change by Bowman to demote Mahovlich off Lafleur's line.

 

[JackSlater]

I guess my question is why wasn't Lemaire playing with Lafleur to begin with then? He was still on the team when Mahovlich had his high end scoring season, so I'm wondering what prompted the change by Bowman to demote Mahovlich off Lafleur's line.

Well the goal of the team is to win, not just load up Lafleur's line. Lemaire and Cournoyer had been together and been successful for years, so it isn't as though a change was needed. Mahovlich didn't get along with Bowman in the end and Cournoyer was getting pretty old and becoming less relevant to Montreal's success, so things got shaken up. This culminated in Mahovlich getting traded for Larouche.

 

[Staniowski]

Mahovlich, at his best, was an elite player. Remember, he was on Team Canada '72 and '76, and Lemaire wasn't. Mahovlich was very big, very mobile, a talented passer (though he wasn't always a great passer), an excellent puck carrier and stickhandler.

He was good enough that he could play with the best players, but he had trouble spearheading the attack.

He was taken off the top line because the line was having some difficulty and Bowman thought Mahovlich was the main issue. In particular, Bowman thought the line wasn't good enough defensively, especially against the Bobby Clarke line. And Mahovlich was also scoring less.