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.

 

[reckoning]

It's no secret that Scotty Bowman and Pete Mahovlich did not get along. Bowman wasn't friends with any player, but with Mahovlich it was oil and water. Pete was a noted prankster who liked to party, Bowman was old school and very serious. Mahovlich was the one player who could really get under Bowman's skin.

One of the best known stories is how one night Mahovlich returned to the hotel after a night at a bar to find Bowman waiting for him in the lobby. Bowman snapped at him "You're late for curfew. I've been waiting here two hours for you. You're fined $200!".Pete hands him $400 and says "I'll pay for tomorrow night too so you can go to bed early and not miss your beauty sleep."

Mahovlich started the year on the top line, but got switched for Lemaire by the midway point. Steve Shutt had gotten off to an incredible start of 26 goals in 26 games, then hit a really bad slump in December. Maybe Bowman thought a switch at centre might turn things around?

I browsed through the THN archive for the first half of that season and found a couple of interesting notes about Mahovlich:

The first had to do with a "hotel room altercation" in Cleveland with Mario Tremblay that resulted in Mahovlich getting a 28-stitch gash on his leg. The team said it was not a fight and there would be no disciplinary action taken, but it had to be an embarrassment to the organization when the story hit the Montreal papers.

The second had to do with Mahovlich openly telling reporters that he wasn't happy with his reduced icetime and was considering playing out his option the next season and becoming a free agent. Bowman's reply was that Mahovlich was getting less icetime because he was having a bad season, and that players in Montreal don't play out their option. They get traded first.

 

[Crosby2010]

Here is some food for thought. Does Pete Mahovlich get into the HHOF if he scores the "Henderson goal" in 1972? What happened was that Esposito, Cournoyer and Pete were a makeshift line and right at the end of the game Paul Henderson yelled at Mahovlich to come off the ice and to Henderson's surprise he did. He jumped on the ice and almost got a shot away from Cournoyer's pass. You know the rest, Esposito intercepts the clearing attempt and Henderson scores on the rebound. 34 seconds left, game over basically. Canada wins a series that we still talk about 52 years later. It has caused some serious hockey people to push for Henderson getting in the HHOF. He is nowhere near a Hall of Fame player, and there is no case to be made for it, but Mahovlich at least has some very good things about his career that you can point towards. The 4 Cups, all of which he was a big part of, the two 100+ point seasons, still owning the Habs' record for most assists in a season, even some Hart votes in those big years. Not to mention on Team Canada 1972 and 1976.

But would scoring that goal and having Foster Hewitt forever shout "Mahovlich has scored for Canada" been the difference long ago? I personally think he'd have been in by now. There may have been some deep dives about his induction years later but I get the feeling if he scored that goal it is the thing that catapults him in.

 

[Gorskyontario]

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.

Lemaire was a winger for the first several years of his career.