Underrated Habs Players: Pete Mahovlich

While Frank was a goal scorer, Pete was a playmaker who got to master his craft playing with some of the Montreal Canadiens’ greatest players. After a rough start to his NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings, Pete Mahovlich was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Garry Monahan in what was a deal to give a change of scenery to the top two picks in the 1963 NHL Amateur Draft during the summer of 1969. As it turned out, this trade ended up much better for the Canadiens than the Red Wings. 

His first year in the Montreal Canadiens organization was split between the NHL and AHL, but the next season, alongside his older brother, Pete finally broke out in the NHL. Mahovlich scored 35 goals and 61 points in 78 games during the 1970-71 season. He also proceeded to have a career-high 10 goals and 16 points in 20 playoff games, helping the Canadiens win the Stanley Cup. Despite it being his best playoff performance, his numbers dwindled in comparison to his brother Frank, who scored a Montreal Canadiens playoff record 17 goals and 27 points during the 1971 Cup run. After the 1970-71 season, Pete continued to improve by scoring 35 goals and 67 points the next season, but stayed in his brother’s shadow on the Habs, as Frank led the Habs in points with 96. 

During the 1972-73 season, due to injuries, Pete was limited to just 61 games but nearly broke a point per game with 59 points, as he developed his playmaking abilities. The Mahovlichs went on to win their 2nd and last Stanley Cup together that year. 

Even in Frank’s last year in the NHL, before heading to the WHA to finish his hockey career, he led the Habs in points, so even though Pete had his best year to date with 73 points in 78 games during the 1973-74 season, he never could break out of his brother’s shadow while they were teammates. However, nobody expected what would come next for Pete Mahovlich once his brother left the team.

The next season, while playing with the legendary Guy Lafleur, he posted his best NHL season, where he registered a Habs record 82 assists and 117 points. He and Lafleur became the 1st and 2nd players in team history to score 100 points in a season. It seemed like Mahovlich finally broke out into his very own player. To this day, he is still one of only four players in team history to have recorded 100 points in a single season (Steve Shutt and Mats Naslund are the other two).

The very next year, Mahovlich recorded 71 assists and 105 points to reach the 100-point mark for a second time. Only Lafleur and Mahovlich have multiple 100-point+ years with the Canadiens. Mahovlich also won his 3rd career Stanley Cup that season. 

The 1976-77 season was the final year that Mahovlich played for the Canadiens. While it was the legendary season where the Canadiens went 60-8-15 throughout the regular season, Mahovlich took a step back to his numbers in his early days with the Habs. In 76 games, Mahovlich put up 47 assists and 62 points, as Jacques Lemaire replaced him as Lafleur’s centre during the regular season. Mahovlich would go on to win his 4th and final Stanley Cup with the Canadiens that year.

In the off-season, he was shipped over to the Pittsburgh Penguins with Peter Lee for Pierre Larouche and Peter Marsh. Mahovlich finished his Habs career with 223 goals, 346 assists for 569 points in 580 games. These numbers were really good but they weren’t great enough for him to join his brother in the Hockey Hall of Fame, despite being only one of four players to score 100+ points in the Habs’ long history and only one of the two who did it multiple times. 

Could Mahovlich be the most underrated star player in Habs history?