Welcome to LWOS’ Summer Hockey Series, Best of the Rest. Plenty of sites do a version of a 30 greats in 30 days series, but this year we are doing something a little bit different. We want to look at the best player from each team who is not in the Hockey Hall Of Fame. In order to do this there are some rules. First the player must have been a significant part of this franchise (franchises include their time in a previous city… see Winnipeg/Atlanta) and must be retired for at least 3 years, making them Hall of Fame eligible. To see all the articles in the series, check out the homepage here.

The Montreal Canadiens- the most historic team in the NHL, the oldest, the holder of most Stanley Cups with 24, also have 62 members in the Hockey Hall of Fame whom were once associated with the “St. Flanelle”. They are one of the most recognizable professional sports teams in the world, alongside the names of the New York Yankees and Manchester United. Over 800 players have donned the blue-white-red of the Habs since December 4, 1909 when they were founded. But now, which player deserves to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame more than any one else that has played in Montreal and not been inducted in Toronto?

Montreal Canadiens – Peter Mahovlich

Montreal Canadiens fans from the 1970’s could easily recall the brother duo of Frank and Pete Mahovlich playing together for the Habs for four seasons, from 1971-1974, winning two Cups during their tenure together (1971, 1973). Frank, the “Big M” wore #27 and was at the end of his career after winning 4 Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Pete, the “Little M”, wore #20 and played his first full NHL season in 1970-1971 after bouncing around between the Canadiens, Red Wings and the minor leagues the previous 5 years.

Pete was always in Frank’s shadows during their time together in Montreal as Frank would collect more points for the Tricolore in three of the four seasons they both skated on the same ice, the exception being the first year when Frank was traded midway through the season and played 38 games, in which he scored 41 points. He then went on to get 96 points the following season, a career high, 93 in 1972-1973 and finishing his NHL career in ’73-’74 with 80 points.

During that time, either Pete was not so confident in his scoring ability because of the presence of his big brother, or he was just learning how to play in the pros. During the four seasons with his brother, Pete had the following statistics:

Season GP G A PTS PIM +/-

1970-1971: 78 35 26 61 181 25

1971-1972: 75 35 32 67 103 16

1972-1973: 61 21 38 59 4 21

1973-1974: 78 36 37 73 49 42

source: hockeydb.com

When the Canadiens won Stanley Cups in 1971 and 1973, he finished with 10-6-16 and 4-9-13 point totals in 20 and 17 games, respectively. He was an important piece in the Canadiens runs to the Cups, as he was clutch. But yet again, his big brother eclipsed him finishing with 27 points in ’71 and 23 in ’73.

However, when Frank left the NHL in 1974 to play 4 more seasons in the WHA before calling it quits, Peter stuck around with the Canadiens for three seasons (and parts of a fourth), in which his point totals sky rocketed. In 1974-1975, he had a career high of 35 goals, 82 assists for 117 points long with 122 penalty minutes and +41 in 80 games. Then the next season he repeated his performance with 34 G, 71 A good for 106 PTS, had a +71 and sat in the box for 76 minutes worth of penalties. In his final full season with the club, his points record was 15-47-62 with 45 penalty minutes and +36 in 76 games.

Looking at Mahovlich’s stats, it is obvious and a no-brainer to say he was an important player for the Montreal Canadiens during his tenure. To add to that argument, he finished the Habs 1976 and 1977 Cup runs with 12 and 9 points respectively, both in 13 games plus 16 points in 11 games during a failed playoffs in 1975.

Four Cups with a 0.825 points/playoff game with the Tricolore, how much more valuable can a player be on a team that featured players like Guy LaFleur, Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe, Yvan Cournoyer, Steve Shutt and Jacques Lemaire, some of the all-time greatest players ever?

During his time with the Habs, he was selected by Hockey Canada to represent the country at the 1972 Summit Series, where he played 7 of the 8 games scoring 1 goal and 1 assist while recording 4 penalty minutes.

On November 29, 1977, Peter Mahovlich was traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Pittsburgh Penguis, by GM Sam Pollock, which would signify an end to his time with the organization. He would play the rest of the ’77-’78 season in Pittsburgh, along with the next season before being traded to to the team who drafted him, the Detroit Red Wings. He played one full season there, a part of the following year and then finished his professional hockey career in 1982 after playing for the Adirondack Red in the AHL for parts of two seasons.

At the end of his fabulous 16-year career, eight in Montreal, Mahovlich finished with (in brackets are with the Canadiens); 884(581) regular season games played, 288(223) goals scored, 485(346) assists, 773(569) points, +234(267) and sat in the box for 916(695) minutes. His plus/minus is 8th in Canadiens history, while his 17 shorthanded goals are third and points per game (0.98) is 10th. In the playoffs for the Canadiens, since he only played 2 games outside of Montreal recording one point and one assist, he played 86 games, scored 30 times and added 41 assists for 71 points with 134 penalty minutes.

He would finish 17th all-time in total points for the Habs and 165th in all-time NHL scoring.

After reading all these statistics from the rugged playmaker, a unique type of player in his day, it is safe to say Peter Mahovlich should be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Not only that, but the Montreal Canadiens organization should retire his number 20, raise it up to the rafters, let him be legendary. After being in his brother’s shadow, it is time for Pete to step out of it and being engraved forever in hockey history.

For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.

Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @LWOSNick. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and @LWOSworld and “liking” our Facebook page.