Garry Monahan | |||
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Born |
Barrie, ON, CAN |
October 20, 1946 ||
Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) | ||
Weight | 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb) | ||
Position | Centre | ||
Shot | Left | ||
Played for |
Montreal Canadiens Detroit Red Wings Los Angeles Kings Toronto Maple Leafs Vancouver Canucks |
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NHL Draft | 1st overall, 1963 Montreal Canadiens |
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Playing career | 1967–1982 |
Garry Michael Monahan (born October 20, 1946 in Barrie, Ontario) is a retired Canadian professional hockey player who played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League.
Monahan was selected first overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1963 NHL Amateur Draft of 16-year-old players—the very first pick of the NHL's first ever draft. The next season, he played junior B hockey with the St. Michael's Buzzers in Toronto before moving up to the junior A Peterborough Petes in the Ontario Hockey Association, where he played from 1964 to 1967. In his final junior year, he turned into a top scorer playing on a line with Mickey Redmond, the league's leading goal scorer. Monahan scored 30 goals and 84 points in 47 games on what was otherwise a weak Petes team.
He made his NHL debut with the Canadiens in the 1967–68 season, but spent most of the year with Montreal's Central Hockey League affiliate, the Houston Apollos. After spending almost the entire 1968–69 season in the American Hockey League with the Cleveland Barons, Monahan was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in June 1969 in the deal where the Canadiens acquired Pete Mahovlich. Monahan saw little ice time and struggled offensively and before the end of the season was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, where the story was the same. In 72 games with the Red Wings and Kings, Monahan scored just three goals and 10 points.