Frank Mahovlich scored often throughout his career. It didn’t matter if he was on good teams or bad teams or a good team that generally got that way with an emphasis on defense. The hockey world celebrated Mahovlich by inducted him into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1981. The hockey card world celebrates Mahovlich with a $500 price tag on his 1957-58 Parkhurst rookie card.
Frank spent three years in the Ontario Hockey Association with Toronto St. Michael’s before jumping to pro in 1957-58 without a single game played in the minors. With St. Michael’s in his final season, 1956-57, he led the league with 52 goals in 49 games. His point total of 88 placed him third in the OHA behind Bill Sweeney and Eddie Shack of the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters.
Frank Mahovlich Collection
He scored 20 goals and assisted on 16 more in his first season with the Toronto Maple Leafs and earned the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie. Three years later, he more than doubled that goal total to finish second in the NHL with 48 in 1960-61. The only player ahead of him was Bernie Geoffrion of the Montreal Canadiens who bulged the twine exactly 50 times. That year, Mahovlich played third in the race for the Art Ross Trophy with 84 points and, for the only time in his career, placed in the top ten for penalty minutes with 131 (good for fourth overall).
In all, Frank placed in the top ten in the NHLÂ for goals eight times and for points seven times. In 1961-62, he finished second again, this time with just 33 goals, far behind Bobby Hull’s 50. Twice more he would play second fiddle to Hull during his career. In 1965-66 with Toronto, Mahovlich scored 32 and was way behind Hull’s 54. In 1968-69, as a member of the Detroit Red Wings, Frank scored 49, tying Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins and falling nine goals shy of Hull’s 58.
Mahovlich played in the National Hockey League from 1957-58 to 1973-74 with the Maple Leafs, Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens. He played nearly 1,200 regular season games, scoring 533 goals and contributing 1,103 assists. Also over the 1,000 mark was his penalty minute total at 1,056. He was a six time Stanley Cup champion, four times with Toronto and twice with Montreal.
Frank ended his pro hockey career with four years in the World Hockey Association. He started with the Toronto Toros in 1974-75 and moved south with the club for the 1976-77 season when they became the Birmingham Bulls.
What follows are his first and last hockey cards in the NHL and his first and last in the WHA.
The Frank Mahovlich rookie card comes in the form of card number T17 (or 42) of the 1957-58 Parkhurst set. That set featured players from just the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. The set consists of 50 cards but they were numbered seperately by team. Therefore, Mahovlich’s is the 17th Toronto player card but the 42nd in the set. The card is valued at $500 by Beckett. The 1957-58 Parkhurst set is valued complete at $3,500 with a common card valued at $20.
The last NHL card during Frank’s playing days was the 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee #145 (also Topps #40). This card is valued at just $5.00. The complete set of 264 hockey cards is valued at $500 with a common going for $2.50.
Mahovlich’s first card in the World Hockey Association was number 40 in the 1974-75 O-Pee-Chee WHA set. This card is valued at $12.00 with a full set of 66 cards being valued at $200.
Frank’s last card came as part of the 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee WHA set. Card number 61 is valued at $4.00. The complete set of 66 cards is valued at just $70.
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1953-54 | Toronto St. Michael’s | OHA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 1954-55 | Toronto St. Michael’s | OHA | 25 | 12 | 11 | 23 | 18 |
| 1955-56 | Toronto St. Michael’s | OHA | 30 | 24 | 26 | 50 | 55 |
| 1956-57 | Toronto St. Michael’s | OHA | 49 | 52 | 36 | 88 | 122 |
| 1956-57 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 1957-58 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 67 | 20 | 16 | 36 | 67 |
| 1958-59 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 63 | 22 | 27 | 49 | 94 |
| 1959-60 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 18 | 21 | 39 | 61 |
| 1960-61 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 48 | 36 | 84 | 131 |
| 1961-62 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 33 | 38 | 71 | 87 |
| 1962-63 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 67 | 36 | 37 | 73 | 56 |
| 1963-64 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 26 | 29 | 55 | 66 |
| 1964-65 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 59 | 23 | 28 | 51 | 76 |
| 1965-66 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 68 | 32 | 24 | 56 | 68 |
| 1966-67 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 63 | 18 | 28 | 46 | 44 |
| 1967-68 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 50 | 19 | 17 | 36 | 30 |
| 1967-68 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 13 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 2 |
| 1968-69 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 76 | 49 | 29 | 78 | 38 |
| 1969-70 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 74 | 38 | 32 | 70 | 59 |
| 1970-71 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 35 | 14 | 18 | 32 | 30 |
| 1970-71 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 38 | 17 | 24 | 41 | 11 |
| 1971-72 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 76 | 43 | 53 | 96 | 36 |
| 1972-73 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 78 | 38 | 55 | 93 | 51 |
| 1973-74 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 71 | 31 | 49 | 80 | 47 |
| 1974-75 | Toronto Toros | WHA | 73 | 38 | 44 | 82 | 27 |
| 1975-76 | Toronto Toros | WHA | 75 | 34 | 55 | 89 | 14 |
| 1976-77 | Birmingham Bulls | WHA | 17 | 3 | 20 | 23 | 12 |
| 1977-78 | Birmingham Bulls | WHA | 72 | 14 | 24 | 38 | 22 |
| NHL Totals | 1181 | 533 | 570 | 1103 | 1056 | ||
| WHA Totals | 237 | 89 | 143 | 232 | 75 |