Bingo, Bango, Bongo! What a career this guy could have had! If not for a back injury that caused nerve damage from his back to his right leg, Mickey Redmond would have played long past his retirement at 28 years old. If things had been different, Redmond would have continued to put up 50 goal seasons with the Detroit Red Wings.
Image a Red Wings team in the mid to late 1970’s that has a healthy Mickey Redmond and Danny Grant, along with an amazing Marcel Dionne that doesn’t get traded to the Los Angeles Kings. Holy jumpin’! That would have changed the whole fabric of the National Hockey League.
As it was, Redmond was part of two Stanley Cup championship teams in Montreal and twice surpassed the 50 goal plateau with Detroit. Mickey was a NHL First Team All-Star once and a Second Team All-Star once. He made the best of his short time in the league.
Junior and Minor Pro
NHL Career
Hockey Card Collection
Redmond Family
Rookie Card
Career Stats
Mickey Redmond – Junior and Minor Pro
Mickey Redmond played four years with the Peterborough Petes from 1963-64 to 1966-67. In the first three seasons, the team went by the T.P.T.’s nickname. Over that time, he scored 136 and assisted on 132 for 268 points over 201 regular season games. Mickey was team captain in his final year.
In 1965-66, playing all 48 regular season games for Peterborough, Mickey tied for second in the league with 41 goals, equaling Jacques Lemaire of the Montreal Junior Canadiens. His 51 assists placed him fifth and his 92 points also placed him fifth in the race for the Eddie Powers Trophy.
In that 1965-66 season, Mickey was on a high scoring line with Andre Lacroix and Danny Grant. He was named a First Team All-Star at right wing. The T.P.T.’s finished first overall in the nine team league. Despite the firepower, Peterborough couldn’t get past the quarter-finals, losing in the opening round to the sixth seed Toronto Marlboros.
He played the full 48 game schedule again in 1966-67, this time without Lacroix and Grant. Roger Neilson took over as head coach and Mickey’s brother Dick Redmond was in his rookie year with the Petes.
Peterborough dropped to eighth place and fell in the quarter-finals to the Hamilton Red Wings. Redmond led the league with 51 goals. He finished eighth with 44 assists and was second with 95 points, six behind the leader Derek Sanderson of the Niagara Falls Flyers.
Once again in 1966-67, Mickey was named the First Team All-Star right winger. He didn’t win a scoring title but was named the recipient of the Red Tilson Trophy as the league’s most valuable player.
Redmond finished up that 1966-67 season in the CPHL with the Houston Apollos, an affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens. He appeared in five playoff games and contributed five points as the Apollos lost in the opening round to the Oklahoma City Blazers. Houston had a talented lineup that included such future stars as Danny Grant, Jacques Lemaire, Andre Boudrias, Serge Savard and Carol Vadnais. Between the pipes was the duo of Rogatien Vachon and Gerry Desjardins.
In 1967-68, Redmond started with the Apollos, appearing in 15 games before a call-up to the NHL Canadiens. Those 15 games would be the last time he’d ever spend in the minors.
Mickey Redmond – NHL
Between 1967-68 and 1975-76, Mickey Redmond played in 538 regular season National Hockey League games with the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings. Over that time, Mickey scored 233 and assisted on 195 for 428 points. In just 16 Stanley Cup playoff games, all with Montreal, he added five points.
Mickey Redmond Collection
In his first season, 1967-68, Redmond played 41 games for the Canadiens during the regular season and just two games in the playoffs. Montreal won the Stanley Cup, sweeping the expansion St. Louis Blues in four games in the final series.
The following year, Mickey scored nine goals in 65 regular season games for the Habs. He appeared in all 14 playoff games as the Canadiens defended their title with another win over the Blues. Redmond would never play in the post season again.
On January 13, 1971, midway through the 1970-71 NHL season, Mickey was traded to the Red Wings with Guy Charron and Bill Collins for Frank Mahovlich. He jumped right into a goal scoring role with Detroit in his first full season with the club.
With Gordie Howe gone from the Red Wings after the 1970-71 season, Mickey took over as offensive leader, finishing ninth in the NHL with 42 goals. Despite having guys like Marcel Dionne, Red Berenson and Alex Delvecchio on the roster, the Johnny Wilson coached Red Wings failed to qualify for the post season.
Redmond made Detroit Red Wings history in 1972-73 when he became their first player to score 50 or more. Gordie Howe had come close but never could get past 49. Mickey was second in the NHL with 52 goals, three behind leader Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins and two ahead of Rick MacLeish from the Philadelphia Flyers. He became the seventh player in NHL history to score 50 in a season.
In that 1972-73 season, Mickey tied for seventh with 93 points, equaling Johnny Bucyk of the Bruins and Frank Mahovlich of the Canadiens. He was named the First Team All-Star at right wing, ahead of Montreal’s Yvan Cournoyer.
Redmond started that season on the roster of Team Canada for the Summit Series against the Soviet Union. Mickey was injured in the first of eight games and did not return to the team.
In 1973-74, Mickey finished third in the NHL with 51 goals, behind Esposito and Rick Martin of the Buffalo Sabres. He was one goal ahead of Ken Hodge from the Boston Bruins. However, Redmond added just 26 helpers and was left out of contention for the Art Ross Trophy with just 77 points.
With Alex Delvecchio moving behind the bench eleven games into the 1973-74 season, Mickey became part of a committee that took on the captaincy role. He was also named an All-Star again, this time to the Second Team, behind Ken Hodge.
The injury bug hit hard. Redmond played just 29 games in 1974-75 and 37 more in 1975-76 before the back injury forced the premature end to his career.
Mickey Redmond – Family
Mickey’s brother Dick Redmond played in 771 regular season National Hockey League games between 1969-70 and 1981-82. Dick spent time with the Minnesota North Stars, California Golden Seals, Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Flames, St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins.
Over Dick’s career, he scored 133 and assisted on 312 for 445 points. In 66 Stanley Cup playoff games, he added 31 points.
Their father Eddie Redmond played professionally but never in the NHL. Eddie played pro in the AHL, PCHL, QSHL and USHL between 1946-47 and 1951-52. Later, he was player/assistant coach of the 1958 World Champion Whitby Dunlops.
Mickey Redmond – Rookie Card
The Mickey Redmond rookie card appears as number 64 in the 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee NHL hockey card set. He is shown with the Montreal Canadiens. Inexplicably, Redmond is excluded from the 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee and Topps sets.
His last card in included in the 1976-77 Topps set only and is not part of that year’s O-Pee-Chee set.
Several of his hockey cards refer to his pro hockey playing father, although there is little information on Eddie Redmond today. His brother Dick is also referenced on more than one card.
Mickey Redmond Career Stats
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1963-64 | Peterborough Petes | OHA | 53 | 21 | 17 | 38 | 26 |
| 1964-65 | Peterborough Petes | OHA | 52 | 23 | 20 | 43 | 30 |
| 1965-66 | Peterborough Petes | OHA | 48 | 41 | 51 | 92 | 31 |
| 1966-67 | Peterborough Petes | OHA | 48 | 51 | 44 | 95 | 44 |
| 1966-67 | Houston Apollos | CPHL | Playoffs Only | ||||
| 1967-68 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 41 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 4 |
| 1967-68 | Houston Apollos | CPHL | 15 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 9 |
| 1968-69 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 65 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 12 |
| 1969-70 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 75 | 27 | 27 | 54 | 61 |
| 1970-71 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 40 | 14 | 15 | 29 | 35 |
| 1970-71 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 21 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 7 |
| 1971-72 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 78 | 42 | 29 | 71 | 34 |
| 1972-73 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 76 | 52 | 41 | 93 | 24 |
| 1973-74 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 76 | 51 | 26 | 77 | 14 |
| 1974-75 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 29 | 15 | 12 | 27 | 18 |
| 1975-76 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 37 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 10 |
| NHL Totals | 538 | 233 | 195 | 428 | 219 | ||