Walt McKechnie: Well Traveled In The National Hockey League

I had a soft spot in my heart for Walt McKechnie growing up and the back of his 1975-76 O-Pee-Chee card says why. It shows McKechnie is born in London, Ontario but his home is Byron, Ontario.

Byron is now a suburb at the west end of London. Before 1961, it was a separate town and just happens to be where I was born and raised. It shows the respect he had for a strong, close-knit community that was a bit reluctant to be part of the bigger city.

Byron was also home to NHLers Rob Ramage, Andy Spruce and, more recently, Mike Van Ryn. Ramage, born in Byron before amalgamation, always insisted that his place of birth be printed as Byron and not London.

The other thing about McKechnie that appealed to me was his frequent movement around the National Hockey League. As a kid, it just looked better to me to see a player that moved around. In all, Walt played for eight different NHL teams and was owned by nine. He even had two separate stints with the Detroit Red Wings.

Junior and Minor Pro

NHL Career

Hockey Card Collection

Rookie Card

Career Stats

Walt McKechnie – Junior and Minor Pro

The hometown boy played three years with the London Nationals from 1965-66 (the franchise’s inaugural season in what is now the Ontario Hockey League) to 1967-68, before they changed to the Knights. A mainstay for 1965-66 and 1966-67, Walt McKechnie played just a single game with London in 1967-68 before turning pro with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the Western Hockey League.

In 1966-67, he was teamed with Garry Unger on the Knights, before the arrival of Darryl Sittler. McKechnie finished seventh in the league with 125 penalty minutes, a feat out of character compared to the rest of his career.

With the Phoenix Roadrunner of the WHL in 1967-68, Walt scored 24 and assisted on 30 for 54 points in 67 games. He was named WHL rookie of the year for the performance. McKechnie appeared in four playoff games, adding two points.

After tasting life in the NHL, Walt found himself back in the minors midway through 1969-70. He played 42 regular season games in the Central Hockey League for the Iowa Stars, scoring 17 and assisting on 24. The Parker MacDonald coached Stars, with Gilles Gilbert in net, reached the finals before losing to the Omaha Knights. In eleven playoff games, McKechnie contributed ten points.

The following year, he followed Parker MacDonald to the American Hockey League to play for the Cleveland Barons. In 35 games, he totaled an impressive 47 points. Later in his career, he would play for the Cleveland Barons in the NHL. Dennis O’Brien was also on that 1970-71 Cleveland team and is the only other player to play for the Barons in the AHL and the NHL.

At the end of his career, McKechnie spent one more season in the minors. In 1983-84, he spent time as a player/coach with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles in the CHL, a team also coached by J.P. Parise.

Walt McKechnie – NHL

Between 1967-68 and 1982-83, Walt McKechnie played in 955 regular season National Hockey League games. Over that time, he scored 214 and assisted on 392 for 606 points. Walt added another 12 points in just 15 Stanley Cup playoff games.

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Walt McKechnie Collection

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Well traveled, McKechnie played for the Minnesota North Stars, California Golden Seals, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings (twice), Washington Capitals, Cleveland Barons, Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Rockies. He was also a member of the New York Rangers for a short time over the summer of 1974 but was quickly turned around and sent to the Boston Bruins, in exchange for Derek Sanderson.

His limited time in the post season was accumulated over just two different seasons. In 1967-68, he played in nine games with the North Stars. In 1978-79, he played in six playoff games with the Maple Leafs.

McKechnie was a 20+ goal scorer four times over his NHL career, once with the California Golden Seals, twice with the Detroit Red Wings and once with the Toronto Maple Leafs. His best offensive season came in 1975-76 with Detroit when he scored 26 and assisted on 56 for 82 points while playing in all 80 games for the Red Wings.

The list of trades is long. On May 20, 1971, Walt was shipped to the Golden Seals from Minnesota with Joe Johnston for Dennis Hextall. As mentioned, he was picked up by the Rangers in June, 1974 before being quickly dealt to the Bruins. His time in Boston did not last long and the Bruins traded him to Detroit in February, 1975 for Earl Anderson and Henry Nowak.

Over the summer of 1977, Detroit traded McKechnie to the Washington Capitals. Again, his time with Washington was short and he was gone to Cleveland on December 9, 1977 in a trade for Bob Girard.

When the Barons merged with Minnesota at the end of the 1977-78 season, McKechnie was again a member of the North Stars. However, he didn’t play a game with the team, moving to the Toronto Maple Leafs in an October 5, 1978 trade for draft picks. Toronto got draft picks back when they shipped Walt to the Colorado Rockies on March 3, 1980.

In 1977, following the 1976-77 NHL season, McKechnie played for Canada at the IIHF World Hockey Championships. The tournament was held in Vienna, Austria and Canada finished fourth. Czechoslovakia took gold with Sweden taking silver. The Soviet Union rounded out the top three.

Walt McKechnie – Rookie Card

Despite being in the NHL since 1967-68, the first Walt McKechie hockey card did not show up until 1970-71. His rookie card appears as number 172 in the 1970-71 O-Pee-Chee NHL set. Walt is shown with the Minnesota North Stars.

For some reason, McKechnie was left out of the 1974-75 O-Pee-Chee set but he was featured on the California Golden Seals leaders card. His final card is included in the 1982-83 O-Pee-Chee set as a member of the Detroit Red Wings.

Of his eight teams, Walt was never shown on a hockey card with the Boston Bruins or Cleveland Barons. His 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee card has a great cameo by Gilles Gilbert of the Bruins. Walt is dressed with the Red Wings but the card shows him as a member of the Capitals with the ‘now with Capitals’ note on the bottom of the picture.

Walt McKechnie – Career Stats

Season	Team	Lge	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1965-66	London Nationals	OHA	46	13	28	41	68
1966-67	London Nationals	OHA	48	13	46	59	125
1967-68	London Nationals	OHA	1	0	0	0	2
1967-68	Phoenix Roadrunners	WHL	67	24	30	54	24
1967-68	Minnesota North Stars	NHL	4	0	0	0	0
1968-69	Phoenix Roadrunners	WHL	10	3	11	14	6
1968-69	Minnesota North Stars	NHL	58	5	9	14	22
1969-70	Iowa Stars	CHL	42	17	24	41	82
1969-70	Minnesota North Stars	NHL	20	1	3	4	21
1970-71	Cleveland Barons	AHL	35	16	31	47	28
1970-71	Minnesota North Stars	NHL	30	3	1	4	34
1971-72	California Golden Seals	NHL	56	11	20	31	40
1972-73	California Golden Seals	NHL	78	16	38	54	58
1973-74	California Golden Seals	NHL	63	23	29	52	14
1974-75	Boston Bruins	NHL	53	3	3	6	8
1974-75	Detroit Red Wings	NHL	23	6	11	17	6
1975-76	Detroit Red Wings	NHL	80	26	56	82	85
1976-77	Detroit Red Wings	NHL	80	25	34	59	50
1977-78	Washington Capitals	NHL	16	4	1	5	0
1977-78	Cleveland Barons	NHL	53	12	22	34	12
1978-79	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	79	25	36	61	18
1979-80	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	54	7	36	43	4
1979-80	Colorado Rockies	NHL	17	0	4	4	2
1980-81	Colorado Rockies	NHL	53	15	23	38	18
1981-82	Detroit Red Wings	NHL	74	18	37	55	35
1982-83	Detroit Red Wings	NHL	64	14	29	43	42
1983-84	Salt Lake Golden Eagles	CHL	69	9	32	41	36
	NHL Totals		955	214	392	606	469