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“He was great the first four years. And then, if you lost a game, if you did something wrong, he’d punish you. It just became ridiculous after a while,” he said. “The last four years were a disaster, really. It was laborious for me.
“You have to realize the times we were living in. We were slaves, really. When I played in the NHL, if they said, ‘Jump,’ you said, ‘How high?’ We were getting a minimum wage, rookies were getting paid $7,000 a season. Today, a first-year player gets a million up front. In our days, we were like slaves.
“At one time, Chicago offered a million dollars to buy my contract,” said Mahovlich. “Imagine that today? What would that be? A hundred million, I don’t know. Leafs turned it down.”
But everything for Mahovlich in Toronto came back to Imlach, including emotional challenges that forced him to miss some games.
“It was one man, Punch,” said Mahovlich. “Nobody liked him after a while. No one said anything because nobody did in those days.
“I remember when I was a rookie, and (NHL president) Clarence Campbell came to speak to us about our pensions. In the meeting, I raised my hand to ask a question. I was only 19. I asked about the amount of money involved.
“He told me to sit down and shut up. He didn’t answer. This is what you were dealing with at the time. You kept your mouth shut or you might get shipped out.”
On March 3, 1968, Mahovlich was shipped out. He was traded to Detroit, along with Pete Stemkowski, Garry Unger and the rights to Carl Brewer in exchange for Norm Ullman, Paul Henderson, Floyd Smith and Doug Barrie.
