Peter McNab

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message.
This article has been tagged since December 2005.

Peter McNab was born on May 8, 1952 in Vancouver, B.C. to one of ice hockey's most prominent families. His father Max McNab was a journeyman center who won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 1950. Max's long career as a player and coach was honored by his hometown of Watson, Saskatchewan, where a recreational park is named after him. Peter's brother David was an NHL scout and is now Assistant G.M. of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Peter McNab grew up in San Diego, CA, where his father was head coach of the minor-league San Diego Gulls. In the early 1970s NCAA players rarely made it to the NHL. But McNab was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres while playing forward for the University of Denver in 1972. He led the Cincinnati Swords of the AHL in scoring in 1973-74, despite just playing in 49 of 76 games, and debuted with Buffalo that same season. While with Buffalo, he got his first NHL goal on December 15, 1973, against the Minnesota North Stars.

After a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1975, Peter McNab was traded to the Boston Bruins in 1976. He enjoyed the best years of his NHL career in Boston, scoring at least 35 goals and 75 points 6 seasons in a row. He twice scored a playoff overtime winning goal, and holds the distinction of being the only Bruin ever awarded a penalty shot in a playoff game. This occurred against Minnesota North Stars goaltender Don Beaupre on April 9, 1981 - McNab did not score. He is among the team's top 10 leaders in goals, points and playoff scoring.

Peter McNab was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in 1984, and played 2 seasons with the New Jersey Devils, where his father Max was the team's general manager at the time. He retired at the end of the 1986-87 season.

After retiring, Peter began his broadcasting career as a color analyst for the Devils starting in the 1987-88 season. After 8 years broadcasting on SportsChannel for the Devils, he moved to Colorado for the inaugural season of the Colorado Avalanche. As of 2007, Peter McNab has been the color analyst for the Avalanche for 11 seasons. He was also a TV announcer on NBC as an analyst on The NHL on NBC during the 2006 Winter Olympic games in Torino, Italy, and as a color analyst on TNT for the 1998 Olympic games in Nagano, Japan. He also served as TSN’s studio analyst and host for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.