His National Hockey League career was an unimpressive 219 regular season games in length. Danny Lawson scored just 28 goals over that time. However, in his first year in the World Hockey Association, Lawson led the league with 61 goals, playing for the Philadelphia Blazers.
Danny started out as a promising prospect of the Detroit Red Wings. He came within one goal of leading the OHL in his final season of junior, while playing for the Detroit sponsored Hamilton Red Wings. In the end, he had a WHA career worthy of an induction into the WHA Hall of Fame in it’s inaugural season.
Danny Lawson – Junior and Minor Pro
Lawson played four years of major junior hockey in the OHA with the Hamilton Red Wings from 1964-65 to 1967-68. In 1966-67, He scored 15 and totaled 26 points over 17 playoff games. He led the team to the Robertson Cup finals before the Red Wings were swept by the Toronto Marlboros.
Danny Lawson Collection
In his final season with Hamilton, Danny scored 52 and assisted on 38 for 90 points over 52 games. He was just one goal behind league leader Jack Egers of the Kitchener Rangers. Lawson tied for sixth in the race for the Eddie Powers Trophy, 24 points behind leader Tom Webster of the Niagara Falls Flyers. Hamilton reached the semi-finals but lost the Rangers.
Lawson’s time in the minors was limited during his career. He played eight games with the Fort Worth Wings of the Central Hockey League in 1968-69. The following year, he spent 31 games with the Iowa Stars in the CHL. Fort Worth was the affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings and Iowa was the farm team of the Minnesota North Stars. In 1970-71, he played ten games with the Cleveland Barons in the American Hockey League.
Danny Lawson – Major League Hockey
In the NHL, Lawson played 219 regular season games between 1967-68 and 1971-72 with the Red Wings, North Stars and Buffalo Sabres. His first game came with the Red Wings in 1967-68 while still a junior. His only full season came with the Sabres in 1971-72.
It was in the WHA where Lawson found stardom. Between 1972-73 and 1976-77, he played 392 regular season games with the Philadelphia Blazers, Vancouver Blazers, Calgary Cowboys and Winnipeg Jets. Of course, Philadelphia, Vancouver and Calgary were all the same franchise. Over that time, he scored 218 and assisted on 204 for 422 points. In the Avco World Trophy playoffs, he added 15 points over 26 games.
Originally, he was drafted by the Miami Screaming Eagles in the 1972 WHA General Draft. The Screaming Eagles never happened, instead starting operations as the Blazers.
Over his WHA career, Danny didn’t miss a game until his final season when he went from Calgary to Winnipeg mid season. In 1976-77, Lawson played in 78 games. Calgary played 81 while Winnipeg played just 80. The Minnesota Fighting Saints folding after 42 games had something to do with that.
In 1972-73, it was supposed to be Derek Sanderson providing all the entertainment with the Philadelphia Blazers. Instead, it was the duo of Lawson and Andre Lacroix providing the fireworks. Danny scored 61 and assisted on 45 for 106 points playing under head coach Phil Watson and player/assistant John McKenzie.
In that inaugural World Hockey Association season, Lawson led the league in goal scoring, eight ahead of Tom Webster of the New England Whalers. He was third in points, 18 behind leader, teammate and linemate Andre Lacroix. Danny was named the First Team All-Star at right wing, ahead of Webster and Norm Beaudin of the Winnipeg Jets.
The following year, the team was in Vancouver and Lacroix didn’t make the move. Lawson’s numbers were down but still respectable with 50 goals and 38 assists for 88 points over 78 games for the Andy Bathgate coached Blazers. He finished third in the league in goal scoring, behind Mike Walton of the Fighting Saints and Bobby Hull of the Jets. Danny placed eighth for points.
In 1975-76, Lawson had his last real offensive outburst of his career. Playing for the Calgary Cowboys, Danny scored 44 and assisted on 52 for 96 points over 80 games. He placed eighth in the WHA for goals.
In his final season, Lawson played 64 games for the Cowboys and 14 for the Jets during the regular season. Winnipeg lost in the finals to the Quebec Nordiques. It was the closest he would come to a pro championship.
Danny spent time in Germany after retiring from the North American game. He passed away in 2008 after a battle with cancer.
Danny Lawson – Rookie Card
As an NHL player, Lawson never got on the front of a hockey card. Despite a full season with the Sabres in 1971-72 and a promising appearance on the Blazers roster for 1972-73, Danny was left out of the 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee set. Not really surprising though, John McKenzie is the only player to represent Philadelphia in OPC’s first showing of WHA players.
The Danny Lawson rookie card appears as number 25 in the 1974-75 O-Pee-Chee WHA set and he is shown with the Vancouver Blazers. Lawson also appears in the 1973-74 Quaker Oats WHA set, along with the 1975-76 and 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee WHA sets. In both of those last two cards, he is shown with the Calgary Cowboys.
His Quaker Oats card mentions on the back that John McKenzie refers to him as ‘one of the two or three best skaters in hockey today’. What a treat it would have been to see Lawson and Lacroix skating together with the Blazers in 1972-73.
Danny Lawson Career Stats
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1964-65 | Hamilton Red Wings | OHA | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1965-66 | Hamilton Red Wings | OHA | 30 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 4 |
| 1966-67 | Hamilton Red Wings | OHA | 48 | 25 | 24 | 49 | 27 |
| 1967-68 | Hamilton Red Wings | OHA | 54 | 52 | 38 | 90 | 26 |
| 1967-68 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1968-69 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 44 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 21 |
| 1968-69 | Fort Worth Wings | CHL | 8 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| 1968-69 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 18 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 |
| 1969-70 | Iowa Stars | CHL | 31 | 12 | 21 | 33 | 8 |
| 1969-70 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 45 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 19 |
| 1970-71 | Cleveland Barons | AHL | 10 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 14 |
| 1970-71 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 33 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 |
| 1971-72 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 78 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 15 |
| 1972-73 | Philadelphia Blazers | WHA | 78 | 61 | 45 | 106 | 35 |
| 1973-74 | Vancouver Blazers | WHA | 78 | 50 | 38 | 88 | 14 |
| 1974-75 | Vancouver Blazers | WHA | 78 | 33 | 43 | 76 | 19 |
| 1975-76 | Calgary Cowboys | WHA | 80 | 44 | 52 | 96 | 46 |
| 1976-77 | Calgary Cowboys | WHA | 64 | 24 | 19 | 43 | 26 |
| 1976-77 | Winnipeg Jets | WHA | 14 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 2 |
| NHL Totals | 219 | 28 | 29 | 57 | 61 | ||
| WHA Totals | 392 | 218 | 204 | 422 | 142 |