He put together a 665 regular season game National Hockey League career but played just 29 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs. His penalty minutes in the NHL were nearly Lady Byng worthy for a defenseman yet in the minors, Larry Cahan was often among the PIM leaders.
His only championship came early in his career with the Vancouver Canucks of the WHL. He was one of the first team captains of the Los Angeles Kings.
Larry Cahan has never been and will never be considered for the Hockey Hall of Fame. That doesn’t mean he didn’t have a long and interesting hockey career.
Junior and Minor Pro
Hockey Card Collection
Major League Career
Rookie Card
Stats
Larry Cahan – Junior and Minor Pro
Cahan played his junior hockey with the Fort William Hurricanes in the Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League. Fort Williams was crowned TBJHL champs in 1951-52 and reached the Western Canada Memorial Cup finals before falling to the Regina Pats in six games.
In his pro rookie season, Larry played the full 70 game American Hockey League schedule with the Pittsburgh Hornets in 1953-54. He led the AHL with 179 penalty minutes, 52 PIM more than second place Pat Egan of the Providence Reds.
Larry Cahan Collection
After a run in the NHL, Cahan was returned to the minors for the 1958-59 season after starting with 16 games as a member of the New York Rangers. He took a lot of trains and buses that year, playing for the Vancouver Canucks of the WHL, along with the Springfield Indians and Buffalo Bisons of the AHL. His time in Buffalo was limited to three games in the Calder Cup playoffs.
In 1959-60, settled in with Vancouver, Larry led the Canucks defensive core with 33 points over 70 games. He also appeared in the top ten for PIM but his numbers were reduced from his rookie season with just 116 minutes placing him in sixth place. The Canucks finished first overall in the WHL and won the championship over the Victoria Cougars in the finals.
His O-Pee-Chee publicized and erroneous scoring record came in 1965-66 with the Canucks. Playing under head coach Bert Olmstead, Vancouver met the Portland Buckaroos in the opening round. The series went seven games and the Canucks outscored their opponents 28-27. However, it was Portland that came out with the series win.
Over the seven games, Cahan scored four and assisted on 12 for an amazing 16 points. It was a WHL record. However, on the back of his 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee hockey card, it makes the mistake of stating that it was an NHL record. Oh, and Larry finished third in the WHL with 156 penalty minutes during the regular season…
Except for a uneventful stint with the Seattle Totems in 1971-72, 1966-67 was Larry’s last year in the minors. With expansion coming the following season and the WHA coming in 1972, Cahan was finding new and exciting ways to play major league hockey.
1966-67 was a career year for Cahan with 18 goals and 36 assists for 54 points. The Canucks were again coached by Bert Olmstead and had Don Simmons playing every game in net. Vancouver reached the finals before falling to the Seattle Totems. Larry picked up what would be a rare piece of hardware for him that year, winning the Hal Laycoe Cup as the WHL’s best defenseman.
Larry Cahan – Major League Hockey
Between 1954-55 and 1970-71, Cahan played in 665 regular season National Hockey League games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Oakland Seals and Los Angeles Kings. Over that time, he scored 38 goals and assisted on 92 for 130 points while sitting a modest 698 minutes in the penalty box. Larry played in just 29 Stanley Cup playoff games, offering just a goal and an assist.
It was with the Kings at the end of his career when he had most of his NHL success. For 1969-70 and 1970-71, Cahan serves as team captain with Los Angeles. In 1968-69, he led a hapless Kings team to some decent playoff success.
The team finished the regular season with just 24 wins yet made it to the playoffs in the weak West Division. After winning the opening round, the Kings were swept in the semi-finals by the St. Louis Blues. Los Angeles would not make the playoffs for the next four years and would not win another playoff series until 1975-76.
After finding himself back in the minors for the 1971-72 season, Cahan jumped at the chance to play in the fledgling World Hockey Association in the league’s inaugural 1972-73 season. He played parts of two seasons with the Chicago Cougars, appearing in 75 games the first year but in just three games in 1973-74 before calling it a career.
Larry Cahan – Rookie Card
The Larry Cahan rookie card appears as number 16 in the 1955-56 Parkhurst set. The card is valued as a common. He is shown with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Larry played just 21 games with the Maple Leafs in 1955-56 and was with the New York Rangers the following season.
As mentioned, his 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee card with the Los Angeles Kings is an uncorrected error card. The error basically a one letter typo as the record he set in the 1965-66 WHL playoffs did not occur in the NHL like the card states.
Larry Cahan Career Stats
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1953-54 | Pittsburgh Hornets | AHL | 70 | 1 | 25 | 26 | 179 |
| 1954-55 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 58 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 64 |
| 1955-56 | Pittsburgh Hornets | AHL | 39 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 160 |
| 1955-56 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 21 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 46 |
| 1956-57 | New York Rangers | NHL | 61 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 65 |
| 1957-58 | New York Rangers | NHL | 34 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 20 |
| 1958-59 | New York Rangers | NHL | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 1958-59 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 9 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 22 |
| 1958-59 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 33 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 75 |
| 1958-59 | Buffalo Bisons | AHL | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1959-60 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 70 | 11 | 22 | 33 | 116 |
| 1960-61 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 70 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 81 |
| 1961-62 | New York Rangers | NHL | 57 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 85 |
| 1962-63 | New York Rangers | NHL | 56 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 47 |
| 1963-64 | Baltimore Clippers | AHL | 12 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 16 |
| 1963-64 | New York Rangers | NHL | 53 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 80 |
| 1964-65 | Baltimore Clippers | AHL | 16 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 34 |
| 1964-65 | New York Rangers | NHL | 26 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 32 |
| 1964-65 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 26 | 2 | 15 | 17 | 67 |
| 1965-66 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 72 | 14 | 34 | 48 | 156 |
| 1966-67 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 72 | 18 | 36 | 54 | 88 |
| 1967-68 | Oakland Seals | NHL | 74 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 80 |
| 1968-69 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 72 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 76 |
| 1969-70 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 70 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 50 |
| 1970-71 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 67 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 45 |
| 1971-72 | Seattle Totems | WHL | 50 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 44 |
| 1972-73 | Chicago Cougars | WHA | 75 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 44 |
| 1973-74 | Chicago Cougars | WHA | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| NHL Totals | 665 | 38 | 92 | 130 | 698 | ||
| WHA Totals | 78 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 46 |