Bryan Watson (ice hockey)

Watson signed with the Montreal Canadiens and made his NHL debut during the 1963–64 NHL season. He played in 39 games in the regular season and six games in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs.[1] In Watson's second year, he appeared in only five games with Montreal and spent the bulk of the season with the AHL's Quebec Aces,[4] where he played with Doug Harvey.[5] Watson was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for Don Johns on June 8, 1965. He was then claimed the next day by the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL Intra-League Draft.[1]

During his first year with the Red Wings in 1965–66, Watson played all 70 games in the regular season, during which he scored his first NHL goal and led the team in penalty minutes. He also appeared in all twelve playoff games for Detroit, scoring two goals – the only playoff goals he scored in his whole career – and helping the Red Wings advance to the Stanley Cup Finals against his former team the Canadiens.[1] In 1966–67 Watson split his time between the Red Wings and the Memphis Wings, Detroit's farm team in the CPHL.[4]

Watson was left unprotected by the Red Wings in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft. The Minnesota North Stars consequently selected him as their fifteenth pick. That same day the North Stars traded Watson to Montreal for three young prospects, Bill Plager, Leo Thiffault and Barrie Meissner. Watson appeared in only a dozen games with the Canadiens in the 1967–68 season, registering just one assist and nine penalty minutes.[1] He played the rest of the season in the minors, first for the Cleveland Barons in the AHL (12 games) and then the majority of the season with the Houston Apollos in the CPHL.[4]

Watson was traded to the Oakland Seals on June 28, 1968, in exchange for Tom Thurlby and a first round draft pick in 1972. After playing fifty games for the Seals in the 1968–69 season Watson was sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade involving six players. Watson spent most of the next six seasons with the Penguins. He had the best offensive season of his career in 1971–72, when he scored three goals and twenty points.[1] He also led the Penguins in penalty minutes in three of his four full seasons with the club, and led the NHL in that statistic with 215 in 1971–72.[1][5]

Watson started the 1973–74 season with the Penguins, before being traded to the St. Louis Blues on January 17, 1974. He played just 11 games with the team before returning to Detroit in a six-player trade less than a month later on February 14. He accumulated a career-high of 322 penalty minutes in 1975–76,[1] second only to Steve Durbano with 370.[6] He was also suspended for 10 games that season after fighting with Keith Magnuson of the Chicago Blackhawks on October 30, 1976.[7]

Watson was traded to the Washington Capitals for Greg Joly several weeks into the 1976–77 regular season. In three seasons with the Capitals, he played 155 games and served 294 minutes in penalties. Watson received the Charlie Conacher Humanitarian Award in 1978 for his contributions to the Special Olympics.[8] He sustained a serious cut to his right arm from a chainsaw in July 1978, while assisting his neighbour in chopping down a tree. However, he avoided long-term injury due to the uncommon nerve structure in his arm.[9] During the 1978–79 regular season, he left the NHL to join the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association, with whom he ended his playing career.[1]