As a junior, Jimmy Mann took up plenty of space on the ice and in the penalty box during his three seasons with the Sherbrooke Beavers of the QMJHL from 1976 to 1979. During that time, he developed into an attractive-looking NHL prospect on the strength of his playmaking, scoring, and willingness to play with a mean streak.
Winnipeg Jets' GM John Ferguson must have seen a little of himself in Mann as he made him the club's first-ever draft choice as the club entered the NHL in 1979. Mann joined the Jets for the start of the 1979-80 campaign and applied himself with great ferocity to become one of the meanest, glove-dropping brawlers in the league. By season's end, he led the NHL in penalty minutes with 287. The mold was cast: Jimmy Mann would fight first and play a little hockey between bouts.
In all, Mann played parts of five seasons with the Jets but never really secured any sense of permanency with the club. Either injuries or trips to the minors tended to eclipse any momentum he might have established for himself.
Controversy also tended to cloud his time at the top. During a game against Pittsburgh, the Pens' Paul Gardner laid his stick onto the jaw of the Jets' diminutive Doug Smail. Mann's temper exploded as he jumped over the boards to assail Gardner from behind with a roundhouse punch that broke the centreman's jaw in two places. Mann eventually received a ten-game suspension and a criminal record before the courts of Manitoba.
In 1984, he was traded to the Quebec Nordiques where he played sporadically over the two seasons that followed. But in 1986-87, injuries forced him to sit out the entire campaign.
He attempted a comeback with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1987, but was no longer able to perform at the NHL level. After nine games with the Pens, he headed for the minors where he concluded his career with the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL in 1989.
