1930–31 NHL season

1930–31 NHL season
League National Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Duration November 11, 1930 – April 14, 1931
Number of games 44
Number of teams 10
Regular season
Season champions Boston Bruins
Season MVP Howie Morenz (Montreal Canadiens)
Top scorer Howie Morenz (Montreal Canadiens)
Canadian Division champions Montreal Canadiens
American Division champions Boston Bruins
Stanley Cup
Champions Montreal Canadiens
  Runners-up Chicago Black Hawks

The 1930–31 NHL season was the 14th season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks three games to two in a best-of-five Stanley Cup final for their second consecutive Cup win.

League business

Art Ross bitterly complained about the Stanley Cup final setup. His team had been vanquished in two consecutive games by the Montreal Canadiens in 1929–30. As a result, the Board of Governors decided to make the final a best-of-five series.

The Great Depression was starting to take its toll on the NHL. In attempts to solve financial problems, the Pittsburgh Pirates moved to Philadelphia and became the Philadelphia Quakers, but there was nothing about the team to win games or fans. It was intended that the team stay in Philadelphia only until a new arena was built in Pittsburgh. The arena was never built, and the team folded after only one season in the new city. The state of Pennsylvania would be without an NHL team until the league doubled in size 36 years later.

The Ottawa Senators were in a similar financial boat but instead of relocating, they sold a star asset and future Hall of Famer, King Clancy, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for $35,000 and two players. Even after the sale of Clancy, the Senators' owners put the team up for sale for $200,000, although no bids approached anywhere near that figure. The team would suspend operations before the start of the next season.[1]

The Detroit Cougars changed the team name to the Detroit Falcons.

Regular season

Howie Morenz led the league in scoring.

Dick Irvin started his career in coaching with Chicago and they finished second in the American Division. He resigned at season's end after having taken the Black Hawks to the finals.

Final standings

American Division
GP W L T GF GA PTS
Boston Bruins 44 28 10 6 143 90 62
Chicago Black Hawks 44 24 17 3 108 78 51
New York Rangers 44 19 16 9 106 87 47
Detroit Falcons 44 16 21 7 102 105 39
Philadelphia Quakers 44 4 36 4 76 184 12
Canadian Division
GP W L T GF GA Pts
Montreal Canadiens 44 26 10 8 129 89 60
Toronto Maple Leafs 44 22 13 9 118 99 53
Montreal Maroons 44 20 18 6 105 106 46
New York Americans 44 18 16 10 76 74 46
Ottawa Senators 44 10 30 4 91 142 24

GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Playoffs

On 26 March, during the second game of the best-of-five series between the Bruins and Canadiens, coach-GM Art Ross of Boston pulled his goalie for an extra attacker while down 1–0 with 40 seconds left in the final period. The attempt was unsuccessful. This marked the first time in Stanley Cup play that a goalie was pulled for an extra attacker.[2]

Stanley Cup Final

In the final series, the Chicago Black Hawks took an early two games to one lead in the newly expanded best-of-five Stanley Cup finals but the Montreal Canadiens came back and won the series three games to two for their second consecutive Stanley Cup win.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Chicago Blackhawks

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
April 3Montreal Canadiens2Chicago Blackhawks1
April 5Montreal Canadiens1Chicago Blackhawks2 2OT
April 9Chicago Blackhawks3Montreal Canadiens2 3OT
April 11Chicago Blackhawks1Montreal Canadiens2
April 14Chicago Blackhawks1Montreal Canadiens2

Montreal wins best-of-five series three games to two.

Playoff bracket

  Quarter-finals Semi-finals Stanley Cup Final
                           
       
  C1  Montreal Canadiens 3  
    A1  Boston Bruins 2  
     
         
    C1  Montreal Canadiens 3
  A2  Chicago Black Hawks 2
  C2  Toronto Maple Leafs 3G  
A2  Chicago Black Hawks 4G  
A2  Chicago Black Hawks 3G
    A3  New York Rangers 0G  
C3  Montreal Maroons 1G
  A3  New York Rangers 8G  

Awards

Howie Morenz won the Hart Trophy for the second time in his career. Frank Boucher won the Lady Byng for the fourth consecutive year. Roy Worters won the Vezina Trophy for the one and only time in his career.

1930–31 NHL awards
O'Brien Cup:
(Canadian Division champion) 		Montreal Canadiens
Prince of Wales Trophy:
(American Division champion) 		Boston Bruins
Hart Trophy:
(Most valuable player) 		Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens
Lady Byng Trophy:
(Excellence and sportsmanship) 		Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy:
(Fewest goals allowed) 		Roy Worters, New York Americans

All-Star teams

This was the first season that the NHL named its 'all-stars'. Although Roy Worters won the Vezina Trophy for "most valuable goaltender", Charlie Gardiner and Tiny Thompson were named to the all-star teams at the goaltender position.

First Team   Position   Second Team
Charlie Gardiner, Chicago Black Hawks G Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins
Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins D Sylvio Mantha, Montreal Canadiens
King Clancy, Toronto Maple Leafs D Ching Johnson, New York Rangers
Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens C Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Bill Cook, New York Rangers RW Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins
Aurel Joliat, Montreal Canadiens LW Bun Cook, New York Rangers
Lester Patrick, New York Rangers Coach Dick Irvin, Chicago Black Hawks

Source: NHL.[3]

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes

Player Team GP G A Pts PIM
Howie Morenz Montreal Canadiens 39 28 23 51 49
Ebbie Goodfellow Detroit Red Wings 44 25 23 48 32
Charlie Conacher Toronto Maple Leafs 37 31 12 43 78
Bill Cook New York Rangers 43 30 12 42 39
Ace Bailey Toronto Maple Leafs 40 23 19 42 46
Joe Primeau Toronto Maple Leafs 38 9 32 41 18
Nels Stewart Montreal Maroons 42 25 14 39 75
Frank Boucher New York Rangers 44 12 27 39 20
Cooney Weiland Boston Bruins 44 25 13 38 14
Bun Cook New York Rangers 44 18 17 35 72
Aurel Joliat Montreal Canadiens 43 13 22 35 73

Source: NHL.[4]

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Player Team GP W L T Mins GA SO GAA
Roy Worters New York Americans 44 18 16 10 2760 74 8 1.61
Charlie Gardiner Chicago Black Hawks 44 24 17 3 2710 78 12 1.73
John Ross Roach New York Rangers 44 19 16 9 2760 87 7 1.89
George Hainsworth Montreal Canadiens 44 26 10 8 2740 89 8 1.95
Tiny Thompson Boston Bruins 44 28 10 6 2730 90 3 1.98
Lorne Chabot Toronto Maple Leafs 37 21 8 8 2300 80 6 2.09

Source: NHL.[5]

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1930–31 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1930–31 (listed with their last team):

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Kitchen(2008), pp. 306–309
  2. ↑ McFarlane, p. 28
  3. ↑ Diamond 2009, p. 234.
  4. ↑ Dinger 2011, p. 146.
  5. ↑ "1930–1931 – Regular Season – Goalie – Goalie Season Stats Leaders – Goals Against Average". nhl.com. Retrieved March 24, 2015.

External links

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