1943–44 NHL season

1943–44 NHL season
League National Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Duration October 30, 1943 – April 13, 1944
Number of games 50
Number of teams 6
Regular season
Season champion Montreal Canadiens
Season MVP Babe Pratt (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Top scorer Herb Cain (Boston Bruins)
Stanley Cup
Champions Montreal Canadiens
  Runners-up Chicago Black Hawks

The 1943–44 NHL season was the 27th season of the National Hockey League. Six teams played 50 games each. The Montreal Canadiens were the top team of the regular season and followed it up with the team's fifth Stanley Cup championship.

League business

In memory of Frank Calder, the former NHL President who died in 1943, the league's Board of Governors donated the Calder Memorial Trophy to be awarded to the NHL's top rookie.

Rule changes

For the start of this season, the NHL added the centre red line, which allowed players to pass the puck out of their defensive zone into their half of the neutral zone. This was done in an effort to increase the speed of the game by reducing off-side calls. "This rule is considered to mark the beginning of the modern era in the NHL,” according to the NHL's Guide and Record Book. 62 years later the two-line pass would be legalized for similar reasons.

Regular season

The Montreal Canadiens had turned the corner and now Tommy Gorman and Dick Irvin had a team to make the fans happy. Bill Durnan solved the goaltending woes, but not before Gorman had all kinds of problems signing him. Durnan knew his worth, and wanted a handsome sum. Just before the first game, Gorman agreed to his contract demands. He was worth every penny, as he ran away with the Vezina Trophy and the Canadiens lost only five games all year, finishing first by a wide margin. The new and more familiar "Punch line" of Elmer Lach, Toe Blake, and Maurice Richard dominated the offence and Richard had 32 goals. He replaced Joe Benoit, who did his duty to his country by joining the armed forces. Richard, in fact, was dubbed by teammate Ray Getliffe the nickname that would be his legend "The Rocket".

When Paul Bibeault came back from the Army, he found his job lost to the best goaltender in the NHL, Bill Durnan. Montreal agreed to loan him to Toronto, where he played very well, leading the Leafs to third place and leading the NHL with five shutouts. Gus Bodnar, a crack centre, was the top rookie, and for the first time, a team produced Calder Trophy winners in consecutive years. In fact, Bodnar scored the fastest goal by a rookie in his very first game. It took him only 15 seconds to score on Ken McAuley, Ranger goaltender, in a 5–2 win over the war-weakened Rangers.

The Rangers had plunged to last place the previous year and Lester Patrick was so discouraged that he wanted to suspend operations for the year. This year the Rangers lost Clint Smith, Lynn Patrick, Phil Watson, and Alf Pike. The most unbelievably inept team iced for the Rangers this year. Things were so desperate that coach Frank Boucher had to come out of retirement to play some. But the Rangers set a modern-day record of 6.20 goals against, giving up 310 goals in 50 games. One night when Lester Patrick went behind the bench to coach the team with Frank Boucher attending a brother's funeral, the Rangers were demolished 15–0 by Detroit as the Red Wings set a modern-day record of most goals by a team in a single game. It was a horrifying experience for Patrick. Only a week later Syd Howe set a modern-day record of 6 goals in a game in a 12–2 conquest of the hapless Rangers. The Rangers won only 6 games all year and finished a distant last, 23 points behind fifth-place Boston.

Chicago started with sub-par goaltending, but then president and general manager Bill Tobin decided to bring back Mike Karakas, who had been demoted to the minors in 1939–40 for his lackluster play. Karakas was just what the Black Hawks needed, as he played well and recorded three shutouts and got the team into the playoffs.

In Boston, the Bruins lost star forward Bill Cowley to injury after the first 36 games. At that point in the season Cowley was on pace to set a new standard in scoring for the NHL. After the first 36 games he had scored 30 goals – 41 assists – 71 points before going down to injury. However, the scoring title would still eventually end up in Boston as linemate Herb Cain picked up the slack, scoring 82 points over the course of the 50-game schedule and setting a new record for points in the regular season.

Final standings

National Hockey League[1]
GP W L T GF GA DIFF Pts
1 Montreal Canadiens 50 38 5 7 234 109 +125 83
2 Detroit Red Wings 50 26 18 6 214 177 +37 58
3 Toronto Maple Leafs 50 23 23 4 214 174 +40 50
4 Chicago Black Hawks 50 22 23 5 178 187 −9 49
5 Boston Bruins 50 19 26 5 223 268 −45 43
6 New York Rangers 50 6 39 5 162 310 −148 17

Playoffs

Semi-finals

Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
March 21 Toronto 3 Montreal 1
March 23 Toronto 1 Montreal 5 †
March 25 Montreal 2 Toronto 1
March 28 Montreal 4 Toronto 1
March 30 Toronto 0 Montreal 11

†Maurice "Rocket" Richard named first, second, and third Star of the game after scoring all 5 Montreal goals, the first player to have this honour

Montreal wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 1

Chicago Black Hawks vs. Detroit Red Wings

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
March 21 Chicago 2 Detroit 1
March 23 Chicago 1 Detroit 4
March 26 Detroit 0 Chicago 2
March 28 Detroit 1 Chicago 7
March 30 Chicago 5 Detroit 2

Chicago wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 1

Stanley Cup Final

see 1944 Stanley Cup Finals

Montreal Canadiens vs. Chicago Black Hawks

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
April 4 Chicago 1 Montreal 5
April 6 Montreal 3 Chicago 1
April 9 Montreal 3 Chicago 2
April 13 Chicago 4 Montreal 5 OT

Montreal wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 0

Playoff bracket

Semi-finals Stanley Cup Final
      
1 Montreal Canadiens 4
3 Toronto Maple Leafs 1
1 Montreal Canadiens 4
4 Chicago Black Hawks 0
2 Detroit Red Wings 1
4 Chicago Black Hawks 4

Awards

Award winners
O'Brien Cup:
(Playoff runner-up) 		Chicago Black Hawks
Prince of Wales Trophy:
(Regular season champion) 		Montreal Canadiens
Calder Memorial Trophy:
(Best first-year player) 		August 'Gus' Bodnar, Toronto Maple Leafs
Hart Trophy:
(Most valuable player) 		Babe Pratt, Toronto Maple Leafs
Lady Byng Trophy:
(Excellence and sportsmanship) 		Clint Smith, Chicago Black Hawks
Vezina Trophy:
(Fewest goals allowed) 		Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens
All-Star teams
First team   Position   Second team
Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens G Paul Bibeault, Toronto Maple Leafs
Earl Seibert, Chicago Black Hawks D Emile "Butch" Bouchard, Montreal Canadiens
Babe Pratt, Toronto Maple Leafs D Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins
Bill Cowley, Boston Bruins C Elmer Lach, Montreal Canadiens
Lorne Carr, Toronto Maple Leafs RW Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens
Doug Bentley, Chicago Black Hawks LW Herb Cain, Boston Bruins
Dick Irvin, Montreal Canadiens Coach Hap Day, Toronto Maple Leafs

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Player Team GP G A PTS PIM
Herb Cain Boston Bruins 48 36 46 82 4
Doug Bentley Chicago Black Hawks 50 38 39 77 22
Lorne Carr Toronto Maple Leafs 50 36 38 74 9
Carl Liscombe Detroit Red Wings 50 36 37 73 17
Elmer Lach Montreal Canadiens 48 24 48 72 23
Clint Smith Chicago Black Hawks 50 23 49 72 4
Bill Cowley Boston Bruins 36 30 41 71 12
Bill Mosienko Chicago Black Hawks 50 32 38 70 10
Art Jackson Boston Bruins 49 28 41 69 8
Gus Bodnar Toronto Maple Leafs 50 22 40 62 18

Source: NHL[2]

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins – Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Player Team GP Mins GA GAA W L T SO
Bill Durnan Montreal Canadiens 50 3000 109 2.18 32 5 7 2
Paul Bibeault Toronto Maple Leafs 29 1740 87 3.00 13 14 2 5
Mike Karakas Chicago Black Hawks 26 1560 79 3.04 12 9 5 3
Connie Dion Detroit Red Wings 26 1560 80 3.08 17 7 2 1
Jimmy Franks Detroit Red Wings 17 1020 69 4.06 6 8 3 1
Benny Grant Toronto Maple Leafs 20 1200 83 4.15 9 9 2 0
Hec Highton Chicago Black Hawks 24 1440 108 4.50 10 14 0 0
Bert Gardiner Boston Bruins 46 2460 212 5.17 17 19 5 1
Ken McAuley New York Rangers 50 2980 310 6.24 6 39 5 0

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1943–44 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Last games

The following is a list of players of note who played their last game in the NHL in 1943–44 (listed with their last team):

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ "1943–1944 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
  2. ↑ Dinger 2011, p. 148.

External links

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