1940–41 NHL season

1940–41 NHL season
League	National Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	November 2, 1940 – April 12, 1941
Number of games	48
Number of teams	7
Regular season
Season champion	Boston Bruins
Season MVP	Bill Cowley (Boston Bruins)
Top scorer	Bill Cowley (Boston Bruins)
Stanley Cup
Finals champions	Boston Bruins
Runners-up	Detroit Red Wings
NHL seasons
← 1939–40 1941–42 →

The 1940–41 NHL season was the 24th season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Seven teams each played 48 games. The Boston Bruins were the Stanley Cup winners as they swept the Detroit Red Wings four games to none in the final series.

Regular season

The Montreal Canadiens had hit the bottom in 1939–40, and were in financial trouble. Frank Patrick decided to become an investor and governor for the team, and Tommy Gorman was hired as general manager. He hired recently released Toronto coach Dick Irvin to run the team. One of the first things Gorman and Irvin did was scout for players, and the Canadiens came up with Johnny Quilty, Joe Benoit, Elmer Lach and defenceman Ken Reardon. Bert Gardiner would be used in goal, replacing Claude Bourque and Wilf Cude. Murph Chamberlain was bought from Toronto to bolster the offence.

Quilty and Benoit came through, as did Toe Blake, but the Habs had a long way to go, finishing sixth. Quilty won the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie. In fact, before the season started, Coach Irvin handed a sealed envelope to a reporter of his guess who would win the Calder Trophy, and when the season ended, the reporter opened the envelope: Johnny Quilty was the choice Irvin made.

The Boston Bruins set a record 23 straight unbeaten games en route to a strong first place finish at the end of the schedule. The Rangers, stunningly, finished fourth after the previous year's Stanley Cup win and Dave Kerr wasn't up to his usual form in goal.

Final standings

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

National Hockey League	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Boston Bruins	48	27	8	13	67	168	102	246
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	28	14	6	62	145	99	306
Detroit Red Wings	48	21	16	11	53	112	102	337
New York Rangers	48	21	19	8	50	143	125	356
Chicago Black Hawks	48	16	25	7	39	112	139	335
Montreal Canadiens	48	16	26	6	38	121	147	435
New York Americans	48	8	29	11	27	99	186	231

Playoffs

First round

Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Date Away Team Home Team Notes March 20 Toronto 0 3 Boston March 22 Toronto 5 3 Boston March 25 Boston 2 7 Toronto March 27 Boston 2 1 Toronto March 29 Toronto 2 1 Boston OT April 1 Boston 2 1 Toronto April 3 Toronto 1 2 Boston Boston won the series 4-3 and advanced to the final.

Detroit Red Wings vs. New York Rangers Date Away Team Home Team Notes March 20 NY Rangers 1 2 Detroit OT March 22 Detroit 1 3 NY Rangers March 24 NY Rangers 2 3 Detroit Detroit won the series 2-1.

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Montréal Canadiens Date Away Team Home Team Notes March 20 Montreal 1 2 Chicago March 22 Chicago 3 4 Montreal 2OT March 25 Montreal 2 3 Chicago Chicago won the series 2-1.

Second round

Detroit Red Wings vs. Chicago Blackhawks Date Away Team Home Team Notes March 27 Chicago 1 3 Detroit March 30 Detroit 2 1 Chicago OT Detroit won the series 2-0.

Final

Boston Bruins vs. Detroit Red Wings
Date	Away Team		Home Team
April 6	Detroit	2	3	Boston
April 8	Detroit	1	2	Boston
April 10	Boston	4	2	Detroit
April 12	Boston	3	1	Detroit
Boston won the series 4-0 and earned the Stanley Cup.

Awards

Calder Trophy: (Best first-year player)	Johnny Quilty, Montreal Canadiens
Hart Trophy: (Most valuable player)	Bill Cowley, Boston Bruins
Lady Byng Trophy: (Excellence and sportsmanship)	Bobby Bauer, Boston Bruins
O'Brien Cup: (Playoff runners-up)	Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy: (Top regular season record)	Boston Bruins
Vezina Trophy: (Fewest goals allowed)	Turk Broda, 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
Bill Cowley	Boston Bruins	46	17	45	62	16
Bryan Hextall	New York Rangers	48	26	18	44	16
Gordie Drillon	Toronto Maple Leafs	42	23	21	44	2
Syl Apps	Toronto Maple Leafs	41	20	24	44	6
Syd Howe	Detroit Red Wings	48	20	24	44	8
Lynn Patrick	New York Rangers	48	20	24	44	12
Neil Colville	New York Rangers	48	14	28	42	28
Eddie Wiseman	Boston Bruins	47	16	24	40	10
Bobby Bauer	Boston Bruins	48	17	22	39	2
Roy Conacher	Boston Bruins	41	24	14	38	7

Source: NHL

Leading goaltenders

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

Player	Team	GP	MIN	GA	GAA	W	L	T	SO
Turk Broda	Toronto Maple Leafs	48	2970	99	2.00	28	14	6	5
Frank Brimsek	Boston Bruins	48	3040	102	2.01	27	8	13	6
Johnny Mowers	Detroit Red Wings	48	3040	102	2.01	21	16	11	4
Dave Kerr	New York Rangers	48	3010	125	2.49	21	19	8	2
Paul Goodman	Chicago Black Hawks	21	1320	55	2.50	7	10	4	2
Bert Gardiner	Montreal Canadiens	42	2600	119	2.75	13	23	6	2
Sam LoPresti	Chicago Black Hawks	27	1670	84	3.02	9	15	3	1
Chuck Rayner	N.Y. Americans	12	773	44	3.42	2	7	3	0
Earl Robertson	N.Y. Americans	36	2260	142	3.77	6	22	8	1

Team Photos

• 

  Boston Bruins

• 

  Chicago Black Hawks

• 

  Detroit Red Wings

• 

  Montreal Canadiens

• 

  New York Americans

• 

  New York Rangers

• 

  Toronto Maple Leafs

References

• (2000) in Diamond, Dan: Total Hockey. Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X. 
• (2011) The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5. 
• (2000) Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd.. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9. 
• (2003) The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Publications International Inc.. ISBN 0-7853-9624-1. 
• McFarlane, Brian (1973). The Story of the National Hockey League. New York, NY: Pagurian Press. ISBN 0-684-13424-1. 

Notes

External links

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com

National Hockey League seasons

1917–18 - 1918–19 - 1919–20 - 1920–21 - 1921–22 - 1922–23 - 1923–24 - 1924–25 - 1925–26 - 1926–27 - 1927–28 - 1928–29 - 1929–30 - 1930–31 - 1931–32 - 1932–33 - 1933–34 - 1934–35 - 1935–36 - 1936–37 - 1937–38 - 1938–39 - 1939–40 - 1940–41 - 1941–42 - 1942–43 - 1943–44 - 1944–45 - 1945–46 - 1946–47 - 1947–48 - 1948–49 - 1949–50 - 1950–51 - 1951–52 - 1952–53 - 1953–54 - 1954–55 - 1955–56 - 1956–57 - 1957–58 - 1958–59 - 1959–60 - 1960–61 - 1961–62 - 1962–63 - 1963–64 - 1964–65 - 1965–66 - 1966–67 - 1967–68 - 1968–69 - 1969–70 - 1970–71 - 1971–72 - 1972–73 - 1973–74 - 1974–75 - 1975–76 - 1976–77 - 1977–78 - 1978–79 - 1979–80 - 1980–81 - 1981–82 - 1982–83 - 1983–84 - 1984–85 - 1985–86 - 1986–87 - 1987–88 - 1988–89 - 1989–90 - 1990–91 - 1991–92 - 1992–93 - 1993–94 - 1994–95 - 1995–96 - 1996–97 - 1997–98 - 1998–99 - 1999–00 - 2000–01 - 2001–02 - 2002–03 - 2003–04 - 2004–05 - 2005–06 - 2006–07 - 2007–08 - 2008–09 - 2009–10 - 2010–11 - 2011–12 - 2012–13 - 2013–14 - 2014–15 - 2015–16 - 2016–17 - 2017–18 - 2018–19 - 2019–20 - 2020–21 - 2021–22 - 2022–23 - 2023–24

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