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
Finals champions	Montreal Canadiens
Runners-up	Chicago Black Hawks
NHL seasons
← 1942–43 1944–45 →

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

Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

National Hockey League	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Montreal Canadiens	50	38	5	7	83	234	109	557
Detroit Red Wings	50	26	18	6	58	214	177	374
Toronto Maple Leafs	50	23	23	4	50	214	174	303
Chicago Black Hawks	50	22	23	5	49	178	187	240
Boston Bruins	50	19	26	5	43	223	268	207
New York Rangers	50	6	39	5	17	162	310	253

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

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

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

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

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

Team Photos

• 

  Boston Bruins

• 

  Chicago Black Hawks

• 

  Detroit Red Wings

• 

  Montreal Canadiens

• 

  New York Rangers

• 

  Toronto Maple Leafs

References

• (1994) in Diamond, Dan: Years of glory, 1942–1967: the National Hockey League's official book of the six-team era. Toronto, ON: McClelland and Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-2817-2. 
• (2000) in Diamond, Dan: Total Hockey. Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X. 
• (2011) The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Toronto, ON: 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. Lincolnwood, IL: 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

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