1940-41 NHL SEASON

The '1940-41 NHL season' was the 24th season of the National Hockey League. 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.

Contents
Regular season
Final standings
Scoring leaders
Stanley Cup playoffs
Playoff bracket
NHL awards
All-Star teams
Debuts
Last games
See also
References

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

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
Syl Apps Toronto Maple Leafs 41 20 24 44 6
Gord Drillon Toronto Maple Leafs 42 23 21 44 2
Bryan Hextall New York Rangers 48 26 18 44 16
Syd Howe Detroit Red Wings 48 20 24 44 8
Lynn Patrick New York Rangers 48 20 24 44 12

Stanley Cup playoffs


Playoff bracket

NHL awards


O'Brien Trophy: Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy: Boston Bruins
Calder Memorial Trophy: Johnny Quilty, Montreal Canadiens
Hart Memorial Trophy: Bill Cowley, Boston Bruins
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: Bobby Bauer, Boston Bruins
Vezina Trophy: Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs

All-Star teams

First Team   Position   Second Team
Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs GFrank Brimsek, Boston Bruins
Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins DEarl Seibert, Chicago Black Hawks
Wally Stanowski, Toronto Maple Leafs DOtt Heller, New York Rangers
Bill Cowley, Boston Bruins CSyl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs
Bryan Hextall, New York Rangers RWBobby Bauer, Boston Bruins
Sweeney Schriner, Toronto Maple Leafs LWWoody Dumart, Boston Bruins
Cooney Weiland, Boston Bruins CoachDick Irvin, Montreal Canadiens

Debuts


The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1940-41 (listed with their first team, asterisk(
★ ) marks debut in playoffs):

Max Bentley, Chicago Black Hawks

John Mariucci, Chicago Black Hawks

Joe Carveth, Detroit Red Wings

Elmer Lach, Montreal Canadiens

Ken Reardon, Montreal Canadiens

John Quilty, Montreal Canadiens

Chuck Rayner, New York Americans

Bill Juzda, New York Rangers

Last games


The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1940-41 (listed with their last team):

Paul Haynes, Montreal Canadiens

Georges Mantha, Montreal Canadiens

Hooley Smith, New York Americans

Charlie Conacher, New York Americans

Dave Kerr, New York Rangers

See also



List of Stanley Cup champions

1940 in sports

1941 in sports

References



Hockey Database

NHL.com

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