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
Champions Boston Bruins
  Runners-up Detroit Red Wings

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

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

[1]

Note: 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

Finals

Playoff bracket

  Quarter-finals Semi-finals Stanley Cup Final
                           
        
  1  Boston Bruins 4  
    2  Toronto Maple Leafs 3  
      
          
    1  Boston Bruins 4
  3  Detroit Red Wings 0
  3  Detroit Red Wings 2  
4  New York Rangers 1  
3  Detroit Red Wings 2
    5  Chicago Black Hawks 0  
5  Chicago Black Hawks 2
  6  Montreal Canadiens 1  

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

All-Star teams

First Team   Position   Second Team
Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs G Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins
Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins D Earl Seibert, Chicago Black Hawks
Wally Stanowski, Toronto Maple Leafs D Ott Heller, New York Rangers
Bill Cowley, Boston Bruins C Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs
Bryan Hextall, New York Rangers RW Bobby Bauer, Boston Bruins
Sweeney Schriner, Toronto Maple Leafs LW Woody Dumart, Boston Bruins
Cooney Weiland, Boston Bruins Coach Dick Irvin, 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
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[2]

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

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):

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):

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al., eds. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
  2. ↑ Dinger 2011, p. 148.

External links

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