1938–39 NHL season Information & 1938–39 NHL season Links at HealthHaven.com

The 1938–39 NHL season was the 22nd season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Seven teams each played 48 games. The Boston Bruins were the Stanley Cup winners as they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs four games to one in the final series.

[edit] League business

Just prior to the start of the 1937–38 season, the league held a meeting to decide the fate of the Maroons. They requested a shift to St. Louis, but this was rejected after considerable discussion. And so, the Montreal Maroons dropped out of the league. They sold most of their players to the Canadiens, and it was evident that the Maroons were through for good. With only seven teams left, the NHL decided to go back to the one division format.

The NHL instituted the icing rule on March 13, 1939.

[edit] Regular season

Prior to the start of the season, the Boston Bruins sold their star goaltender, Tiny Thompson, who had just won a record fourth Vezina Trophy, to the Detroit Red Wings The fans thought Art Ross was crazy,but soon they were applauding rookie Frank Brimsek, would go on to back-stop the Bruins to a first overall finish and a Stanley Cup victory. He wiped out Thompson's shutout sequence record with three consecutive shutouts. He nearly equalled his new record with three more. He ended the season with 10 shutouts, and earned the nickname "Mr. Zero". He also became the first goaltender to win both the Vezina Trophy and Calder Trophy in the same season.

A sad event took place December 7 when Joseph Cattarinich died of a heart attack following an eye operation. Cattarinich was the original goaltender of the Montreal Canadiens when they were formed in 1909 and later a part-owner of the team. He was 57.

The Montreal Canadiens eroded to the point where Jules Dugal replaced Cecil Hart as manager and coach. Dugal wasn't much better and the Canadiens finished sixth. One bright note was that Toe Blake won the scoring title, however, despite the poor showing of the team.

Chicago, after its Stanley Cup win the previous season, began floundering at mid-season and owner Frederic McLaughlin was displeased. Accordingly, he fired coach Bill Stewart and hired left wing Paul Thompson in his place. But the Black Hawks continued to lose and finished last.

The New York Americans, up in third place at mid-season, proceeded to fall into a big slump in the second half and though they finished fourth, they were below .500 and had the worst defence in the league. Part of the problem was the retirements of Ching Johnson and Hap Day on defence. Al Murray was also out of action for quite a time. Still, goaltender Earl Robertson found himself on the second all-star team.

[edit] Final standings

National Hockey League
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Boston Bruins	48	36	10	2	156	76	74
New York Rangers	48	26	16	6	149	105	58
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	19	20	9	114	107	47
New York Americans	48	17	21	10	119	157	44
Detroit Red Wings	48	18	24	6	107	128	42
Montreal Canadiens	48	15	24	9	115	146	39
Chicago Black Hawks	48	12	28	8	91	132	32

^[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.

[edit] Scoring leaders

Player	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Toe Blake	Montreal Canadiens	48	24	23	47	10
Sweeney Schriner	New York Americans	48	13	31	44	20
Bill Cowley	Boston Bruins	34	8	34	42	2
Clint Smith	New York Rangers	48	21	20	41	2
Marty Barry	Detroit Red Wings	48	13	28	41	4
Syl Apps	Toronto Maple Leafs	44	15	25	40	4
Tommy Anderson	New York Americans	47	13	27	40	14
Johnny Gottselig	Chicago Black Hawks	48	16	23	39	15
Paul Haynes	Montreal Canadiens	47	5	33	38	27
Roy Conacher	Boston Bruins	47	26	11	37	12

^[1]

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

[edit] Leading goaltenders

[edit] Playoffs

Further information: 1939 Stanley Cup Finals

[edit] Playoff bracket

Quarter-finals			Semi-finals			Stanley Cup Final


			1	Boston Bruins	4

			2	New York Rangers	3



						1	Boston Bruins	4
						3	Toronto Maple Leafs	1
3	Toronto Maple Leafs	2
4	New York Americans	0
			3	Toronto Maple Leafs	2

			5	Detroit Red Wings	1
5	Detroit Red Wings	2

6	Montreal Canadiens	1

[edit] NHL awards

Calder Trophy:	Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Toe Blake, Montreal Canadiens
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Clint Smith, New York Rangers
O'Brien Cup:	Toronto Maple Leafs
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Boston Bruins
Vezina Trophy:	Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins

[edit] All-Star teams

First team	Position	Second team
Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins	G	Earl Robertson, New York Americans
Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins	D	Earl Seibert, Chicago Black Hawks
Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins	D	Art Coulter, New York Rangers
Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs	C	Neil Colville, New York Rangers
Gordie Drillon, Toronto Maple Leafs	RW	Bobby Bauer, Boston Bruins
Toe Blake, Montreal Canadiens	LW	Johnny Gottselig, Chicago Black Hawks
Art Ross, Boston Bruins	Coach	Red Dutton, New York Americans

[edit] Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1938–39 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Roy Conacher, Boston Bruins
Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins
Ab DeMarco, Chicago Black Hawks
Don Grosso, Detroit Red Wings
Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings
Jack Stewart, Detroit Red Wings

[edit] Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1938–39 (listed with their last team):

Russ Blinco, Chicago Black Hawks
Paul Thompson, Chicago Black Hawks
Baldy Northcott, Chicago Black Hawks
Alex Levinsky, Chicago Black Hawks
Bob Gracie, Chicago Black Hawks
Larry Aurie, Detroit Red Wings
Herbie Lewis, Detroit Red Wings
Dave Trottier, Detroit Red Wings
Babe Siebert, Montreal Canadiens
Jimmy Ward, Montreal Canadiens

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy et al. ed. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.

[standings-ref-0] Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy et al. ed. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.

[1]

Contents