1941–42 NHL season

1941–42 NHL season
League National Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Duration November 1, 1941 – April 18, 1942
Number of games 48
Number of teams 7
Regular season
Season champion New York Rangers
Season MVP Tommy Anderson (Americans)
Top scorer Bryan Hextall (Rangers)
Stanley Cup
Champions Toronto Maple Leafs
  Runners-up Detroit Red Wings

The 1941–42 NHL season was the 25th season of the National Hockey League. Seven teams played 48 games each. The Toronto Maple Leafs would win the Stanley Cup defeating the Detroit Red Wings winning four straight after losing the first three in a best-of-seven series, a feat only repeated thrice in NHL history (1975, 2010, 2014) and once in Major League Baseball (2004) as of 2017.

League business

This season was the last season for the Brooklyn Americans who had changed their name from the New York Americans in an attempt to build a civic relationship with those from Flatbush area of New York.

Regular season

The Americans started the season without Harvey "Busher" Jackson who refused to sign. He was then sold to Boston. But the Amerks had two positive notes: two defencemen, Tommy Anderson and Pat Egan, were now All-Star calibre. That did not prevent them from finishing last, though. On December 9, 1941, the Chicago Black Hawks-Boston Bruins game would be delayed for over a half-hour as United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared that the United States was at war.[1]

Frank Patrick suffered a heart attack and had to sell his interest in the Montreal Canadiens, and the Habs almost had to move to Cleveland. But Tommy Gorman kept the team alive. They added Emile "Butch" Bouchard to start his great career on defence and another very good player, Buddy O'Connor, at centre. Montreal had goaltending problems as Bert Gardiner slumped, and rookie Paul Bibeault replaced him. He showed flashes of brilliance, but his inexperience showed. Joe Benoit starred with 20 goals, the first Canadien to do that since 1938–39, when Toe Blake did it.

The New York Rangers had a new goaltender as Sugar Jim Henry replaced the retired Dave Kerr. Henry was one of the reasons the Rangers finished first, something they would not again do for the next 50 years.

Final standings

National Hockey League
GP W L T Pts GF GA
New York Rangers482917260177143
Toronto Maple Leafs482718357158136
Boston Bruins482517656160118
Chicago Black Hawks482223347145155
Detroit Red Wings481925442140147
Montreal Canadiens481827339134173
Brooklyn Americans481629335133175

[2]

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

Playoff bracket

  Quarterfinals Semifinals Stanley Cup Finals
                           
       
  1 New York 2  
    2 Toronto 4  
     
         
    2 Toronto 4
  5 Detroit 3
  3 Boston 2  
4 Chicago 1  
3 Boston 0
    5 Detroit 2  
5 Detroit 2
  6 Montreal 1  

Quarterfinals

(3) Boston Bruins vs. (4) Chicago Black Hawks

Boston won series 2–1

(5) Detroit Red Wings vs. (6) Montreal Canadiens

Detroit won series 2–1

Semifinals

(1) New York Rangers vs. (2) Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto won series 4–2

(3) Boston Bruins vs. (5) Detroit Red Wings

Detroit won series 2–0

Stanley Cup Finals

Toronto won series 4–3

Awards

Award winners
Calder Trophy:
(Best first-year player)
Grant Warwick, New York Rangers
Hart Trophy:
(Most valuable player)
Tommy Anderson, Brooklyn Americans
Lady Byng Trophy:
(Excellence and sportsmanship)
Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs
O'Brien Cup:
(Stanley Cup runner-up)
Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy:
(Regular season champion)
New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy:
(Fewest goals allowed)
Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins
All-Star teams
First team  Position  Second team
Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins G Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs
Earl Seibert, Chicago Black Hawks D Pat Egan, Brooklyn Americans
Tommy Anderson, Brooklyn Americans D Bucko McDonald, Toronto Maple Leafs
Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs C Phil Watson, New York Rangers
Bryan Hextall, New York Rangers RW Gordie Drillon, Toronto Maple Leafs
Lynn Patrick, New York Rangers LW Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings
Frank Boucher, New York Rangers Coach Paul Thompson, Chicago Black Hawks

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
Bryan HextallNew York Rangers4824325630
Lynn PatrickNew York Rangers4732225418
Don GrossoDetroit Red Wings4523305313
Phil WatsonNew York Rangers4815375258
Sid AbelDetroit Red Wings4818314945
Toe BlakeMontreal Canadiens4817284529
Bill ThomsChicago Black Hawks471530458
Gordie DrillonToronto Maple Leafs482318416
Syl AppsToronto Maple Leafs381823410
Tommy AndersonBrooklyn Americans4812294164

Source: NHL[3]

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 Min GA GAA W L T SO
Frank BrimsekBoston Bruins4729301152.35241763
Turk BrodaToronto Maple Leafs4829601362.76271836
Jim HenryNew York Rangers4829601432.90291721
Johnny MowersDetroit Red Wings4728801443.00192535
Sam LoPrestiChicago Black Hawks4728601523.19212333
Paul BibeaultMontreal Canadiens3823801313.30171921
Chuck RaynerBrooklyn Americans3623801293.47132121
Earl RobertsonBrooklyn Americans12750463.683810
Bert GardinerMontreal Canadiens10620424.061810

Coaches

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1941–42 (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 1941–42 (listed with their last team):

See also

References

  • Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Hockey. Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X.
  • Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5.
  • Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000). Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9.
  • Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley; Hughes, Morgan; Romain, Joseph; Duplacey, James (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
  1. Hockey's Book of Firsts, p.71, James Duplacey, JG Press, ISBN 978-1-57215-037-9
  2. 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.
  3. Dinger 2011, p. 148.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.