1936–37 NHL season

The 1936–37 NHL season was the 20th season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Eight teams each played 48 games. The Detroit Red Wings were the Stanley Cup winners as they beat the New York Rangers three games to two in the final series.

League business

Frank Calder had been naming the top rookies commencing with 1932–33. This year, he commenced buying a trophy for the top rookie and Syl Apps was this year's winner.

The Great Depression had been taking its toll on the NHL. At the beginning of the decade, there were ten teams. Since then, two teams folded and it looked like the New York Americans were to become the third team. The NHL, however, was not about to let that happen. So, instead of letting the team fold because of money and ownership problems, the league assumed control of the team for the 1936–37 season. It was then that owner Bill Dwyer sued. A settlement then allowed for Dwyer to own the team, run by the NHL, and that Dwyer would be given a chance to pay back his debts.

The Montreal Maroons, short of money, had to sell their star and team captain Hooley Smith to Boston. It was hoped that Carl Voss of the former Eagles would fill in adequately for him, but he came down with influenza and never was much help. But Bob Gracie started scoring and the Maroons almost nipped the Canadiens for first place in the Canadian Division.

Regular season

Highlights

The New York Americans had started in first place, but then their players came down with influenza and the team sagged. But the worst blow was when Roy Worters suffered a hernia and had to retire. Alfie Moore and Lorne Chabot were not adequate replacements and the Amerks finished last in the Canadian Division.

The Montreal Canadiens had hit the bottom in 1935–36, and Babe Siebert was obtained to shore up the defence. But the most loved of all movements was buying Howie Morenz back from the Rangers. The Canadiens went from last to first in the Canadian Division. Morenz was just hitting his stride in January 1937, when tragedy struck. On one of his hurtling rushes, he was being checked by Earl Seibert of Chicago when his left skate got caught in the dasher of the end boards, and Morenz suffered a badly fractured leg. After suffering a nervous breakdown worrying about if he'd be able to come back, more bad luck occurred. On March 8, 1937, X-rays revealed that Howie had blood clots in his healing leg. An operation was scheduled for the next day, but when Howie ate a light supper and told the nurse he wanted to rest, in falling asleep his pallor suddenly changed and the nurse knew something was wrong. A blood clot had stopped his heart, and attempts to revive Howie failed. News of Morenz's death shocked the hockey world, and thousands filed past his bier, many in tears, to pay their last respects to the man who made the NHL a truly major league.

Detroit, led by Vezina Trophy winning Normie Smith, finished first in the American Division. The NHL lost greats in one way or the other this year. Boston's Eddie Shore suffered a broken back, and Toronto favourite King Clancy retired. But Toronto's biggest loss occurred when Charlie Conacher injured his wrist. He was never the same again.

With five games left to play and his team hopelessly in last place, Chicago owner Frederic McLaughlin decided to try an experiment dear to his heart. He dreamed of the day that an all-American team might be able to compete at NHL calibre. He already had Mike Karakas in goal, but added Ernest Klingbeil and Paul Schaefer on defence, and Milt Brink, a fast skating center, between Al Suomi and Bun Laprairie. The first test came on March 11 when the Boston Bruins beat the Black Hawks 6–2. None of the new players scored, but Klingbeil and Schaefer were on defence for all Boston goals. This brought complaints from Jack Adams, Lester Patrick and Art Ross who stated that such experiments should not be conducted when the other clubs were battling for playoff spots. But McLaughlin's kids didn't look bad when the Toronto Maple Leafs were lucky to win 3–2 at Maple Leaf Gardens. Klingbeil was the star of the game with a goal. The rookies checked tenaciously and at times were impressive on the attack. 9,600 fans applauded their effort. Then the Black Hawks beat the New York Rangers 3–2 with the yannigans still in the lineup. Lester Patrick had nothing to say except that the attendance had dropped. The experiment was about finished when the New York Americans walloped the Hawks 9–4, as Sweeney Schriner and Nels Stewart each had hat tricks. In a losing cause, Paul Thompson had a hat trick for Chicago.

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"

tanley Cup playoffs

:"see: 1937 Stanley Cup Finals"

Playoff bracket

3RoundBracket-Byes
RD1-seed5=C2
RD1-team5=Toronto Maple Leafs
RD1-score5=1
RD1-seed6=A2
RD1-team6=New York Rangers
RD1-score6=2
RD1-seed7=C3
RD1-team7=Montreal Maroons
RD1-score7=0
RD1-seed8=A3
RD1-team8=Boston Bruins
RD1-score8=2
RD2-seed1=C1
RD2-team1=Montreal Canadiens
RD2-score1=1
RD2-seed2=A1
RD2-team2=Detroit Red Wings
RD2-score2=3
RD2-seed3=A3
RD2-team3=Boston Bruins
RD2-score3=0
RD2-seed4=A2
RD2-team4=New York Rangers
RD2-score4=2
RD3-seed1=A1
RD3-team1=Detroit Red Wings
RD3-score1=3
RD3-seed2=A2
RD3-team2=New York Rangers
RD3-score2=2

NHL awards

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1936–37 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
*Bobby Bauer, Boston Bruins
*Milt Schmidt, Boston Bruins
*Clint Smith, New York Rangers
*Bryan Hextall, New York Rangers
*Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Gordie Drillon, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1936–37 (listed with their last team):
*Bun Cook, Boston Bruins
*Sylvio Mantha, Boston Bruins
*Andy Blair, Chicago Black Hawks
*Wildor Larochelle, Chicago Black Hawks
*Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens
*George Hainsworth, Montreal Canadiens
*Lionel Conacher, Montreal Maroons
*Alex Connell, Montreal Maroons
*Baldy Cotton, New York Americans
*Harry Oliver, New York Americans
*Lorne Chabot, New York Americans
*Roy Worters, New York Americans
*Bill Cook, New York Rangers
*Murray Murdoch, New York Rangers
*King Clancy, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Frank Finnigan, Toronto Maple Leafs

ee also

*List of Stanley Cup champions
*1936 in sports
*1937 in sports

References

* [http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/nhl1927.html Hockey Database]
* [http://nhl.com/ NHL.com]