1926–27 NHL season

The 1926–27 NHL season was the tenth season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. The success of the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Pirates led the NHL to further expand to the United States. On May 4, 1926, the Western Hockey League, unable to match the higher salaries being offered by the NHL, folded, with many of its assets sold to the NHL. In particular, the NHL Board of Governors had purchased the contracts of every player in the WHL for $258,000. The entire rosters of two WHL teams, the Portland Rosebuds and Victoria Cougars, were bought, respectively, by the expansion Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars. The league also added the New York Rangers to the fold. This left the NHL in sole possession of hockey's greatest players, as well as sole control of hockey's greatest trophy, the Stanley Cup, which was won by the Ottawa Senators.

A new trophy in memory of Georges Vezina, the Vezina Trophy, was donated this year by
Leo Dandurand, Louis Letourneau and Joseph Cattarinich for the first time to the goaltender who had the best goals against average in the league.

League Business

At the September 25, 1926 NHL meeting, Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars were added to the league. Chicago would buy out the players of the WHL's Portland Rosebuds, and Detroit bought the players of the Victoria Cougars. Frederic McLaughlin was the new governor for Chicago, and Charles A. Hughes for Detroit.

Toronto bought the players of the Saskatoon franchise; and Montreal claimed George Hainsworth. The rest of the WHL players would be distributed by a committee of Frank Calder, Leo Dandurand and James Strachan.

A special meeting was held on October 26 at which the NHL was split into the Canadian and American divisions (although the New York Americans were placed in the Canadian Division), along with an altered playoff format: the top team from each division would meet the winner of a total-goals series between the second and third place teams from their divisions. The winners of those total-goals series would meet in a best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals.

Rules Changes

The blue lines moved to sixty feet from the goal line from twenty feet from the centre red line to increase the size of the neutral zone.

Regular season

The Montreal Canadiens, last place finishers in 1925–26, solved their goaltending woes by signing George Hainsworth, whom Georges Vezina had designated to be his successor. They further strengthened their team by signing Herb Gardiner for defence. The Canadiens finished second in the Canadian Division to powerful Ottawa, who was the league's best team.

Dave Gill, secretary-treasurer (general manager), decided to take over as coach of theOttawa Senators. He would be assisted by Frank Shaughnessy, a former coach of the oldNHA Senators, to assist him with the strategy used in games. Ottawa finished first atopthe Canadian Division as a result.

During the season, the Toronto St. Patricks were bought by Conn Smythe and renamed the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, the team was under contract to use the name St.Patricksfor the 1926–27 season, and the league ruled that the team had to fulfill its contract.They became the Maple Leafs the following season.

Final standings

"Note: 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"

Leading Goaltenders

"Note: GP = Games played; MIN = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shut outs; AVG = Goals against average""Boston wins total-goals series 10 goals to 5"

emifinals

Ottawa Senators vs. Montreal Canadiens"Ottawa wins best-of-five series 2–0–2"

Playoff scoring leaders

"Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points"

NHL awards

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1926–27 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
*Percy Galbraith, Boston Bruins
*Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins
*Harry Oliver, Boston Bruins
*Duke Keats, Boston Bruins
*George Hay, Chicago Black Hawks
*Mickey MacKay, Chicago Black Hawks
*Dick Irvin, Chicago Black Hawks
*Frank Foyston, Detroit Cougars
*Jack Walker, Detroit Cougars
*Frank Fredrickson, Detroit Cougars
*George Hainsworth, Montreal Canadiens
*Art Gagne, Montreal Canadiens
*Herb Gardiner, Montreal Canadiens
*Hap Emms, Montreal Maroons
*Red Dutton, Montreal Maroons
*Norman Himes, New York Americans
*Paul Thompson, New York Rangers
*Bill Cook, New York Rangers
*Bun Cook, New York Rangers
*Murray Murdoch, New York Rangers
*Lorne Chabot, New York Rangers
*Clarence Abel, New York Rangers
*Ching Johnson, New York Rangers
*Ace Bailey, Toronto St. Patricks
*Butch Keeling, Toronto St. Patricks
*Carl Voss, Toronto St. Patricks

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1926–27 (listed with their last team):
*Shorty Green, New York Americans
*Newsy Lalonde, New York Americans
*Jack Adams, Ottawa Senators
*Bert Corbeau, Toronto St. Patricks

ee also

*List of Stanley Cup champions
*Prairie Hockey League
*List of pre-NHL seasons
*1926 in sports
*1927 in sports

References

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