1929–30 NHL season

1929–30 NHL season
League National Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Duration November 14, 1929 - April 3, 1930
Number of games 44
Number of teams 10
Regular season
Season champions Boston Bruins
Season MVP Nels Stewart (Montreal Maroons)
Top scorer Cooney Weiland (Boston)
Canadian Division champions Montreal Maroons
American Division champions Boston Bruins
Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup champions Montreal Canadiens
  Runners-up Boston Bruins
NHL seasons
← 1928–29

1930–31 →

The 1929–30 NHL season was the thirteenth season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. The Montreal Canadiens upset the heavily favoured Boston Bruins two games to none for the Stanley Cup.

Contents

Regular season

To combat low scoring, a major rule change was implemented. Players were now allowed forward passing in the offensive zone, instead of only in the defensive and neutral zones. This led to abuse: players sat in front of the opposing net waiting for a pass. The rule was changed again mid-season in December 1929, and players were no longer allowed to enter the offensive zone before the puck. Hence the birth of the modern-day offside rule.

Cooney Weiland of the Boston Bruins took advantage of the rule changes and smashed the old NHL scoring record with 73 points. Weiland and Tiny Thompson, who won the Vezina Trophy with a 2.23 goals against average, led the Bruins to a final season standings record of 38 wins, 5 losses, and 1 tie — an .875 winning percentage, an NHL record.

Conn Smythe brought up two outstanding forwards, Harvey Jackson, and Charlie Conacher, and combined with Joe Primeau, the Kid Line was born. Conacher actually scored on his first shift in the NHL. Jackson got his nickname Busher from Tim Daly, the Toronto trainer, when asked by Daly to assist with some sticks. "I'm a hockey player, not a stickboy," Jackson told Daly, who replied, "Why you fresh young busher!" And it was Busher Jackson from that day on.

On 7 January 1930, Clint Benedict became the first goalie in NHL history to don a protective face mask. He did so for five games to protect a broken nose. The next time a mask made its way into the NHL was almost 30 years later when Jacques Plante wore one in a game on 1 November 1959.

Eddie Gerard resigned as manager-coach of the Montreal Maroons. He was replaced as manager by team president James Strachan. Dunc Munro was hired as coach and led the team to first place in the Canadian Division.

There was a well-founded rumour that Eddie Gerard would take the coaching reins of Ottawa from Newsy Lalonde when Lalonde was not well. Dave Gill filled in during his absence and the team did much better and made the playoffs. Gerard turned down the coaching job.

Final standings

American Division
GP W L T GF GA PTS
Boston Bruins 44 38 5 1 179 98 77
Chicago Black Hawks 44 21 18 5 117 111 47
New York Rangers 44 17 17 10 136 143 44
Detroit Cougars 44 14 24 6 117 133 34
Pittsburgh Pirates 44 5 36 3 102 185 13
Canadian Division
GP W L T GF GA Pts
Montreal Maroons 44 23 16 5 141 114 51
Montreal Canadiens 44 21 14 9 142 114 51
Ottawa Senators 44 21 15 8 138 118 50
Toronto Maple Leafs 44 17 21 6 116 124 40
New York Americans 44 14 25 5 113 161 33

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Playoffs

Finals

Main article: 1930 Stanley Cup Finals

After defeating the Montreal Maroons and after having not lost consecutive games all season, the Boston Bruins were swept by the Montreal Canadiens two games to none in a best-of-three series. The first game saw Boston play way below its usual form. The Canadiens then won the Stanley Cup with a 4–3 victory in game two. The Canadiens went 5–0–1 in the playoffs, making them one of the few Stanley Cup-winning teams in history to not lose a game in the playoffs.

Playoff bracket

  Quarter-finals Semi-finals Stanley Cup Final
                           
       
  C1  Montreal Maroons 1  
    A1  Boston Bruins 3  
     
         
    C2  Montreal Canadiens 2
  A1  Boston Bruins 0
  C2  Montreal Canadiens 3G  
A2  Chicago Black Hawks 2G  
C2  Montreal Canadiens 2
    A3  New York Rangers 0  
C3  Ottawa Senators 3G
  A3  New York Rangers 6G  

NHL awards

Nels Stewart won the Hart Trophy for the second time. Frank Boucher won the Lady Byng for the third consecutive year. Tiny Thompson won the Vezina for the first time. Thompson would go on to win the trophy four times.

1929–30 NHL awards
O'Brien Cup:
(Canadian Division champion)		 Montreal Maroons
Prince of Wales Trophy:
(American Division champion)		 Boston Bruins
Hart Memorial Trophy:
(Most valuable player)		 Nels Stewart, Montreal Maroons
Lady Byng Trophy:
(Excellence and sportsmanship)		 Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy:
(Most valuable goaltender)		 Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins

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
Cooney Weiland Boston Bruins 44 43 30 73 27
Frank Boucher New York Rangers 42 26 36 62 16
Dit Clapper Boston Bruins 44 41 20 61 48
Bill Cook New York Rangers 44 29 30 59 56
Hec Kilrea Ottawa Senators 44 36 22 58 23
Nels Stewart Montreal Maroons 44 39 16 55 81
Howie Morenz Montreal Canadiens 44 40 10 50 72
Norman Himes New York Americans 44 22 28 50 15
Joe Lamb Ottawa Senators 44 29 20 49 119
Dutch Gainor Boston Bruins 43 18 31 49 39

Leading goaltenders

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1929–30 (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 1929–30 (listed with their last team):

See also

References

Notes

External links

1929–30 NHL season by team
Canadian Division
American Division
See also
Stanley Cup Finals • Transactions
 
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