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| League | National Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | November 4, 1937 - April 12, 1938 |
| Number of games | 48 |
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Regular season | |
| Season champions | Boston Bruins |
| Season MVP | Eddie Shore (Boston Bruins) |
| Top scorer | Gordie Drillon (Toronto Maple Leafs) |
| Canadian Division champions | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| American Division champions | Boston Bruins |
| Stanley Cup | |
| Stanley Cup champions | Chicago Black Hawks |
| Runners-up | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| NHL seasons | |
| ← 1936–37 | |
The 1937–38 NHL season was the 21st season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Eight teams each played 48 games. The Chicago Black Hawks were the Stanley Cup winners as they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs three games to one in the final series.
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Bill Dwyer could not come up with the capital required to retain his team and the NHL took full control of the New York Americans.
The Howie Morenz Memorial Game, the NHL's second all-star game, was played November 2, 1937 and raised over $11,447, which, added to other contributions, established a fund of over $20,000 for the Morenz family. Prior to the start of the game, Howie Morenz's uniform and playing kit was auctioned and Joseph Cattarinich put down the winning bid of $500. The uniform was presented to Howie Morenz Jr. The NHL All-stars defeated a combined team of Canadiens and Maroons players 6–5.
In September 1937, the NHL passed the 'icing' rule whereby teams could no longer shoot the puck the length of the ice to delay the game. Teams were allowed to continue to 'ice' the puck during penalties. The penalty shot was amended to removed the dots where the shot was to take place. Two new lines 30 feet from the goal was added instead. A player taking a penalty shot would start from the line closest to his own goal, skate with the puck and shoot before he crossed the penalty line nearest the opposition goal. After a puck was shot out-of-bounds, the location of the following faceoff was now to occur at the point where the shot was made, instead of where it exited the rink as was done until that time.[1]
Charlie Conacher was named captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he had a big weekend at the expense of Chicago November 13 with a hat trick in a 7–3 win. He then scored 2 goals in a 3–3 tie. However, The Big Bomber ran into misfortune once more on November 18 in Montreal against the Canadiens when he dislocated his shoulder. The cycle of injuries had a cumulative effect on Conacher's nervous and physical condition and his doctor told him to retire from hockey. He did retire for the rest of the season, but would play again the next season, but was forever gone from the Leafs.
The New York Rangers lost their star center Neil Colville for a few games as the result of some horseplay that must have infuriated Lester Patrick. Defenceman Joe Cooper was pursuing a fad of slicing off neckties from teammates using a penknife. Colville threw up his hand only to receive a gash that required 11 stitches to close.
The New York Americans, with Ching Johnson and Hap Day to relieve Joe Jerwa and Al Murray on defence, were doing much better than usual. Earl Robertson, their new goaltender, was leading the Canadian Division in goaltending and ended up doing so at season's end. The Amerks also had Sweeney Schriner and Nels Stewart contributing in a nice way to the offence.
The Montreal Maroons, coached at first by King Clancy, settled into last place and president and general manager Tommy Gorman decided he'd take over as coach. He did even worse and the fans stayed away. Although the team did badly, one highlight was an 11–7 win over their rivals, the Canadiens, and Baldy Northcott had a hat trick in the game. There seemed to be nothing Gorman could do to revitalize the team and at one stretch the team lost 8 straight games. On March 17, 1938, the Maroons played their last game against their rivals, the Canadiens.
Detroit was the shockingly bad team of the American Division. After winning the Stanley Cup in 1937, they were reclining in the cellar of the Division. They had one bright moment when Carl Liscombe set a record for the fastest hat trick to this time (since broken by Bill Mosienko). Liscombe scored three goals in 1 minute and 52 seconds in a 5–1 win over Chicago.
On March 17, 1938, Nels Stewart scored his 300th National Hockey League goal in a 5–3 loss to the Rangers.
| GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 48 | 24 | 15 | 9 | 57 | 151 | 127 | 404 |
| New York Americans | 48 | 19 | 18 | 11 | 49 | 110 | 111 | 327 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 48 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 49 | 123 | 128 | 340 |
| Montreal Maroons | 48 | 12 | 30 | 6 | 30 | 101 | 149 | 470 |
| GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Bruins | 48 | 30 | 11 | 7 | 67 | 142 | 89 | 284 |
| New York Rangers | 48 | 27 | 15 | 6 | 60 | 149 | 96 | 435 |
| Chicago Black Hawks | 48 | 14 | 25 | 9 | 37 | 97 | 139 | 238 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 48 | 12 | 25 | 11 | 35 | 99 | 133 | 258 |
Note: GP = Games played, 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.
The Cinderella story of the century was the Chicago Black Hawks, who would barely make the playoffs, but proceeded to defeat the Canadiens, the Americans and the Maple Leafs to win the Cup with the record lowest regular-season winning percentage in the NHL.
The New York Americans stunned the New York Rangers as Lorne Carr scored the winner in overtime in the third and deciding game.
The Canadiens beat the Hawks in game one of the quarter-final, as Toe Blake had the hat trick. But Mike Karakas shut out the Canadiens in the second game and even though Georges Mantha appeared to win the game with a freak goal in game three, Earl Seibert kept the Hawks from losing with a goal late in the game, and then the Hawks won the series in overtime.
In an upset, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat Boston in the Series A semi-final.
In the Series B semi-final, it was Chicago and the New York Americans, who beat Chicago in game one 3–1. Game two was a great goaltenders battle between Mike Karakas and Earl Robertson. It appeared that the Americans were headed to their first Stanley Cup final when Nels Stewart scored with seconds left in the game, but referee Clarence Campbell disallowed the goal, saying Eddie Wiseman was in the goal crease. Cully Dahlstrom scored the goal that saved the Black Hawks. In New York, the deciding game saw Alex Levinsky of Chicago score the go-ahead goal, but the red light didn't go on. Investigation revealed that fans were holding the goal judge's hand so he could not signal the goal. Although the Amerks came close, they were unable to tie the score and the Black Hawks were in the finals.
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Stanley Cup Final | |||||||||||
| C1 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 3 | |||||||||||
| A1 | Boston Bruins | 0 | |||||||||||
| C1 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 1 | |||||||||||
| A3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 3 | |||||||||||
| C2 | New York Americans | 2 | |||||||||||
| A2 | New York Rangers | 1 | |||||||||||
| C2 | New York Americans | 1 | |||||||||||
| A3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2 | |||||||||||
| C3 | Montreal Canadiens | 1 | |||||||||||
| A3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2 | |||||||||||
After the Stanley Cup final finished, the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens played a nine-game exhibition series in Europe, becoming the first NHL teams to play outside North America. Six games were played in England, three in France. The Canadiens won the series with a record of 5–3–1.
| Calder Trophy: (Best first-year player) |
Cully Dahlstrom, Chicago Black Hawks |
| Hart Memorial Trophy: (Most valuable player) |
Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins |
| Lady Byng Trophy: (Excellence and sportsmanship) |
Gordie Drillon, Toronto Maple Leafs |
| O'Brien Cup: (Canadian Division champion) |
Toronto Maple Leafs |
| Prince of Wales Trophy: (American Division champion) |
Boston Bruins |
| Vezina Trophy: (Most valuable goaltender) |
Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins |
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes
| PLAYER | TEAM | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gordie Drillon | Toronto Maple Leafs | 48 | 26 | 26 | 52 | 4 |
| Syl Apps | Toronto Maple Leafs | 47 | 21 | 29 | 50 | 9 |
| Paul Thompson | Chicago Black Hawks | 48 | 22 | 22 | 44 | 14 |
| Georges Mantha | Montreal Canadiens | 47 | 23 | 19 | 42 | 12 |
| Cecil Dillon | New York Rangers | 48 | 21 | 18 | 39 | 6 |
| Bill Cowley | Boston Bruins | 48 | 17 | 22 | 39 | 8 |
| Sweeney Schriner | New York Americans | 48 | 21 | 17 | 38 | 22 |
| Bill Thoms | Toronto Maple Leafs | 48 | 14 | 24 | 38 | 14 |
| Clint Smith | New York Rangers | 48 | 14 | 23 | 37 | 0 |
| Nels Stewart | New York Americans | 48 | 19 | 17 | 36 | 29 |
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1937–38 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1937–38 (listed with their last team):
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