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| League | National Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | October 5, 1960 - April 16, 1961 |
| Number of games | 70 |
| Number of teams | 6 |
| Regular season | |
| Season champion | Montreal Canadiens |
| Season MVP | Bernie Geoffrion (Montreal Canadiens) |
| Top scorer | Bernie Geoffrion (Montreal Canadiens) |
| Stanley Cup | |
| Stanley Cup champions | Chicago Black Hawks |
| Runners-up | Detroit Red Wings |
| NHL seasons | |
| ← 1959–60 | |
The 1960–61 NHL season was the 44th season of the National Hockey League. The Chicago Black Hawks defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the 1961 Stanley Cup Final four games to two to win the Stanley Cup. It was the first series since 1950 with two American-based teams. It was Chicago's first Cup win since 1938; they would not win another until 2010.
Gordie Howe of the Red Wings became the first player in NHL history to achieve the career mark of 1000 regular-season points. It would be seven more seasons before the Montreal Canadiens' Jean Béliveau would match the feat.
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The original Hart Trophy was retired, as all its plaques were filled and its general condition had deteriorated. It was decided to donate the Hart Memorial Trophy in its place.
On September 15, 1960, Maurice "Rocket" Richard announced his retirement from hockey. During his career, he had lead all scorers with a record 544 goals plus 82 for the playoffs. Despite the league expanding the number of games in a season to 70 games from 50 since Richard's famous 50 goals in 50 games, Richard remained the only player to score 50 goals in a season, until this season.
By this season, the Chicago Black Hawks were a strong team. They had an especially powerful defence, which had Pierre Pilote, Al Arbour, Jack Evans, and Elmer Vasko. Up front, youngsters Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita led the offence, and goaltender Glenn Hall was the Hawks' steady presence between the pipes.
It was reported that Eddie Shore, the great Boston Bruins defenceman and four-time league MVP from the 1930s, had been stricken with a heart attack, but was resting comfortably in a Springfield, Massachusetts hospital.
On October 13, the Canadiens routed the Rangers 8–4, with Bernie Geoffrion and Dickie Moore each scoring hat tricks.
Jack McCartan got his only NHL shutout for the New York Rangers by blanking the Black Hawks 2–0 on October 19. Chicago's Reg Fleming set a record with 37 penalty minutes in this game. They included three major penalties for battles with Dean Prentice, Eddie Shack, and John Hanna, a misconduct, and a game misconduct.
On December 1, the Canadiens, who had traded André Pronovost to Boston for Guy Gendron, defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6–3 at the Montreal Forum. Gendron had a goal, but the main feature was the 21 penalties referee Frank Udvari had to call, including several majors in the third period. Henri Richard took on Frank Mahovlich, Dickie Moore squared off with Bob Pulford, and Marcel Bonin scrapped with Bobby Baun. Toronto general manager and head coach George "Punch" Imlach was in a bad mood following the game and said to the press among other things that Udvari and linesmen Loring Doolittle and George Hayes should have been picked as the three stars for the help they gave to Montreal. Imlach's comments were brought to the attention of NHL president Clarence Campbell, who fined the Leafs bench boss $200.
In the new year, Stan Mikita helped to spark Chicago. He scored two goals in a 3–2 win over the Rangers on January 4 and scored the winner when the Black Hawks beat Boston 4–3 the following night.
Former Canadiens defenceman Leo Lamoureux died in Indianapolis on January 11 at age 45.
Chicago defeated the Rangers 4–3 on March 8. New York goalie Gump Worsley pulled a hamstring muscle and Joe Shaefer replaced him with the score 1–1. The next night, the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs as Bernie Geoffrion potted a hat trick in a 6–1 pasting by the Canadiens.
Toronto's Johnny Bower, who appeared on his way to winning the Vezina Trophy, strained a leg muscle and would have to take a rest. Cesare Maniago played in goal for the Leafs on March 16 and lost 5–2. It looked like two players, Toronto's Frank Mahovlich and Montreal's Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, were going to hit 50 goals, but Mahovlich ended up slumping near the end of the season and missed 50 by two goals. Geoffrion scored his 50th goal that night and got a wild ovation. He also added 45 assists and led the league in scoring.
Toronto played a 2–2 tie with the Rangers in their final game of the season and Bobby Baun was a victim of his own hard hitting. Camille Henry of the Rangers ran into Baun and Henry's skate cut Baun in the neck. Baun returned for the third period, but after the game, while boarding the team bus, he began to gasp desperately. He groped for attention and waved his arms, and his teammates finally realized he was in trouble and rushed him to the hospital where an emergency operation was performed to permit breathing. Baun missed some action in the playoffs as the result of the injury.
| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal Canadiens | 70 | 41 | 19 | 10 | 254 | 188 | 92 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 70 | 39 | 19 | 12 | 234 | 176 | 90 |
| Chicago Black Hawks | 70 | 29 | 24 | 17 | 198 | 180 | 75 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 70 | 25 | 29 | 16 | 195 | 215 | 66 |
| New York Rangers | 70 | 22 | 38 | 10 | 204 | 248 | 54 |
| Boston Bruins | 70 | 15 | 42 | 13 | 176 | 254 | 43 |
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
For the Montreal Canadiens, two streaks came to an end. The Canadiens' streak of ten consecutive Finals appearances and five consecutive Finals wins came to an end with a defeat to eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Black Hawks in the first round. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the other semi-final to set up an all-American final between Chicago and Detroit.
Chicago defeated the Red Wings in six games to win their first Cup since 1938, and their last until 2010.
| Semi-finals | Stanley Cup Final | |||||||
| 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 2 | ||||||
| 3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 4 | ||||||
| 3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 4 | ||||||
| 4 | Detroit Red Wings | 2 | ||||||
| 2 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 1 | ||||||
| 4 | Detroit Red Wings | 4 | ||||||
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bernie Geoffrion | Montreal Canadiens | 64 | 50 | 45 | 95 | 29 |
| Jean Beliveau | Montreal Canadiens | 69 | 32 | 58 | 90 | 57 |
| Frank Mahovlich | Toronto Maple Leafs | 70 | 48 | 36 | 84 | 131 |
| Andy Bathgate | New York Rangers | 70 | 29 | 48 | 77 | 22 |
| Gordie Howe | Detroit Red Wings | 64 | 23 | 49 | 72 | 30 |
| Norm Ullman | Detroit Red Wings | 70 | 28 | 42 | 70 | 24 |
| Red Kelly | Toronto Maple Leafs | 64 | 20 | 50 | 70 | 12 |
| Dickie Moore | Montreal Canadiens | 57 | 35 | 34 | 69 | 62 |
| Henri Richard | Montreal Canadiens | 70 | 24 | 44 | 68 | 91 |
| Alex Delvecchio | Detroit Red Wings | 70 | 27 | 35 | 62 | 26 |
Note: GP = Games played; Min - 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie Hodge | Montreal Canadiens | 30 | 1800 | 74 | 2.47 | 19 | 8 | 3 | 4 |
| Johnny Bower | Toronto Maple Leafs | 58 | 3480 | 145 | 2.50 | 33 | 15 | 10 | 2 |
| Glenn Hall | Chicago Black Hawks | 70 | 4200 | 176 | 2.51 | 29 | 24 | 17 | 6 |
| Hank Bassen | Detroit Red Wings | 34 | 2120 | 98 | 2.77 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 0 |
| Jacques Plante | Montreal Canadiens | 40 | 2400 | 112 | 2.80 | 22 | 11 | 7 | 2 |
| Terry Sawchuk | Detroit Red Wings | 38 | 2080 | 112 | 3.23 | 12 | 17 | 7 | 2 |
| Don Simmons | Boston Bruins | 18 | 1080 | 58 | 3.23 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 1 |
| Lorne Worsley | New York Rangers | 59 | 3473 | 191 | 3.30 | 20 | 29 | 8 | 1 |
| Bruce Gamble | Boston Bruins | 52 | 3120 | 193 | 3.71 | 12 | 33 | 7 | 0 |
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1960–61 (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 1960–61 (listed with their last team):
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