1930–31 NHL season

1930–31 NHL season
League	National Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	November 11, 1930 – April 14, 1931
Number of games	44
Number of teams	10
Regular season
Season champions	Boston Bruins
Season MVP	Howie Morenz (Montreal Canadiens)
Top scorer	Howie Morenz (Montreal Canadiens)
Canadian Division champions	Montreal Canadiens
American Division champions	Boston Bruins
Stanley Cup
Champions	Montreal Canadiens
Runners-up	Chicago Black Hawks

The 1930–31 NHL season was the 14th season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks three games to two in a best-of-five Stanley Cup final for their second consecutive Cup win.

League business

Art Ross bitterly complained about the Stanley Cup final setup. His team had been vanquished in two consecutive games by the Montreal Canadiens in 1929–30. As a result, the Board of Governors decided to make the final a best-of-five series.

The Great Depression was starting to take its toll on the NHL. In attempts to solve financial problems, the Pittsburgh Pirates moved to Philadelphia and became the Philadelphia Quakers, but there was nothing about the team to win games or fans. It was intended that the team stay in Philadelphia only until a new arena was built in Pittsburgh. The arena was never built, and the team folded after only one season in the new city. The state of Pennsylvania would be without an NHL team until the league doubled in size 36 years later.

The Ottawa Senators were in a similar financial boat but instead of relocating, they sold a star asset and future Hall of Famer, King Clancy, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for $35,000 and two players. Even after the sale of Clancy, the Senators' owners put the team up for sale for $200,000, although no bids approached anywhere near that figure. The team would suspend operations before the start of the next season.^[1]

The Detroit Cougars changed the team name to the Detroit Falcons.

Regular season

Howie Morenz led the league in scoring.

Dick Irvin started his career in coaching with Chicago and they finished second in the American Division. He resigned at season's end after having taken the Black Hawks to the finals.

Final standings

American Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Boston Bruins	44	28	10	6	143	90	62
Chicago Black Hawks	44	24	17	3	108	78	51
New York Rangers	44	19	16	9	106	87	47
Detroit Falcons	44	16	21	7	102	105	39
Philadelphia Quakers	44	4	36	4	76	184	12

Canadian Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Montreal Canadiens	44	26	10	8	129	89	60
Toronto Maple Leafs	44	22	13	9	118	99	53
Montreal Maroons	44	20	18	6	105	106	46
New York Americans	44	18	16	10	76	74	46
Ottawa Senators	44	10	30	4	91	142	24

GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Playoffs

On 26 March, during the second game of the best-of-five series between the Bruins and Canadiens, coach-GM Art Ross of Boston pulled his goalie for an extra attacker while down 1–0 with 40 seconds left in the final period. The attempt was unsuccessful. This marked the first time in Stanley Cup play that a goalie was pulled for an extra attacker.^[2]

Stanley Cup Final

In the final series, the Chicago Black Hawks took an early two games to one lead in the newly expanded best-of-five Stanley Cup finals but the Montreal Canadiens came back and won the series three games to two for their second consecutive Stanley Cup win.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Chicago Blackhawks

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 3	Montreal Canadiens	2	Chicago Blackhawks	1
April 5	Montreal Canadiens	1	Chicago Blackhawks	2	2OT
April 9	Chicago Blackhawks	3	Montreal Canadiens	2	3OT
April 11	Chicago Blackhawks	1	Montreal Canadiens	2
April 14	Chicago Blackhawks	1	Montreal Canadiens	2

Montreal wins best-of-five series three games to two.

Playoff bracket

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Stanley Cup Final

C1

Montreal Canadiens

3

A1

Boston Bruins

2

C1

Montreal Canadiens

3

A2

Chicago Black Hawks

2

C2

Toronto Maple Leafs

3G

A2

Chicago Black Hawks

4G

A2

Chicago Black Hawks

3G

A3

New York Rangers

0G

C3

Montreal Maroons

1G

A3

New York Rangers

8G

Awards

Howie Morenz won the Hart Trophy for the second time in his career. Frank Boucher won the Lady Byng for the fourth consecutive year. Roy Worters won the Vezina Trophy for the one and only time in his career.

1930–31 NHL awards
O'Brien Cup: (Canadian Division champion)	Montreal Canadiens
Prince of Wales Trophy: (American Division champion)	Boston Bruins
Hart Trophy: (Most valuable player)	Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens
Lady Byng Trophy: (Excellence and sportsmanship)	Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy: (Fewest goals allowed)	Roy Worters, New York Americans

All-Star teams

This was the first season that the NHL named its 'all-stars'. Although Roy Worters won the Vezina Trophy for "most valuable goaltender", Charlie Gardiner and Tiny Thompson were named to the all-star teams at the goaltender position.

First Team	Position	Second Team
Charlie Gardiner, Chicago Black Hawks	G	Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins
Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins	D	Sylvio Mantha, Montreal Canadiens
King Clancy, Toronto Maple Leafs	D	Ching Johnson, New York Rangers
Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens	C	Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Bill Cook, New York Rangers	RW	Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins
Aurel Joliat, Montreal Canadiens	LW	Bun Cook, New York Rangers
Lester Patrick, New York Rangers	Coach	Dick Irvin, Chicago Black Hawks

Source: NHL.^[3]

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Howie Morenz	Montreal Canadiens	39	28	23	51	49
Ebbie Goodfellow	Detroit Red Wings	44	25	23	48	32
Charlie Conacher	Toronto Maple Leafs	37	31	12	43	78
Bill Cook	New York Rangers	43	30	12	42	39
Ace Bailey	Toronto Maple Leafs	40	23	19	42	46
Joe Primeau	Toronto Maple Leafs	38	9	32	41	18
Nels Stewart	Montreal Maroons	42	25	14	39	75
Frank Boucher	New York Rangers	44	12	27	39	20
Cooney Weiland	Boston Bruins	44	25	13	38	14
Bun Cook	New York Rangers	44	18	17	35	72
Aurel Joliat	Montreal Canadiens	43	13	22	35	73

Source: NHL.^[4]

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Player	Team	GP	W	L	T	Mins	GA	SO	GAA
Roy Worters	New York Americans	44	18	16	10	2760	74	8	1.61
Charlie Gardiner	Chicago Black Hawks	44	24	17	3	2710	78	12	1.73
John Ross Roach	New York Rangers	44	19	16	9	2760	87	7	1.89
George Hainsworth	Montreal Canadiens	44	26	10	8	2740	89	8	1.95
Tiny Thompson	Boston Bruins	44	28	10	6	2730	90	3	1.98
Lorne Chabot	Toronto Maple Leafs	37	21	8	8	2300	80	6	2.09

Source: NHL.^[5]

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1930–31 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Art Chapman, Boston Bruins
• Doc Romnes, Chicago Black Hawks
• John Sorrell, Detroit Falcons
• Johnny Gagnon, Montreal Canadiens
• Paul Haynes, Montreal Maroons
• Dave Kerr, Montreal Maroons
• Alex Levinsky, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Bob Gracie, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1930–31 (listed with their last team):

• Frank Fredrickson, Detroit Falcons
• Bert McCaffrey, Montreal Canadiens
• Joe Simpson, New York Americans
• Babe Dye, Toronto Maple Leafs

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1930 in sports
• 1931 in sports

References

• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Hockey. Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X. 
• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2009). NHL Official Guide & Rule Book 2010. NHL. 
• Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5. 
• Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000). Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9. 
• Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley; Hughes, Morgan; Romain, Joseph; Duplacey, James (2003). The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Publications International Inc. ISBN 0-7853-9624-1. 
• McFarlane, Brian (1973). The Story of the National Hockey League. New York, NY: Pagurian Press. ISBN 0-684-13424-1. 
• Kitchen, Paul (2008). Win, Tie or Wrangle. Manotick, Ontario: Penumbra Press. ISBN 978-1-897323-46-5. 
• McFarlane, Brian (1989). One hundred years of hockey. Toronto, Ontario: Deneau Publishers. ISBN 0-88879-216-6. 

Notes

External links

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com

1930–31 NHL season by team Canadian Division Mtl Canadiens Mtl Maroons NY Americans Ottawa Toronto American Division Boston Chicago Detroit NY Rangers Philadelphia See also Stanley Cup Finals Transactions

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