1949–50 NHL season

1949–50 NHL season
League National Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Duration October 12, 1949 – April 23, 1950
Number of games 70
Number of teams 6
Regular season
Season champion Detroit Red Wings
Season MVP Charlie Rayner (Rangers)
Top scorer Ted Lindsay (Red Wings)
Stanley Cup
Champions Detroit Red Wings
  Runners-up New York Rangers

The 1949–50 NHL season was the 33rd season of the National Hockey League. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the New York Rangers in seven games for the Stanley Cup. It was the Red Wings' fourth championship.

League business

The NHL decided to increase the number of games played to 70 games for each team. Each team played every other team 14 times. Goaltenders would no longer have to face a penalty shot if they took a major penalty. A team-mate could serve the penalty in the penalty box.[1]

In June 1949, the NHL decided to henceforth paint the ice surface white. This was done by adding white paint to the water before freezing. Previously, the ice surface was just frozen water on concrete, which made a dull grey colour. By "whitening" the ice surface, it made seeing and following the puck much easier, especially on the relatively new medium of television.

Regular season

Detroit, led by the new Production Line of Lindsay, Abel and Howe won the regular season. The Production line led the league in scoring 1–2–3.

Highlights

On November 2, 1949, at Chicago Stadium, a rather serious brawl broke out in a game Chicago defeated Montreal 4–1. During the second period, some rinkside fans began to get on Montreal defenceman Ken Reardon, and when one fan grabbed his sweater, Reardon swung his stick and hit one of the rowdies. Leo Gravelle and Billy Reay joined in, and yet another fan climbed over the boards and challenged Reardon, but was forced back to his seat. When the game ended, police arrested Reardon, Reay and Gravelle. Later, the players were cleared when a judge ruled that the fans were the aggressors and overstepped the prerogatives as fans.

After Chicago defeated Toronto 6–3 on November 27, Conn Smythe told goaltender Turk Broda, "I'm not running a fat man's team!" and said that Broda would not play until he reduced his weight to 190 lb. At the time, Broda weighed almost 200. Al Rollins was purchased from Cleveland of the AHL and Gil Mayer was brought up for good measure. When he reached 189 pounds, Broda went back into the Toronto net and he gained his fourth shutout of the season December 3 and Maple Leaf fans cheered all of his 22 saves.

After the Red Wings clobbered Chicago 9–2 on February 8, writer Lew Walter tried to interview Chicago coach Charlie Conacher. Conacher exploded in anger, criticized Walter's past stories and punched Walter, knocking him down to the floor. Walter announced that he would seek a warrant for Conacher's arrest. NHL president Clarence Campbell took a dim view of Conacher's actions and fined him $200. Conacher then phoned Walter and apologized, saying he regretted what had taken place.

Montreal fans began to boo Bill Durnan, like they had in 1947–48, despite the fact he was the league's best goalkeeper, and in an interview, he stated he was going to retire at the end of the season. In reality, Durnan had been cut a number of times during the season, and at one point, had to take penicillin. It caused a high fever and he missed some action. Despite this, he recorded eight shutouts and won the Vezina Trophy for the sixth time in his seven-year career.

Ken Reardon got himself into trouble when he made a statement to a magazine suggesting retribution to Cal Gardner, stating: "I'm going to make sure that Gardner gets 14 stitches in his mouth. I may have to wait a long time, but I'll get even." On March 1, 1950, Clarence Campbell made Reardon post a $1,000 bond to make sure he didn't carry out his threat. When the season ended, Reardon was refunded the $1,000, since he did not hurt Gardner as he said he would.

Final standings

National Hockey League[2]
GP W L T GF GA DIFF Pts
1 Detroit Red Wings 70 37 19 14 229 164 +65 88
2 Montreal Canadiens 70 29 22 19 172 150 +22 77
3 Toronto Maple Leafs 70 31 27 12 176 173 +3 74
4 New York Rangers 70 28 31 11 170 189 −19 67
5 Boston Bruins 70 22 32 16 198 228 −30 60
6 Chicago Black Hawks 70 22 38 10 203 244 −41 54

Playoffs

Detroit defeated Toronto in seven games to advance to the final. New York defeated Montreal in five games to advance to the final.

Playoff bracket

Semi-finals Stanley Cup Final
      
1 Detroit Red Wings 4
3 Toronto Maple Leafs 3
1 Detroit Red Wings 4
4 New York Rangers 3
2 Montreal Canadiens 1
4 New York Rangers 4

Semifinals

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (3) Toronto Maple Leafs

Detroit won series 4–3

(2) Montreal Canadiens vs. (4) New York Rangers

New York won series 4–1

Stanley Cup Final

Two games were played in Toronto, with the rest in Detroit, as the circus had taken over Madison Square Garden in New York.

Detroit won series 4–3

Awards

This was the last season that the O'Brien Cup was awarded to the Stanley Cup runner up – in this season, the New York Rangers – as it went into retirement for the second and final time at season's end. (It was not awarded between 1917 and 1921)

O'Brien Cup:
(Stanley Cup runner-up) 		New York Rangers
Prince of Wales Trophy:
(Top record, regular season) 		Detroit Red Wings
Art Ross Trophy:
(Top scorer) 		Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings
Calder Memorial Trophy:
(Top first year player) 		Jack Gelineau, Boston Bruins
Hart Trophy:
(Most valuable player) 		Charlie Rayner, New York Rangers
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:
(Excellence and sportsmanship) 		Edgar Laprade, New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy:
(Goaltender of team with best goals against average) 		Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens

All-Star teams

First Team   Position   Second Team
Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens G Chuck Rayner, New York Rangers
Gus Mortson, Toronto Maple Leafs D Leo Reise, Detroit Red Wings
Ken Reardon, Montreal Canadiens D Red Kelly, Detroit Red Wings
Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings C Ted Kennedy, Toronto Maple Leafs
Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens RW Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings LW Tony Leswick, New York Rangers

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
Ted Lindsay Detroit Red Wings 69 23 55 78 141
Sid Abel Detroit Red Wings 69 34 35 69 46
Gordie Howe Detroit Red Wings 70 35 33 68 69
Maurice Richard Montreal Canadiens 70 43 22 65 114
Paul Ronty Boston Bruins 70 23 36 59 8
Roy Conacher Chicago Black Hawks 70 25 31 56 16
Doug Bentley Chicago Black Hawks 64 20 33 53 28
Johnny Peirson Boston Bruins 57 27 25 52 49
Metro Prystai Chicago Black Hawks 65 29 22 51 31
Bep Guidolin Chicago Black Hawks 70 17 34 51 42

Source: NHL[3]

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins – Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Player Team GP Mins GA GAA W L T SO
Bill Durnan Montreal Canadiens 64 3840 141 2.20 26 21 17 8
Harry Lumley Detroit Red Wings 63 3780 148 2.35 33 16 14 7
Turk Broda Toronto Maple Leafs 68 4040 167 2.48 30 25 12 9
Chuck Rayner New York Rangers 69 4140 181 2.62 28 30 11 6
Jack Gelineau Boston Bruins 67 4020 220 3.28 22 30 15 3
Frank Brimsek Chicago Black Hawks 70 4200 244 3.49 22 38 10 5

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1949–50 (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 1949–50 (listed with their last team):

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Fischler et al., p. 190.
  2. ↑ "1949–1950 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
  3. ↑ Dinger 2011, p. 148.
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