1927-28 NHL season

The 1927-28 NHL season was the eleventh season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. The New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup beating the Montreal Maroons becoming the first United States based team since the formation of the NHL to win it and first since the Seattle Metropolitans won in 1917. This season saw the reintroduction of the O'Brien Trophy, which used to go to the NHL league champion. It was originally retired in favour of the Prince of Wales Trophy. The O'Brien Trophy went to the winner of the Canadian Division while the Prince of Wales Trophy went to the winner of the American division.

League Business

• The Ross goal, developed by Boston Bruins General Manager Art Ross is adopted as the official net of the league.
• The O'Brien Trophy is first awarded to the winner of the Canadian Division and the Prince of Wales Trophy is first awarded to the winner of the American Division.

Regular Season

The Ottawa Senators, by far the smallest market in the league, were affected by franchises in the U.S., escalating salaries, and were in financial trouble as a result and requested a bigger road receipt from the other teams. They also sold their star right wing Hooley Smith to the Montreal Maroons for $22,500 plus the return of right wing Punch Broadbent, followed by the sale of defenceman Edwin Gorman to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Part of the problem was that fans in Ottawa tended to only attend games with Canadian opponents.

During the December 3, 1927 New York Americans-Montreal Canadiens game, goalie Joe Miller was injured with the Canadiens ahead 4-0. Miller was replaced for the last 19 minutes by forward Normie Himes who held the Habs scoreless.

Hal Winkler's 15 shutouts in 1927-28 is still a Bruins team record.

Howie Morenz, the NHL's top drawing card, dominated the scoring race and was runaway winner of the Hart Trophy. He scored 33 goals and led the league in assists as well. Despite Ottawa's financial difficulties, Alex Connell, Ottawa goalkeeper, set an all-time record with six consecutive shutouts or a period of 460 minutes and 59 seconds without being scored on.

Toronto, now the Maple Leafs, showed power early on and it looked like they would make the playoffs. However, injuries to Hap Day and Bill Carson doomed the team, and the Leafs sagged to fourth, out of the playoffs.

Thanks to the great play of Eddie Shore and goaltender Hal Winkler, who tied with Connell for the leader in shutouts with 15, the Boston Bruins finished won the American Division for the first time, while the Canadiens, who were running away with the Canadian Division at mid-season, slumped after an injury to Pit Lepine but managed to hold onto first place at season's end.

Final Standings

Canadian Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Montreal Canadiens	44	26	11	7	116	48	59
Montreal Maroons	44	24	14	6	96	77	54
Ottawa Senators	44	20	14	10	78	57	50
Toronto Maple Leafs	44	18	18	8	89	88	44
New York Americans	44	11	27	6	63	128	28

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

American Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Boston Bruins	44	20	13	11	77	70	51
New York Rangers	44	19	16	9	94	79	47
Pittsburgh Pirates	44	19	17	8	67	76	46
Detroit Cougars	44	19	19	6	88	79	44
Chicago Black Hawks	44	7	34	3	68	134	17

Scoring Leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Howie Morenz	Montreal Canadiens	43	33	18	51
Aurel Joliat	Montreal Canadiens	44	28	11	39
Frank Boucher	New York Rangers	44	23	12	35
George Hay	Detroit Cougars	42	22	13	35
Nels Stewart	Montreal Maroons	41	27	7	34
Art Gagne	Montreal Canadiens	44	20	10	30
Bun Cook	New York Rangers	44	14	14	28
Bill Carson	Toronto Maple Leafs	32	20	6	26
Frank Finnigan	Ottawa Senators	38	20	5	25
Bill Cook	New York Rangers	43	18	6	24
Duke Keats	Detroit Cougars/Chicago Black Hawks	38	14	10	24

Leading Goaltenders

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

Player	Team	GP	Mins	GA	SO	GAA
George Hainsworth	Montreal Canadiens	44	2730	48	13	1.05
Alex Connell	Ottawa Senators	44	2760	57	15	1.24
Hal Winkler	Boston Bruins	44	2780	70	15	1.51
Roy Worters	Pittsburgh Pirates	44	2740	76	11	1.66
Clint Benedict	Montreal Maroons	44	2690	76	6	1.70

Stanley Cup Playoffs

Playoff Bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

C1

Montreal Canadiens

2G

Canadian Division

C2

Montreal Maroons

3G

C2

Montreal Maroons

3G

C3

Ottawa Senators

1G

C2

Montreal Maroons

2

A2

New York Rangers

3

A1

Boston Bruins

2G

American Division

A2

New York Rangers

5G

A2

New York Rangers

6G

A3

Pittsburgh Pirates

4G

In the Canadian Division, the Montreal Maroons beat the Ottawa Senators and then went to the limit against the Canadiens before Russell Oatman put the Maroons into the finals with a goal in overtime.

New York Rangers 5 Goals, Boston Bruins 2 Goals

The Bruins gained a first-round bye by virtue of winning the division, and played the New York Rangers in the second round in a two-game, total goal series. Their scoring problems of the regular season continued, exacerbated by a flu bug going through the dressing room and various minor injuries. Eddie Shore, Dit Clapper, Dutch Gainor and Harry Connor were particularly affected.

Boston tied the first game 1-1 in New York, the Rangers' final home game of the playoffs - this was the first of perennial disruptions to the Rangers' playoff schedule due to Madison Square Garden hosting the circus in the spring. The Bruins lost the second match in Boston 4-1, on three Ranger third-period goals as the weakened Brown-and-Gold folded at last, to drop the total-goal series five goals to two. Harry Oliver, who scored a goal in each game, was the sole offensive threat.

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	April 1	Boston Bruins	1-1	New York Rangers	1-1
2	April 3	New York Rangers	4-1	Boston Bruins	5-2

Finals

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	April 5	New York Rangers	0-2	Montreal Maroons	0-1
2	April 7	New York Rangers	2-1 (OT)	Montreal Maroons	1-1
3	April 10	New York Rangers	0-2	Montreal Maroons	1-2
4	April 12	New York Rangers	1-0	Montreal Maroons	2-2
5	April 14	New York Rangers	2-1	Montreal Maroons	3-2

Attendance

1. Montreal Canadiens: 219,000
2. Montreal Maroons: 192,000
3. New York Rangers: 163,000
4. Boston Bruins: 149,000
5. Detroit Falcons: 142,000
6. New York Americans: 125,000
7. Toronto Maple Leafs: 101,000
8. Ottawa Senators: 99,000
9. Chicago Blackhawks: 73,000
10. Pittsburgh Pirates: 40,000

NHL Awards

1927-28 NHL Awards
O'Brien Trophy:	Montreal Canadiens
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Boston Bruins
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens
Lady Byng Trophy:	Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy:	George Hainsworth, Montreal Canadiens

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1927-28 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins
• Norman Gainor, Boston Bruins
• Cy Wentworth, Chicago Black Hawks
• Charlie Gardiner, Chicago Black Hawks
• Larry Aurie, Detroit Cougars
• Marty Burke, Montreal Canadiens
• Jimmy Ward, Montreal Maroons
• Joe Lamb, Montreal Maroons
• Marty Barry, New York Americans
• Allan Shields, Ottawa Senators
• Joe Primeau, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last Games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1927-28 (listed with their last team):

• Sprague Cleghorn, Boston Bruins
• Corb Denneny, Chicago Black Hawks
• Frank Foyston, Detroit Cougars
• Jack Walker, Detroit Cougars
• Billy Boucher, New York Americans
• Odie Cleghorn, Pittsburgh Pirates

See Also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• List of pre-NHL seasons

References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com