1943–44 New York Rangers season

1943–44 New York Rangers
Division	6th NHL
1943–44 record	6–39–5
Goals for	162
Goals against	310
Team information
General manager	Lester Patrick
Coach	Frank Boucher
Captain	Ott Heller
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Bryan Hextall (21)
Assists	Bryan Hextall (33)
Points	Bryan Hextall (54)
Penalty minutes	Bob Dill (66)
Wins	Ken McAuley (6)
Goals against average	Ken McAuley (6.24)

The 1943–44 New York Rangers season was the 18th season for the team in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Rangers finished last in the league and did not qualify for the playoffs, compiling only 17 points, the fewest in franchise history.

Regular Season

Connie Dion made only 9 saves in the Red Wings 15-0 demolition of the NYR, January 23, 1944.

The Rangers had plunged to last place the previous year and Lester Patrick was so discouraged that he wanted to suspend operations for the year. This year the Rangers lost Clint Smith, Lynn Patrick, Phil Watson and Alf Pike. The most unbelievably inept team iced for the Rangers this year. Things were so desperate that coach Frank Boucher had to come out of retirement to play some. But the Rangers set the modern day record of 6.20 goals against, giving up 310 goals in 50 games. One night when Lester Patrick went behind the bench to coach the team with Frank Boucher attending his brother's funeral, the Rangers were demolished 15-0 by Detroit as the Red Wings set a modern day record of most goals by a team in a single game. It was a horrifying experience for Patrick. Only a week later Syd Howe set a modern day record of 6 goals in a game in a 12-2 conquest of the hapless Rangers. The Rangers won only 6 games all year and finished a distant last, 23 points behind fifth-place Boston.

Final Standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Montreal Canadiens	50	38	5	7	83	234	109	557
Detroit Red Wings	50	26	18	6	58	214	177	374
Toronto Maple Leafs	50	23	23	4	50	214	174	303
Chicago Black Hawks	50	22	23	5	49	178	187	240
Boston Bruins	50	19	26	5	43	223	268	207
New York Rangers	50	6	39	5	17	162	310	253

Note: 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.

Game Log

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 30, 1943	2–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44)	0–1–0
2	L	October 31, 1943	3–8	@ Detroit Red Wings (1943–44)	0–2–0
3	L	November 2, 1943	1–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1943–44)	0–3–0
4	L	November 6, 1943	3–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44)	0–4–0
5	L	November 7, 1943	4–7	Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44)	0–5–0
6	L	November 13, 1943	2–6	Boston Bruins (1943–44)	0–6–0
7	L	November 14, 1943	5–10	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44)	0–7–0
8	L	November 18, 1943	1–3	Detroit Red Wings (1943–44)	0–8–0
9	L	November 21, 1943	2–5	Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44)	0–9–0
10	L	November 25, 1943	2–6	@ Boston Bruins (1943–44)	0–10–0
11	L	November 27, 1943	3–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (1943–44)	0–11–0
12	T	November 28, 1943	2–2	Montreal Canadiens (1943–44)	0–11–1
13	L	December 4, 1943	4–11	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44)	0–12–1
14	L	December 5, 1943	6–7	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44)	0–13–1
15	L	December 11, 1943	6–9	@ Boston Bruins (1943–44)	0–14–1
16	W	December 12, 1943	6–4	Boston Bruins (1943–44)	1–14–1
17	W	December 19, 1943	6–2	Detroit Red Wings (1943–44)	2–14–1
18	L	December 23, 1943	3–5	@ Detroit Red Wings (1943–44)	2–15–1
19	W	December 25, 1943	5–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44)	3–15–1
20	W	December 26, 1943	7–6	Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44)	4–15–1
21	L	December 31, 1943	0–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44)	4–16–1
22	L	January 2, 1944	3–13	Boston Bruins (1943–44)	4–17–1
23	L	January 6, 1944	0–5	Detroit Red Wings (1943–44)	4–18–1
24	L	January 8, 1944	2–8	@ Montreal Canadiens (1943–44)	4–19–1
25	L	January 9, 1944	5–6	Montreal Canadiens (1943–44)	4–20–1
26	L	January 13, 1944	2–5	Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44)	4–21–1
27	L	January 15, 1944	5–7	@ Boston Bruins (1943–44)	4–22–1
28	W	January 16, 1944	8–6	Boston Bruins (1943–44)	5–22–1
29	W	January 22, 1944	5–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44)	6–22–1
30	L	January 23, 1944	0–15	@ Detroit Red Wings (1943–44)	6–23–1
31	L	January 27, 1944	4–6	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44)	6–24–1
32	L	January 30, 1944	3–5	Montreal Canadiens (1943–44)	6–25–1
33	L	February 3, 1944	2–12	@ Detroit Red Wings (1943–44)	6–26–1
34	L	February 5, 1944	2–7	@ Boston Bruins (1943–44)	6–27–1
35	T	February 6, 1944	4–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44)	6–27–2
36	L	February 10, 1944	3–8	Detroit Red Wings (1943–44)	6–28–2
37	L	February 13, 1944	3–6	Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44)	6–29–2
38	L	February 19, 1944	2–5	@ Montreal Canadiens (1943–44)	6–30–2
39	L	February 20, 1944	2–7	Montreal Canadiens (1943–44)	6–31–2
40	L	February 22, 1944	4–8	Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44)	6–32–2
41	T	February 24, 1944	3–3	Detroit Red Wings (1943–44)	6–32–3
42	L	February 27, 1944	2–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44)	6–33–3
43	L	March 2, 1944	5–6	@ Detroit Red Wings (1943–44)	6–34–3
44	L	March 4, 1944	9–10	@ Boston Bruins (1943–44)	6–35–3
45	T	March 5, 1944	4–4	Boston Bruins (1943–44)	6–35–4
46	L	March 9, 1944	0–8	Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44)	6–36–4
47	L	March 11, 1944	0–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44)	6–37–4
48	T	March 12, 1944	4–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44)	6–37–5
49	L	March 18, 1944	2–11	@ Montreal Canadiens (1943–44)	6–38–5
50	L	March 19, 1944	1–6	Montreal Canadiens (1943–44)	6–39–5

Playoffs

• The Rangers did not qualify for the post season.

Player Stats

Regular Season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Hextall, BryanBryan Hextall	RW	50	21	33	54	41
Hiller, DutchDutch Hiller	LW	50	18	22	40	15
Heller, OttOtt Heller	D	50	8	27	35	29
DeMarco, AbAb DeMarco	C	36	14	19	33	2
Mahaffy, JohnJohn Mahaffy	C	28	9	20	29	0
Aubuchon, OssieOssie Aubuchon	LW	38	16	12	28	4
Gauthier, FernFern Gauthier	RW	33	14	10	24	0
McDonald, JackJack McDonald	RW	43	10	9	19	6
Gooden, BillBill Gooden	LW	41	9	8	17	15
Warwick, GrantGrant Warwick	RW	18	8	9	17	14
MacDonald, KilbyKilby MacDonald	LW	24	7	9	16	4
Dill, BobBob Dill	D	28	6	10	16	66
Boucher, FrankFrank Boucher	C	15	4	10	14	2
McDonald, BuckoBucko McDonald	D	41	5	6	11	14
Scherza, ChuckChuck Scherza	LW/C	5	3	2	5	11
Warwick, BillyBilly Warwick	LW	13	3	2	5	12
Raleigh, DonDon Raleigh	C	15	2	2	4	2
Davidson, GordGord Davidson	D	16	1	3	4	4
Leger, RogerRoger Leger	D	7	1	2	3	2
Palazzari, AldoAldo Palazzari	RW	11	2	0	2	0
Dewar, TomTom Dewar	D	9	0	2	2	4
Sands, CharlieCharlie Sands	C/RW	9	0	2	2	0
Damore, HankHank Damore	C	4	1	0	1	2
Jamieson, JimJim Jamieson	D	1	0	1	1	0
Fraser, ArchieArchie Fraser	C	3	0	1	1	0
Demers, TonyTony Demers	RW	1	0	0	0	0
Dyck, HenryHenry Dyck	C/LW	1	0	0	0	0
McDonald, RobertRobert McDonald	RW	1	0	0	0	0
Mohns, LloydLloyd Mohns	D	1	0	0	0	0
Mann, JackJack Mann	C	3	0	0	0	0
Labovitch, MaxMax Labovitch	RW	5	0	0	0	4
Strobel, ArtArt Strobel	LW	7	0	0	0	0
Lumley, HarryHarry Lumley	G	1	0	0	0	0
McAuley, KenKen McAuley	G	50	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
McAuley, KenKen McAuley	2980	50	6	39	5	310	6.24	0
Lumley, HarryHarry Lumley	20	1	0	0	0	0	0.00	0
Team:	3000	50	6	39	5	310	6.20	0

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts

Awards and Records

• The Rangers set a record for the fewest points in a season in club history with 17.
• The Rangers did not win any awards this season.

Farm Teams

• New York Rovers, Eastern Hockey League

See Also

• 1943–44 NHL season
• Detroit 15 New York 0: Jan. 23, 1944

External Links

• 1943–44 New York Rangers Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-07.

New York Rangers
Team	Franchise • Players • Coaches • GMs • Seasons • Records • Draft Picks • History Madison Square Garden
Stanley Cups	1928, 1933, 1940, 1994
Affiliates	Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL), Maine Mariners (ECHL)