1944-45 NHL season

The 1944-45 NHL season was the 28th season of the National Hockey League. Six teams each played 50 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in seven games versus the Detroit Red Wings.

Regular Season

Nick Metz scores on Ken McAuley, December 17, 1944.

NHL president Red Dutton offered to resign because of business concerns, but the league's board of governors dissuaded him. Conn Smythe, at one point, was offered the presidency, but turned it down. Dutton then stayed on.

It was the year of the "Punch Line" as Rocket Richard scored 50 goals in 50 games, breaking Joe Malone's record of 44 goals, and when Richard scored his 45th, Malone was on hand to present him with the record-breaking puck. Richard had a 5-goal, 3-assist night against Detroit at the Montreal Forum on December 28, 1944. His centreman, Elmer Lach, though, won the scoring race with 26 goals and 80 points. Toe Blake finished third with 29 goals, 38 assists, and for the second time, an entire line finished 1, 2, 3 in scoring. The previous time had been in 1939-40, when the Boston Bruins' Kraut Line of Milt Schmidt, Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart accomplished the feat. Schmidt finished with 52 points in 48 games that year, and Bauer and Dumart 43 apiece.

Montreal dared not loan Paul Bibeault to Toronto again with his fine year the previous season and loaned him instead to Boston. But the Maple Leafs came up with a fine rookie named Frank McCool who won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's top rookie. For the first time, a team produced three consecutive top rookies. McCool and Chicago netminder Mike Karakas tied for the league lead in shutouts with 4 each.

Bill Durnan won his second consecutive Vezina Trophy with Montreal.

A major trade that occurred this year was Chicago trading their great defenceman Earl Seibert to Detroit for Don Grosso, Cully Simon and Byron "Butch" McDonald. After team owner Frederic McLaughlin died, it was just a matter of time before Bill Tobin would trade Seibert, as the two did not get along.

Final Standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Montreal Canadiens	50	38	8	4	80	228	121	376
Detroit Red Wings	50	31	14	5	67	218	161	260
Toronto Maple Leafs	50	24	22	4	52	183	161	317
Boston Bruins	50	16	30	4	36	179	219	275
Chicago Black Hawks	50	13	30	7	33	141	194	245
New York Rangers	50	11	29	10	32	154	247	305

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.

Scoring Leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

PLAYER	TEAM	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Elmer Lach	Montreal Canadiens	50	26	54	80	37
Maurice Richard	Montreal Canadiens	50	50	23	73	46
Toe Blake	Montreal Canadiens	49	29	38	67	25
Bill Cowley	Boston Bruins	49	25	40	65	12
Ted Kennedy	Toronto Maple Leafs	49	29	25	54	14
Bill Mosienko	Chicago Black Hawks	50	28	26	54	0
Joe Carveth	Detroit Red Wings	50	26	28	54	6
Ab DeMarco	New York Rangers	50	24	30	54	10
Clint Smith	Chicago Black Hawks	50	23	31	54	0

Leading Goaltenders

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
Bill Durnan	Montreal Canadiens	50	3000	121	2.42	38	8	4	1
Frank McCool	Toronto Maple Leafs	50	3000	161	3.22	24	22	4	4
Harry Lumley	Detroit Red Wings	37	2220	119	3.22	24	10	3	1
Connie Dion	Detroit Red Wings	12	720	39	3.25	6	4	2	0
Mike Karakas	Chicago Black Hawks	48	2880	187	3.90	12	29	7	4
Harvey Bennett	Boston Bruins	24	1470	103	4.20	10	12	2	0
Paul Bibeault	Boston Bruins	26	1530	116	4.55	6	18	2	0
Ken McAuley	New York Rangers	46	2760	227	4.93	11	25	10	1

Stanley Cup Playoffs

Playoff Bracket

	Semifinals					Finals
	1	Montreal Canadiens	2
	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	4
						3	Toronto Maple Leafs	4
						2	Detroit Red Wings	3
	2	Detroit Red Wings	4
	4	Boston Bruins	3

Semi-finals

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Montreal Canadiens

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 20	Toronto	1	Montreal	0
March 22	Toronto	3	Montreal	2
March 24	Montreal	4	Toronto	1
March 27	Montreal	3	Toronto	4	OT
March 29	Toronto	3	Montreal	10
March 31	Montreal	2	Toronto	3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 2

Detroit Red Wings vs. Boston Bruins

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 20	Boston	4	Detroit	3
March 22	Boston	4	Detroit	2
March 24	Detroit	3	Boston	2
March 27	Detroit	3	Boston	2
March 29	Boston	2	Detroit	3	OT
April 1	Detroit	3	Boston	5
April 3	Boston	3	Detroit	5

Detroit wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 3

Finals

see 1945 Stanley Cup Finals

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 6	Toronto	1	Detroit	0
April 8	Toronto	2	Detroit	0
April 12	Detroit	0	Toronto	1
April 14	Detroit	5	Toronto	3
April 19	Toronto	0	Detroit	2
April 21	Detroit	1	Toronto	0	OT
April 22	Toronto	2	Detroit	1

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 3

NHL Awards

O'Brien Trophy:	Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Montreal Canadiens
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Frank McCool, Toronto Maple Leafs
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Elmer Lach, Montreal Canadiens
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Bill Mosienko, Chicago Black Hawks
Vezina Trophy:	Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens

All-Star Teams

First Team	Position	Second Team
Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens	G	Mike Karakas, Chicago Black Hawks
Butch Bouchard, Montreal Canadiens	D	Glen Harmon, Montreal Canadiens
Flash Hollett, Detroit Red Wings	D	Babe Pratt, Toronto Maple Leafs
Elmer Lach, Montreal Canadiens	C	Bill Cowley, Boston Bruins
Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens	RW	Bill Mosienko, Chicago Black Hawks
Toe Blake, Montreal Canadiens	LW	Syd Howe, Detroit Red Wings
Dick Irvin, Montreal Canadiens	Coach	Jack Adams, Detroit Red Wings

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1944-45 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Fern Flaman, Boston Bruins
• Murray Henderson, Boston Bruins
• Pete Horeck, Chicago Black Hawks
• Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings
• Bill Ezinicki, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Frank McCool, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last Games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1944-45 (listed with their last team):

• Bill Thoms, Boston Bruins
• Cully Dahlstrom, Chicago Black Hawks
• Mush March, Chicago Black Hawks
• Johnny Gottselig, Chicago Black Hawks
• Kilby MacDonald, New York Rangers
• Bucko McDonald, New York Rangers

Attendance

Toronto: 305,597

Gallery

The Canadiens attack Ranger goalie Ken McAuley, December 17, 1944.

#16 Lach scores on McCool putting Habs up 1-0, March 27, 1945.

Fillion, Stanowski watch Schriner and Chamberlain get into the box at 1:03 of the 3rd period, March 27, 1945.

Mel Hill scores on Bill Durnan to cut Habs lead to 2-1. #4 Lamoureux and #10 Kennedy look on, March 27, 1945.

See Also

• List of Stanley Cup champions

References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com