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.
Contents
Regular Season[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
Playoff Bracket[edit | edit source]
Semi-finals | 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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
Toronto: 305,597
Gallery[edit | edit source]
Add a photo to this gallery
See Also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
1944–45 NHL season by team | |
---|---|
Teams | Boston • Chicago • Detroit • Montreal • New York • Toronto |
See also | 1945 Stanley Cup Finals |
NHL Seasons |
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1940-41 | 1941-42 | 1942-43 | 1943-44 | 1944-45 | 1945-46 | 1946-47 | 1947-48 | 1948-49 |
Structure | Playoffs (Streaks • Droughts • All-time playoff series) • Conference Finals • Finals |
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Players | List of players • Association • Retired jersey numbers • Captains |
History | Lore • Organizational changes :: • Defunct teams • NHA • Original Six • 1967 Expansion • WHA Merger • Lockouts |
Others | Outdoor games (Winter Classic • Heritage Classic • Stadium Series) • Potential expansion • Hall of Fame (Members) • Rivalries • Arenas • Rules • Fighting • Violence : International games • Kraft Hockeyville • Collective bargaining agreement • Television and radio coverage |
Category • 2018–19 Season • 2019–20 Season |