1935–36 NHL Season

The 1935–36 NHL season was the 19th season of the National Hockey League (NHL). The St. Louis Eagles dropped out of the league, leaving eight teams. The Detroit Red Wings were the Stanley Cup winners as they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs three games to one in the Stanley Cup Finals.

League business

Prior to the season, the St. Louis Eagles franchise owners asked the league for permission to suspend operations for a year and then relocate back to Ottawa, however the league denied the requests. On October 15, 1935, the NHL bought back the franchise and players contracts for $40,000 and suspended operations. Chicago would not participate in the dispersal draft, while St. Louis would not have another NHL team until 1967.

During the season, the New York Americans were reported in financial trouble and were up for sale. Leo Dandurand, who had sold his interest in the Montreal Canadiens, was interested as was Joseph Cattarinich. Cattarinich said he would buy the team if the price was right. Later it was announced there would be no deal.

This was the first year the Boston Bruins switched from brown and gold to their now-familiar black and gold uniforms, while also placing the number on the front instead of the block B, which was moved to smaller B's on the shoulders.

Regular season

Howie Morenz played badly for Chicago and incurred the wrath of Chicago owner Frederic McLaughlin. He was subsequently traded to the New York Rangers.

This was the year of Detroit. They finished first in the American Division. The Montreal Maroons finished first in the Canadian Division, but fans were starting to stay away from games they played, which worried now team president, manager and coach Tommy Gorman. At one point, Lionel Conacher had to run the team when Gorman experienced health and nervous problems.
At .500 at mid-season, they traded Toe Blake for Lorne Chabot, owned by the Canadiens after being suspended by Chicago and refusing demotion to the minors, and the team began to win with Chabot in the net.

Final standings

Playoffs

Playoff bracket

The top three teams in each division qualified for the playoffs. The two division winners met in a best-of-five Stanley Cup semifinal series. The divisional second-place teams and third-place teams played off in a two-game total-goals series to determine the participants for the other two-game total-goals semifinal series. The semifinal winners then played in a best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals.

This was the final year that the league used a two-game total-goals series, replacing them with best-of-three formats the following year.

Quarterfinals

(C2) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (A2) Boston Bruins

(A3) Chicago Black Hawks vs. (C3) New York Americans

Semifinals

(A1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (C1) Montreal Maroons

The first game of the Maroons-Red Wings series set a record for the longest game in Stanley Cup playoff history, as well as the longest ice hockey game ever played. The game began at 8:30 p.m. at the Forum in Montreal, and ended at 2:25 a.m. The game was scoreless until the sixth overtime, when Mud Bruneteau scored on Maroon goaltender Lorne Chabot to win the game. Normie Smith shut out the Maroons in the next game, and the Red Wings then beat the Maroons to win the series.

(C2) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (C3) New York Americans

Stanley Cup Finals

Awards

Eddie Shore won his second consecutive Hart trophy. Frank Boucher's run of seven Lady Byng trophy awards came to an end as Doc Romnes won the award. Tiny Thompson won the Vezina trophy for the third time in his career.

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

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

Source: NHL.

Coaches

American Division

*Boston Bruins: Frank Patrick
*Chicago Black Hawks: Clem Loughlin
*Detroit Red Wings: Jack Adams
*New York Rangers: Lester Patrick

Canadian Division

*Montreal Canadiens: Sylvio Mantha
*Montreal Maroons: Tommy Gorman
*New York Americans: Rosie Helmer
*Toronto Maple Leafs: Dick Irvin

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1935–36 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
* Ray Getliffe, Boston Bruins
* Woody Dumart, Boston Bruins
* Mike Karakas, Chicago Black Hawks
* Mud Bruneteau, Detroit Red Wings
* Alex Shibicky, New York Rangers
* Babe Pratt, New York Rangers
* Neil Colville, New York Rangers
* Phil Watson, New York Rangers
* Reg Hamilton, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1935–36 (listed with their last team):
* Joe Primeau, Toronto Maple Leafs

See also

* 1935–36 NHL transactions
* List of Stanley Cup champions
*Ice hockey at the 1936 Winter Olympics
* 1935 in sports
* 1936 in sports

References

Works cited

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Further reading

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External links

Hockey Database

{{DEFAULTSORT:NHL, 1935-36

1935–36 in Canadian ice hockey by league
1935–36 in American ice hockey by league