1949-50 NHL Regular Season
The season has been expanded to 70 games this year. Backup goalies, and depth are now more important then ever.
Another year, and
Johnny Bower again passes through waivers in order to be sent to the minors. This game hates
Johnny Bower.
A month into the season,
Toronto promoted top prospect
Terry Sawchuk. With
Chuck Rayner starting, they waived former star
Bill Durnan. He was claimed by the
Rangers and is now the
Rangers starting goalie! For those keeping count, this is the 5th straight season, and a 5th different starting goalie in
New York!
Durnan joins Richard on the Rangers
At new years, about halfway through the season,
Terry Sawchuk has taken over the starting reigns for the
Leafs. He’s 4-8, with a shutout and a 3.06 GAA in his first 14 appearances. The Leafs have struggled this year, and it might be better to let
Chuck Rayner play. Chuck is excellent goalie, and just use
Terry as the backup for the year.
Sawchuk becomes Toronto's starter.
Over in
Detroit,
Johnny Bower has finally been called up. He’s played 9 games for the
Wings and has been excellent, going 5-2-1, with a .916 save percentage. What took you guys so long?!
Finally, Bower is in he NHL, is it for good?
With the
Bruins in first place, they make a move to add some veteran presence into their lineup.
Woody Dumart, the 33 year old winger has joined the squad.
Woody played a long time in
Montreal. 15 seasons to be exact. The high scoring forward had 33 points in 38 games at the time of the trade. He’s also got a wealth of playoff experience, playing in 108 games!
Dumart actually sits 4th all time in scoring!
Montreal gets
Gus Mortson, a 25 year old defenseman who has 12 goals this year. A big shot and a lot of penalties is
Mortson’s game.
Dumart joins the Bruins
A few days later, the
Habs continue to rebuild their blueline, picking up
Allan Stanley.
Only 23,
Stanley has a bright future ahead of him. He’s already played over 300 games, and has a career game rating of 64. Not too bad.
Montreal paid a hefty price, losing
Howie Meeker. Despite struggling with injuries the past few seasons,
Meeker two way forward, with a 30 goal season on his resume. He’s not gonna win a scoring title, but he will make your team better playing an all around game.
Stanley to Montreal.
3 days after the trade deadline,
Maurice Richard goes down. He tears up his knee, which will require surgery. His season is over. The
Rangers are sitting in 4th place, and are now in serious trouble. Could the 4 time cup champs miss the playoffs?
Richard finishes the season with 31 goals and 55 points in 47 games.
out for the season
Jacques Plante has taken the
Boston goaltending job from last year’s Gardiner Trophy winner
Sugar Jim Henry! Plante is playing great, with 5 shutouts in his first 30 games, and has posted a 2.33 GAA. It’s become clear, there are too many great goalies for a 6 team league!!
Plante now starting in Boston
Final Standings
Well, the
Rangers do miss the playoffs, ending their run of 4 straight championships. It was a very close race between the bottom three, and despite winning more games, the
Rangers finish below
Detroit!
Johnny Bower now appears number one on the
Red Wings depth chart, but he plays 20 games on the season, finishing with a 2.31 GAA and a .912 save percentage.
Detroit is starting
Dick Bittner instead.
Wally Hergesheimer is a surprise. He was a third line guy playing with
Boston, who was traded for another third line guy. He got 46 points a few years ago with the
Habs, but regressed to 27 last year. He broke out in a crazy way this year. 44 goals and 79 points!! “
Hergie” might have just become a star!
Syl Apps spent all year in the minor leagues.
Detroit had no use for the legend. At 35, he’s certainly slowed down in recent years, and it appears is career in the NHL is over. I hope he retires rather then spend another year in the AHL.
After joining
Boston,
Woody Dumart did what he was expected too. He scored 11 times and dished out 14 assists in 24 games. He was a great addition to a team still trying to win their first title.