1955-56 NHL Regular Season
Montreal suffers a big blow early in the season.
Tom Johnson’s season is over. He’s the reigning Norris Trophy winner. Even though the defending champs have another Norris winner, and good depth,
Johnson is in his prime, and you can’t replace him. Fractured skulls happen a lot in this game. Just saying…
Johnson is out for the season!
Johnny Bower is named goalie of the month in October. His teammate
Marcel Pelletier is named goalie of the month in November.
Toronto, the worst team in the league, has 2 elite goalies in
Sawchuk and
Worsley.
Montreal, Chicago and
Boston are all very happy with their goaltending. Only the
Rangers have what I consider bad goaltending. The level of goaltending in hockey right now is ridiculously good. We need more teams or less goalies!
The first place
Red Wings just lost
Gordie Howe for 3 months. In his career,
Howe has missed just 11 games in 9 seasons, so this is rare.
Gordie had 36 points, in 26 games, leading the league in scoring, but tore ligaments in his ankle. He requires surgery and will be out around 3 months.
Detroit is hoping he can be available for the playoffs. It will be tight! The playoffs are scheduled to begin 3 months from the day of the injury.
Gordie resting up!
At new years, its pretty much already decided who will make the playoffs.
Toronto and
New York just aren’t good enough. They are the bottom of the league right now.
Toronto, in fifth, is 10 points out, and that’s actually better then I thought they would be.
Detroit holds first place, but without
Howe,
Montreal and
Boston should be able to pass them…
A weird and surprising trade
Marcell Pelletier leaves the
Red Wings for
Chicago of all places. Good for
Detroit, finally making a choice. Now,
Pelletier was having a great year. 20-11, with a 1.60 GAA and a .928 save percentage. He will now back up
Glenn Hall who has a .931 save percentage!
Hall is 24, so maybe this is insurance, but
Chicago didn’t need
Pelletier.
They give up
Don McKenney. Don was the 1st overall draft pick for the
Rangers back in 52 I believe. He’s 21 years old, and is a role player. 2nd/3rd line type. In the right situation, he could probably be a 50 point guy. His career high at this young age is 12 goals and 13 assists.
The very next day, the same two teams complete a blockbuster.
Allan Stanley is a top level defenseman, who has figured out how to provide offense in this goal-less era of the NHL. He had 32 points in 50 games when the trade took place, and plays 25 minutes a game.
Ron Stewart is the key player going back to
Chicago. He’s a good young center, who has 43 points in 48 games this year.
Stewart is a excellent defensive option in addition to the offense he provides.
Chicago does need to add offense to help out
Beliveau. I think
Stewart is the type of player who will always win. Does everything. Seems like an even trade, as both teams get something out of this.
Stewart being only 23 is probably the reason
Chicago got a slightly better deal.
Stewart getting his physical after reporting to Chicago.
Milt Schmidt just became the first player to play 1000 games!! Congrats to
Schmidt, who at 37, is still playing every game for
Detroit. He’s not the player he once was. He’s getting just 7 minutes a game these days, and has just 9 points on the year, but players in this game are usually retired by now, and
Schmidt is still playing on a good team!
Schmidt is still going!
Final Standings
Detroit does fall from first place after losing
Gordie Howe.
Montreal didn’t seem to miss
Tom Johnson at all. If
Howe returns for the playoffs, their series vs
Montreal will be something.
The
Rangers beat the
Leafs out by just 2 points avoiding last place.
Toronto will get another chance at the number one pick, desperately needed to pick a stud, and then not trade him away for **** you don’t need!!!
Marcel Pelletier plays just 2 games with
Chicago after the trade. He allowed 6 goals in those games.
Ron Stewart, brought in to provide
Chicago with some offense after
Jean Beliveau, gets just 11 points in 20 games.
Chicago needs more scoring from him.
Allan Stanely actually outscored
Stewart after the deal, with 14 points!
Gordie Howe returned to the lineup on March 10th, and played the final 5 games of the season. He got a goal and 3 assists in those games.