1954-55
OFF-SEASON
A huge year for retirements as Milt Schmidt, Jack Stewart, Syl Apps and Turk Broda all officially announced the end of their careers.
Schmidt was the last active member of Boston's Kraut Line featuring wingers Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer. The three of them combined to lead the Bruins to 3 Cup titles. Schmidt played 895 career games, all with Bosotn, and finished with 363 goals and 786 points. He was named a first team all-star in 1942-43. Schmidt choose to retire rather than report to Chicago as the Bruins had traded his rights to the Black Hawks during the off-season.
Stewart will go down as the best defenseman of his era and possibly all-time after winning 8 Norris Trophy's and 9 first-team all-star selections. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy in the only year Detroit won the Stanley Cup. His entire 826 game career was spent with the Red Wings and he earned 653 career points.
Neither Broda or Apps has played in recent years. Apps last game was in 1951-52 and he retires with 911 career points in 781 games. Broda played one season with Detroit before being traded to Montreal where he became simply the best goalie in league history - going 484-277-105 and winning 10 straight Vezina Trophy's and 5 Stanley Cups.
Some interesting trades as well led by Montreal's acquisition of 34 year old Max Bentley from the Chicago Black Hawks in exchange for Floyd Curry and Orval Tessier. Bentley played 756 games in obscurity with the generally awful Black Hawks but did tally 664 career points including 251 goals. Last season he had 12 goals and 30 points in 70 games.
The Red Wings did a bit of a housecleaning, dealing goaltender Chuck Rayner to the Rangers and defenseman Bill Quackenbush to Chicago. Rayner started his career in New York but has been the Wings number one goaltender for over a decade. The move for the Wings means Gump Worsley will likely finally get a chance to be a starter at the age of 25. Quackenbush had spent over a decade on the Detroit blueline, playing in 660 career games. Detroit got Floyd Curry, who had just been dealt from Montreal to Chicago, in return for Quackenbush.
Newcomers this season include Ralph Backstrom with Montreal, Eddie Shack to New York, Murray Oliver with Detroit and John McKenzie to Chicago.
REGULAR SEASON
The Montreal Canadiens rewrote the record book as they established a new single season record for points en route to finish 36 points ahead of second place Toronto. Dickie Moore, after missing much of last season with an injury, returned with a vengence. The 24 year old set a new single season record for goals with 56 and points with 117. Linemate Jean Beliveau finished with 111 points, including a record 77 assists. Jacques Plante played all but 14 minutes of the season in the Montreal net and set a new record for goaltenders with 56 victories.
On December 18th Maurice Richard became the first player to score 500 NHL goals. The milestone goal came in 6-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Doug Bentley drew the lone assist on the play while the opposing goaltender was Johnny Bower, who was recently acquired by Detroit from the Rangers but would be moved to Chicago before the seasons end.
Speaking of milestones Elmer Lach became the first player to reach the 1000 point plateau with an assist in a 3-0 win over Boston on November 6th.
Code:
GP W L T PTS
Montreal Canadiens 70 56 8 6 118
Toronto Maple Leafs 70 37 25 8 82
Boston Bruins 70 29 33 8 66
Detroit Red Wings 70 24 34 12 60
Chicago Black Hawks 70 19 41 10 48
New York Rangers 70 18 42 10 46
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Dickie Moore MON 70 56 61 117
Jean Beliveau MON 70 34 77 111
Bernie Geoffrion MON 68 38 59 97
Tod Sloan TOR 63 40 33 73
Fleming Mackell TOR 63 22 46 68
Red Kelly TOR 70 17 51 68
Marty Pavelich DET 70 28 32 60
Real Chevrefils BOS 70 27 33 60
Don McKenney BOS 68 23 37 60
Ted Lindsay DET 68 22 37 59
PLAYOFFS
The Canadiens powerhouse had no trouble eliminating Toronto in 4 straight games. Bernie Geoffrion led the way with 4 goals and 11 points in those contests while Jean Beliveau and Maurice Richard each had 6 points.
Boston and Detroit played a thrilling 7 game series. The Red Wings won 3 of the first four contests before Boston roared back with 3 straight victories, including an overtime winner in Game Seven, to take the series.
The finals opened with a 4-2 Montreal victory as Beliveau and Dickie Moore each had a 3 point night in the victory while the third member of that line - Bernie Geoffrion - added two assists.
Montreal needed an overtime goal from Doug Harvey to win Game Two by a 3-2 score. It was Harvey's second goal of the game.
Boston got first period goals from Jerry Toppazzini, Roy Conacher and Red Sullivan and then held on to win Game Three by a 3-1 score. The Habs fired 42 shots at Boston goaltender Harry Lumley but only Geoffrion's first period marker got by the Boston netminder.
Boston was badly outshot again in Game Four but Lumley had another big game and the Bruins prevailed 3-2 to even the series.
Lumley's luck ran out in Game Five as he was chased from the crease in the second period of a 10-2 Canadiens victory. Montreal outshot the Bruins 50-11 in the contest. Maurice Richard had a hat trick while Dickie Moore had a goal and 4 assists in the win.
It was more of the same the next game as the Canadiens clinched the Cup with a 6-1 victory, outshooting Lumley and the Bruins 47-12. Dickie Moore had 2 goals and 2 assists to lead the way to give him 19 points in 10 playoff games, one more than linemate Geoffrion. The two teammates tied for the goal lead with 8 each while Beliveau and Richard each scored 6 goals.
Moore was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy for the second time in his career.
Other Award winners:
HART TROPHY: Jean Beliveau Montreal (70GP 34-77-111)
VEZINA TROPHY: Jacques Plante Montreal (56-8-6, 1.64)
NORRIS TROPHY: Tom Johnson Montreal (61GP 7-43-50)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Dickie Moore Montreal (70GP 56-61-117)
CALDER TROPHY: Larry Popein New York (65 GP 5-14-19)
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Jacques Plante Montreal Terry Sawchuk Toronto
D Red Kelly Toronto Bill Barilko Toronto
D Tom Johnson Montreal Doug Harvey Montreal
C Jean Beliveau Montreal Fleming Mackell Toronto
LW Dickie Moore Montreal Ted Lindsay Detroit
RW Bernie Geoffrion Montreal Maurice Richard Montreal