NHL Historical Replay

[George_Bell]

1938-39 Season Preview





Top Player



Syl Apps is the best player in the NHL. At the age of 23, this probably will repeat itself a few more times.

Top Goalie



Frank Brimsek is hockey's best rated goalie. Amazing development. Not a great cast surrounding him though.

[George_Bell]

1938-39 NHL Regular Season

At New Years, its pretty evident that Chicago has replaced Detroit has the best team in hockey. Last years cup run was no fluke, as the Hawks have won 16 of their first 20 games. Detroit is having a middle of the pack season, which is still kind of shocking to me. Their fall from dominance happened very quickly.

It looks to me like Detroit's problem is goaltending. Alec Connell, great for many years, has gotten old. He's not the same player he was even two years ago. His overall rating is down to 1.5 and he's posting career worst numbers. The Wings are still scoring, but unless Connell finds the fountain of youth, their winning ways are over.


Connell

With this new playoff format, only one team will not make the playoffs. There are two really bad teams in the NHL, and one of them gets a shot at Lord Stanley’s mug. The city of New York has two teams. They have combined to win 16 games this year. Chicago has 25. Hell, 2nd place Toronto has 16!

The Americans and Rangers both got bad really fast. The reason looks like they both got old, and didn’t really replace their core with younger guys. The Americans have Frank Brimsek, Elmer Lach, Max Bentley, Bill Durnan. That’s a lot of hope for the future. They aren't playing the main roles yet, but one day soon they will be. The Rangers, they are still relying on Charlie Conacher, whose about to turn 30. Conacher is still pretty good. He just isn’t getting better. They don't have any real good prospects that will change their fortunes. DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT. Thats the future of the Rangers.

Final Standings



Chicago just dominated. Detroit has clearly fallen off, and the Americans almost caught them with a good second half. Detroit's fall has been very steep!



Sweeney Schriber's 39 assists is the 3rd highest total ever, behind the 43 assists Joe Primeau got in 1930 and Syl Apps 40 in 1936 and 1938. Quite the season from Schriner!

[George_Bell]

1939 NHL Playoffs


1st Round

It took all 3 games and overtime, but the Bruins eliminate the Habs. Sid Abel, who played 2 years in Montreal, with the Maroons, makes his first playoff goal memorable, the OT winner.



Detroit shows they aren’t exactly done yet. If they get the goaltending, they can still score with the best of em. Alec Connell might be getting on in years, but he does a good job against the Americans, allowing just 2 goals.

Round 2

These series are now best of 7 affairs!

Detroit and Boston played a rather high scoring semi final series. If the Wings got any goaltending, they win this thing, but Alec Connell allows 22 goals in the 6 game series, which is a lot for these days. Syl Apps was incredible for Detroit. His 8 goals and 6 assists in this series alone is legendary, except it wasn’t enough. The Bruins win three times by a goal, and win the series in 6.



Toronto and Chicago show the league why 7 game series are the best. They go back and forth in a very hard fought affair. Chicago flexed their muscle with 2 big early wins, which would have ended a best of three series. The Leafs responded by earning 2 shutouts, and allowing just 5 goals over the next 4 games. Down three games to one, Toronto has come back to tie the series at three. Lets play game 7.



Game 7

Both teams goalies have been excellent, while Toe Blake has been MIA. Will the Black Hawks star show up for this elimination game?



Toronto strikes first. Bill MacKenzie converts a Milt Schmidt rebound 3 minutes in. Chicago Stadium is nervous. Roy Worters makes 13 first period saves, giving the Leafs the advantage after one.

Bryan Hextall finds the net halfway through the 2nd to make it 2-0. Chicago’s Don Grosso responds quickly. The Crowd has something to cheer about. 2-1 Leafs…

Halfway through the third, Bucko McDonald takes a penalty. Don Grosso finds the puck in the slot and beats Roy Worters glove hand to tie this game at 2!!! Chicago Stadium is jumpin! Roy Conacher puts the Black Hawks ahead a minute later! His first goal of the series gives the Hawks the series win! Chicago comes back to win game seven, 4-2!

[George_Bell]

Boston makes their 2nd ever appearance in the Stanley Cup. Their first since 1927. This is new grounds for them. 36 year old Eddie Shore is still their leader, and plays a lot. He led the team in assists, but he’s got more help these days then he’s used to. Lynn Patrick has become a very reliable first liner. He’s good in both ends of the ice. I don’t think they match up well against Chicago though. The defending champs are getting much better goaltending then Detroit did. Boston will have a tough time scoring enough goals. I say Chicago wins in 5.

[George_Bell]

The Black Hawks open the cup final in dominant fashion. Toe Blake gets 2 goals and 2 assists in a 7-3 win. Marty Barry spearheaded Chicago’s 5-2 game two win with 2 third period goals. Heading back to Boston, the Bruins need to find a way to shut down the Blackhawks offense.



Toe Blake leading the Chicago offense

Lynn Patrick got Boston up early in game three. Boston held that 1-0 lead for a long time. In a two minute span though, Don Grosso and Sweeney Schriber scored, which is enough for Chicago to take it 2-1. Game four is no contest. Mel Hill records 3 assists as the Black Hawks complete the sweep with a 5-1 win.

[George_Bell]

Playoff stats!!

[George_Bell]

1939 NHL Offseason News and Notes

Milt Schmidt wins the Hart Trophy for the first time. He has Toronto looking like a real contender at the moment. The Leafs also see Roy Worters win the first Gardiner Trophy after it was renamed. Here are the award winners and the NHL All-stars.





Three player hung em up who will have their jerseys retired. Montreal will retired Lionel Conacher’s #22. He spent 16 years with the Habs, playing a Montreal record 661 games. He was a rock on defense who often didn’t get any headlines. A career high 27 points in 1931, Conacher will be remembered fondly in Montreal.


Lionel Conacher

Aurel Joliat has called it a career. The Ny Americans legend will go down as one of the greatest to ever play the game. He scored 274 goals, 306 assists and 580 points. His 712 games are the most games ever played.


Aurel Joliat

Here is a look at Joliats career stats. The Americans will hang his #11 from the rafters.



Toronto’s Nels Stewart has said farewell to the NHL. The long time Leaf had some amazing seasons in his 20s. He won three Hart Trophys, and two Stanley Cups.


Nels Stewart

Toronto’s all time leader in Goals, assists and points. Infact, here is Toronto’s career leaderboard.



For some reason, the game gave him 82 to wear. Here are his career stats.



Lionel Conacher, Aurel Joliat and Nels Stewart.



The first big trade in years takes place between Detroit and Montreal.



I’m surprised Detroit would deal Bobby Bauer. His injury two years ago was the moment the Detroit dynasty fell. Bauer came back last year, and had 45 points in 48 games, a career year.

Nick Metz has had a good career, but the 25 year old is trending down. His point totals have fallen every year since 1935. He had 19 points last year. Maybe the Red Wings see a better match, but I don’t. Montreal just got better.


The newest Hab

JACKPOT. The New York Rangers have hit the draft jackpot.



Maurice Richard, one of the greatest players of all time is drafted first overall by the Rangers. His potential is one of the best pots ive seen so far. If things go like they did in real life, the city of New York is gonna be mentioned a lot in this dynasty.




Three players were elected into the Hall of Fame. 2 of them shouldn’t have been. I can’t see where to edit them out, but in my mind, I run this league and I have veto power. So, I will not mention them or include them. One player should be there though. George Hainsworth will take his rightful place among the games greats.

[DINSE22]

How are you doing the retired number banners

[George_Bell]

Originally Posted by DINSE22

How are you doing the retired number banners

I make them in photoshop

[George_Bell]

1939-40 Season Preview





Top Player



Milt Schmidt is the best rated player in the NHL. He's the only 5/5 skater. Syl Apps is 4.5/4.5.

Top Goalie

[George_Bell]

1939-40 NHL Regular Season

New years is here again, and what I'm noticing is the Detroit Red Wings are good again! After taking a year and a half off from winning games, Detroit is 14-6. The biggest difference, they stopped allowing goals. 37 year old Alec Connell is backing up Bill Beveridge this year. Connell was awful last year, as it looks like age has caught up to him. Beverdige has posted a .934 save percentage so far. It’s looking like the Wings just needed some goaltending.


Beveridge

My other new years observation, there are two types of teams in the NHL now. The contenders made up of Toronto, Detroit and Chicago. The other 4 are pretenders. So, I will predict the Cup final will be between two of those 3 teams. Lets see…

An interesting deal takes place as the Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired Bill Durnan.



Toronto had been winning with 0.5/0.5 39 year old Roy Worters in net. Worters is having a great year, but many more weeks, months or years will that keep up. Worters becomes the backup, and Bill Durnan is obviously the starter. Goaltending, on paper, is Toronto’s biggest issue. Durnan solves that problem. Durnan has backed up Frank Brimsek for a few years, and will now get a chance to show the hockey world what he is. Durnan is entering his prime. Seems like a really smart move by Toronto.


Durnan

Final Standings



Toronto, Detroit and Chicago. They are the contenders.



Don Metz enjoyed playing with Milt Schmidt. His league leading 26 goals is way better then the 17 he scored in his previous three seasons combined!


Metz leads the league in goals

Bill Durnan goes 7-1-1, with 2 shutouts after his trade to Toronto. So far, so good…

[George_Bell]

1940 NHL Playoffs

1st Round

After shuting out the Hawks in game one, Montreal couldn’t score another goal. The Champs were not gonna go down like that, and advance.



Mac Colville recorded 5 points in the Americans series clinching 9-1 thrashing of Boston. New York scored 6 times in the third. There were no fights. Boston is soft!

2nd Round

The Black Hawks were way to much for an Americans team that looks to me like they were in over their head. Game one and two were pretty close, but the Hawks showed their superiority with rather easy wins in games 3 and 4. Toe Blake and Sweeney Schriner each had a 6 point series. Chicago is back in the Stanley Cup.



Toronto and Detroit played two overtime games, each team winning once. Other then game two, it's a very defensive series. Syl Apps had just 1 assist in the first 5 games, but got 3 points in a do or die game 6 for Detroit, forcing a deciding game 7.

In that game seven, Toronto’s Red Hamill scored the games only goal midway through the first. Roy Worters, and not Bill Durnan played every game including the deciding shutout. Toronto wins the series in 7!

[George_Bell]

Chicago tries to become the third franchise to win 3 cups in a row. Montreal and Detroit have both won 4! The Hawks didn't have the best regular season, but it didn't mean too much, as they have been the defending champs you would expect in the playoffs. The Leafs are young, talented and hungry. This group is new to this position, but are relying on 39 year old Roy Worters, who was the goalie the last time Toronto raised a banner more then a decade ago!

[George_Bell]

Fred Thurier scores 2 goals, which brings his postseason total to 4. He scored 4 goals during the regular season. The Chicago winger is gaining that playoff performer rep. Thurier’s goals lead Chicago to a opening game win.


Thurier

Toronto tied the series with a game two, 5-3 win. Sweeney Schriner gets 3 assists in a losing effort. Earl Robertson responded with a 3-0 game three shutout. The back and forth continued in game 4. The Leafs complete a 7-0 thrashing! Milt Schmidt gets 2 goals and 3 assists, and the series is now a best of 3.

Roy Worters records his 2nd straight shutout in game five. A 3-0 win with Milt Schmidt recording a goal and an assist. Fred Thurier scores again, his 5th of the playoffs, and game 6 goes to overtime. Eddie Bust scores the winner, 7 minutes into the extra frame, giving the Black Hawks the game six victory. We will have a game seven!

Game 7



Maple Leaf Gardens hosts its first game seven!! The Stanley Cup is in the building.

Sweeney Schriner gets the games first goal near the end of the first, set up by Toe Blake. A flurry by the Black Hawks results in Toe Blake making it 2-0 early in the 2nd. Worters made 3 straight saves but couldn’t make a 4th.

Mud Bruneteau makes it 3-0 2 minutes later, and this is starting to turn into a no contest. It’s 4-0 after two periods. The champs put it on cruise control, skating to a 6-0 win to take their third straight Stanley Cup!

[George_Bell]

[George_Bell]

1940 Offseason News and Notes

Now that playoff stats are working, here is a look at the top 10 scorers from the playoffs this year. Toe Blake's 14 goals has to be a record. I'm not seeing any place to check that, but I'm going to officialize it as the most goals scored in a single playoff! He was amazing!



Syl Apps wins the Hart Trophy. He had an excellent year where Detroit resurrected themselves. No issue with that award. Bill Beveridge also deserves some credit for the Red Wings turnaround, and he gets it with the Gardiner award. Here are the award winners and the all-star teams.





Toronto’s long time goalie, John Ross Roach has retired. The Maple Leafs will retire his number 31. Roach was only a starter for 6 of his 16 years, but he was a very popular player with the fanbase, and performed when he got the chance. A member of two Toronto championship teams, Roach won 147 of his 317 NHL games, and finished his career with excellent marks of 1.96 GAA and .921 save percentage. The hall of fame isn’t in his future, but his number will live on in the rafters of Maple Leaf Gardens.



Eddie Shore also called it a career. Shore is a sure fire Hall of Famer, who will see his number retired in Boston. Shore won the Hart Trophy 5 times, and played with the Vancouver Maroons when they hoisted the Cup in 1923. Shore will retire the all time leader in penalty minutes with 1331. Here is a look at his career stats.





A dose of depth in this years draft. Every team gets a pretty solid player if you believe they will all reach their potential. That’s a solid draft.



Bill Quackenbush is the top pick, who will join Maurice Richard in New York. The Rangers are building a nice nucleus.



Hap Day has been inducted into the Hall of Fame. I'm choosing to ignore one inductee this year. Would be real swell if we could edit this stuff... Oh well...

[George_Bell]

1940-41 NHL Season Preview





Top Player



Milt Schmidt, at 22, is the leagues top player. He lead the Leafs to a game of the Stanley Cup, and it might only be a matter of time until he gets a bunch of rings.

Top Goalie



Frank Brimsek has developed into the model goalie. He doesn't have a great cast around him, and we all know it. So when the Americans have any success, we will be praising Mr. Brimsek.

[George_Bell]

1940-41 NHL Regular Season

Tough break to start the season out. In a mid December game, Syl Apps collided with the goal. He was banged up pretty bad, and diagnosed with a ruptured bicep tendon. After surgery, it was determined Apps would be out a minimum of 7 months, thus ending his season. It’s a big blow to Detroit, who enjoyed a renascence season last year. Apps was having an excellent season as well. 8 goals, 17 assists in just 16 games!


Apps absence will hurt Detroit

The Toronto Maple Leafs have officially given the goaltending job to Bill Durnan. He’s played 17 games by new years, and despite a pedestrian 9-8 record, Durnan has played well. He has 3 shutouts, and a 2.06 GAA. If Durnan keeps that up, the wins will build up.


Durnan wins the starting job

Scoring is up. It is up in a big way. After seeing the top scorers, it was evident there are way more goals this year.



The last time we past the 5 goals a game mark was back in 1929. The scoring rate has been pretty consistent over the 30’s. We are on pace for the highest scoring season since 1925!

Amid the scoring burst, Milt Schmidt is chasing history. Through 21 games, Schmidt has 22 goals. That puts him on a a 50 goal pace, which would smash Howie Morenz’s record of 33 goals in a season. Something I will keep an eye on…


The current top 10 goal scoring seasons

On January 30th, Milt Schmidt scored 3 goals. Goal 32, 33 and 34. That’s the record. Milt Schmidt, with more then a month to go, has set the single season goal scoring record. 34 goals and counting! Now that he has the goal record, we turn our attention to the points record, held by Joe Primeau, with 67 points. Schmidt currently has 59….


The current top 10 points in a single season

The Milt Schmidt season review continues…..on the final day of February, Schmidt scores his 42nd goal of the season, in his 41st game. It’s also point 68, setting the single season point record! Maybe Milt Schmidt himself is responsible for the increase in scoring this year!


Schmidt having a record breaking season

Final Standings



Syl Apps absence is so impactful, the Red Wings fail to make the playoffs. Toronto will also face Chicago in the semi finals, a Stanley Cup rematch from last year. If one of those teams don’t win the cup, it will be a HUGE upset.



Milt Schmidt falls two goals short of the magical 50 mark. He still finishes with a goal per game, which is amazing! Toe Blake beats the old scoring record with 72 points, and less fanfare then his rival Schmidt. Bill Durnan wins the goaltender’s triple crown in his first full season as a starter!

[George_Bell]

1941 NHL Playoffs

1st Round

Montreal took care of business in their deciding game with Boston. Carl Liscombe scored twice and added an assist…in the first period. Montreal outshot Boston 36 to 6. Even if Boston scored on every shot, it would only force overtime.



The Americans, led by emerging star Elmer Lach win the latest battle of New York. It does seem like they play alot. Lets check. Yep. This is the 6th playoff meeting between the rivals. Including this series, the Rangers have a 4-2 lead.

2nd Round

Toronto comes out flat against Chicago, and before they know it, they lose both home games to open the series. After game three, it’s 3-0 Black Hawks. Red Horner, Chicago defenseman, is outscoring Milt Schmidt. Bill Durnan also posts a .887 save percentage through the first 3 games.

Schmidt finally makes a difference, scoring both Toronto goals in game 4, enough for the win. Red Hamill keeps Toronto alive after a game 5 overtime win. That’s it though for the Leafs. Fred Thurier, and Mud Bruneteau, who beat them in game 7 last year, combine on the tying and winning goals to eliminate the buds again.



Meanwhile, in the series everyone is ignoring, defense is dominating. No one has scored more then 3 goals in a game, there have been 2 shutouts, and three 1 goal games. Montreal and New York need seven games to decide the series. In the deciding game, Dutch Hiller scores his team leading 5th goal, the series winner early in the third. Montreal advances to the Stanley cup with the 4-2 win!

[George_Bell]

This could, and probably should end up a sweep. Chicago is miles ahead of Montreal in terms of talent everywhere except in goal. Turk Broda is probably the better goalie. It shouldn’t matter though. Toe Blake just had the 2nd best season in history, and beat the guy who had the best. Broda looks to me like Montreal’s only chance to steal a game. The real Stanley Cup was the semi finals with Toronto…