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The 1925-26 NHL season was the ninth season of the National Hockey League. Seven teams each played 36 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the Montreal Maroons who defeated the Victoria Cougars of the newly renamed Western Hockey League 3 games to 1 in a best of 5 series.

This was the first season for the expansion Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Americans, who signed the players from the revoked Hamilton Tigers franchise. The Pirates and the Americans became the second and third United States based teams in the NHL.

Regular season

The Hamilton Tigers spent the first five seasons in the NHL in last place until last season where then went from worst to first. Due to a players' stike, the team was suspended and disbanded. In the meantime, "Big Bill" Dwyer, an infamous bootlegger from New York City, had been granted an expansion franchise to play in New York's Madison Square Garden. He purchased the Hamilton players for his new New York Americans club. The success enjoyed by the Tigers was not carried over to New York, though, as the Americans finished fifth overall with a record of 12-20-4.

Eddie Gerard improved the Montreal Maroons by signing Nels Stewart and Babe Siebert and signing former olympian Dunc Munro for defense.The Maroons were on their way to glory. Nels Stewart not only set a record for goals by a rookie, but became the first rookie to win the scoring title.

From the start of the NHL, Georges Vezina had been the Montreal Canadiens goaltender,and had led them to the Cup in 1924. In the first game of this season,he collapsed on the ice as the second period got underway. It was found he had tuberculosis, and he died in March of 1926.

Tommy Gorman and Edgar Dey sold their interests in the Ottawa Senators to T. Franklin Ahearn. Ahearn then hired a successful junior executive, Dave Gill, to be secretary-treasurer(general manager)of the team. Gill then hired Alex Curry, a former Senators player in the old NHA, to coach the team. Curry was quite successful, as he took a team that had gone from fourth overall to first with an impressive record of 24-8-4, and the expansion Pittsburgh Pirates, with a strong cast of ex-amateurs led by future Hall of Famers Roy Worters and Lionel Conacher, finished third.

Final standings

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold
National Hockey League GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM
Ottawa Senators 36 24 8 4 52 77 42 341
Montreal Maroons 36 20 11 5 45 91 73 554
Pittsburgh Pirates 36 19 16 1 39 82 70 264
Boston Bruins 36 17 15 4 38 92 85 279
New York Americans 36 12 20 4 28 68 89 361
Toronto St. Patricks 36 12 21 3 27 92 114 325
Montreal Canadiens 36 11 24 1 23 79 108 458

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
Player Team GP G A Pts
Nels Stewart Montreal Maroons 36 34 8 42
Cy Denneny Ottawa Senators 36 24 12 36
Carson Cooper Boston Bruins 36 28 3 31
Jimmy Herberts Boston Bruins 36 26 5 31
Howie Morenz Montreal Canadiens 31 23 3 26
Jack Adams Toronto St. Patricks 36 21 5 26
Aurel Joliat Montreal Canadiens 35 17 9 26
Billy Burch New York Americans 36 22 3 25
Hooley Smith Ottawa Senators 28 16 9 25
Frank Nighbor Ottawa Senators 35 12 13 25

Stanley Cup playoffs

This is the last season that saw challengers from outside of the NHL compete for the Stanley Cup. At the beginning of the season, the Western Canada Hockey League renamed itself the Western Hockey League because one of its teams, the Regina Capitals, had moved to the States to play in Portland, Oregon. They were renamed the Portland Rosebuds.

Once again, the Victoria Cougars finished third in their league but once again won their league championship and the right to play for the Stanley Cup. The previous season, the Cougars beat the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup with that being the only time in NHL history in which a non-NHL team won the Cup. After the 1926 playoffs, the Western Hockey League would fold leaving the Stanley Cup entirely to the NHL. The Cup would never again be challenged by a non-NHL team, despite efforts to Free Stanley during the 2004-05 NHL lockout season of 2004-2005.

All dates 1926

Prince of Wales Trophy

The second seed Montreal Maroons beat the third seed Pittsburgh Pirates and then went on to beat first place Ottawa Senators 2 goals to 1 in a two game total goals series, thus capturing the Prince of Wales Trophy and the right to play the Victoria Cougars for the Stanley Cup.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Montreal Maroons

Date Team Score Team Score Notes
March 8Pittsburgh Pirates1Montreal Maroons3
March 11Pittsburgh Pirates3Montreal Maroons3
Montreal wins total goals series 6 goals to 4

Montreal Maroons vs. Ottawa Senators

Date Team Score Team Score Notes
March 25Montreal Maroons1Ottawa Senators1
March 27Montreal Maroons1Ottawa Senators
Montreal wins total goals series 2 goals to 1

Stanley Cup final

Nels Stewart was "Old Poison" to the Victoria Cougars, as he scored 6 goals in the 4 games and goaltender Clint Benedict shut out the westerners three times.

Victoria Cougars vs. Montreal Maroons

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
March 30Victoria CougarsMontreal Maroons3
April 1Victoria CougarsMontreal Maroons3
April 3Victoria Cougars3Montreal Maroons2
April 6Victoria CougarsMontreal Maroons2
Montreal Maroons win best-of-five series 3 games to 1 for the Stanley Cup

NHL Playoff leading scorer

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
Player Team GP G A Pts
Nels Stewart Montreal Maroons 8 6 3 9

NHL awards

Prince of Wales Trophy: Montreal Maroons
Hart Memorial Trophy: Nels Stewart, Montreal Maroons
Lady Byng Trophy: Frank Nighbor, Ottawa Senators

See also

References

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "1925-26 NHL season".

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