1926-27 NHL season

The 1926-27 NHL season was the tenth season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. The success of the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Pirates led the NHL to further expand to the United States. On May 4, 1926, the Western Hockey League, unable to match the higher salaries being offered by the NHL, folded, with many of its assets sold to the NHL. In particular, the NHL Board of Governors had purchased the contracts of every player in the WHL for $258,000. The entire rosters of two WHL teams, the Portland Rosebuds and Victoria Cougars, were bought, respectively, by the expansion Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars. This left the NHL in sole possession of hockey's greatest players, as well as sole control of hockey's greatest trophy, the Stanley Cup, which was won for the ninth and final time by the Ottawa Senators.

A new trophy in memory of Georges Vezina, the Vezina Trophy, was donated this year by Leo Dandurand, Louis Letourneau and Joseph Cattarinich for the first time to the goaltender who had the best goals against average in the league.

Regular season

With the infusion of new teams, the NHL was split into the Canadian and American divisions (although the New York Americans were placed in the Canadian Division), along with an altered playoff format: the top team from each division would meet the winner of a total-goals series between the second and third place teams from their divisions. The winners of those total-goals series would meet in a best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals.

The Montreal Canadiens, last place finishers in 1925-26, solved their goaltending woes by signing George Hainsworth, whom Georges Vezina had designated to be his successor. They further strengthened their team by signing Herb Gardiner for defence. The Canadiens finished second in the Canadian Division to powerful Ottawa, who was the league's best team.

Dave Gill, secretary-treasurer(general manager), decided to take over as coach of the Ottawa Senators. He would be assisted by Frank Shaughnessy, a former coach of the old NHA Senators, to assist him with the strategy used in games. Ottawa finished first atop the Canadian Division as a result.

During the season, the Toronto St. Patricks were bought by Conn Smythe and renamed the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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

Canadian Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Ottawa Senators	44	30	10	4	64	86	69	607
Montreal Canadiens	44	28	14	2	58	99	67	395
Montreal Maroons	44	20	20	4	44	71	68	716
New York Americans	44	17	25	2	36	82	91	349
Toronto St. Pats/Maple Leafs	44	15	24	5	35	79	94	546

American Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
New York Rangers	44	25	13	6	56	95	72	385
Boston Bruins	44	21	20	3	45	97	89	521
Chicago Black Hawks	44	19	22	3	41	115	116	448
Pittsburgh Pirates	44	15	26	3	33	79	108	230
Detroit Cougars	44	12	28	4	28	76	105	409

Leading Scorers

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Bill Cook	New York Rangers	44	33	4	37
Dick Irvin	Chicago Black Hawks	43	18	18	36
Howie Morenz	Montreal Canadiens	44	25	7	32
Frank Fredrickson	Detroit / Boston	44	18	13	31
Babe Dye	Chicago Black Hawks	41	25	5	30
Ace Bailey	Toronto Maple Leafs	42	15	13	28
Frank Boucher	New York Rangers	44	13	15	28
Billy Burch	New York Americans	43	19	8	27
Harry Oliver	Boston Bruins	42	18	6	24
Duke Keats	Boston / Detroit	42	16	8	24

Leading Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; MIN = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shut outs; AVG = Goals against average

Player	Team	GP	MINS	GA	SO	AVG
Clint Benedict	Montreal Maroons	43	2748	65	13	1.42
Lorne Chabot	New York Rangers	36	2307	56	10	1.46
George Hainsworth	Montreal Canadiens	44	2732	67	14	1.47
Alex Connell	Ottawa Senators	44	2782	69	13	1.49
Hal Winkler	NY Rangers / Boston	31	1959	56	6	1.72
Jake Forbes	New York Americans	44	2715	91	8	2.01
John Ross Roach	Toronto Maple Leafs	44	2764	94	4	2.04
Hap Holmes	Detroit Cougars	41	2685	100	6	2.23
Roy Worters	Pittsburgh Pirates	44	2711	108	4	2.39
Hugh Lehman	Chicago Black Hawks	44	2797	116	5	2.49

Stanley Cup Playoffs

With the collapse of the Western Hockey League, the Stanley Cup became the new NHL champion trophy. The NHL teams now battled out amongst themselves for the coveted Cup. The new division alignment and the new playoff format also meant that an American team was guaranteed to be the first American NHL team to make the Cup Finals.

Playoff bracket

All dates in 1927

Quarterfinals

Montreal Canadiens vs. Montreal Maroons

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 29	Montreal Canadiens	1	Montreal Maroons	1
March 31	Montreal Maroons		Montreal Canadiens	1	(OT)

Montreal Canadiens win total-goals series 2-1

Boston Bruins vs. Chicago Black Hawks

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 29	Boston Bruins	6	Chicago Black Hawks	1	Played in New York
March 31	Chicago Black Hawks	4	Boston Bruins	2

Boston wins total-goals series 8 goals to 5

Semifinals

Ottawa Senators vs. Montreal Canadiens

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 2	Ottawa Senators	4	Montreal Canadiens
April 4	Montreal Canadiens	1	Ottawa Senators	1

Ottawa wins total-goals series 5-1

New York Rangers vs. Boston Bruins

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 2	New York Rangers		Boston Bruins
April 4	Boston Bruins	3	New York Rangers	1

Boston wins total-goals series 3-1

Stanley Cup Final

The Stanley Cup final was a best of three series. Oddly enough, it went four games due to two ties. At that time, if the game was tied after one twenty-minute overtime period, the game went in the books as a tie. Rough play marred the series as in the final game, Hooley Smith cross-checked Boston's Harry Oliver and late in the game Billy Coutu attacked referee Jerry Laflamme and tackled referee Billy Bell. He was subsequently suspended for life.

Boston Bruins vs. Ottawa Senators

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 7	Ottawa Senators		Boston Bruins		(OT)
April 9	Ottawa Senators	3	Boston Bruins	1
April 11	Boston Bruins	1	Ottawa Senators	1	(OT)
April 13	Boston Bruins	1	Ottawa Senators	3

Ottawa wins best-of-three series 2-0-2

Playoff scoring leaders