1939-40 NHL season

The 1939-40 NHL season, was the 23rd for the National Hockey League. Of the league's seven teams, the Boston Bruins were the best in the 48-game regular season, but the Stanley Cup winners were the New York Rangers, who defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the best-of-seven Finals 4-2 for their third Stanley Cup in 14 seasons of existence. It would be another 54 years before their fourth.

Regular season

Tragedy struck the Montreal Canadiens when Babe Siebert, named coach of the struggling club, drowned along with his daughter in August. It put a big hole in the Habs defence and the team finished last under Pit Lepine. An all-star benefit was held in Siebert's memory.

The New York Americans, in financial trouble, decided to trade their star left wing Dave "Sweeney" Schriner to Toronto for Harvey "Busher" Jackson, Buzz Boll, Murray Armstrong, and minor-leaguer Jimmy Fowler. Late in the season, they traded Eddie Wiseman and $5000 to Boston for Eddie Shore. The Americans then managed to make the playoffs by finishing a poor sixth. They also obtained Charlie Conacher and used him as a defenceman.

The first place Boston Bruins had a new coach in Cooney Weiland, their one-time captain, and were once again led by their "Kraut Line", Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart, and Bobby Bauer as they finished 1-2-3 in overall league scoring. Unfortunately, the potient three were unable to help the Bruins get past the first round of the playoffs as the Bruins lost in 6 to the Rangers.

Final standings

Note: GP = Games played, 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 highligted in bold

National Hockey League	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Boston Bruins	48	31	12	5	67	170	98	330
New York Rangers	48	27	11	10	64	136	77	520
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	25	17	6	56	134	110	485
Chicago Black Hawks	48	23	19	6	52	112	120	351
Detroit Red Wings	48	16	26	6	38	90	126	250
New York Americans	48	15	29	4	34	106	140	236
Montreal Canadiens	48	10	33	5	25	90	167	338

Scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Milt Schmidt	Boston Bruins	48	22	30	52
Woody Dumart	Boston Bruins	48	22	21	43
Bobby Bauer	Boston Bruins	48	17	26	43
Bill Cowley	Boston Bruins	48	13	27	40
Gordie Drillon	Toronto Maple Leafs	43	21	19	40
Bryan Hextall	New York Rangers	48	24	15	39
Neil Colville	New York Rangers	48	19	19	38
Syd Howe	Detroit Red Wings	48	14	23	37
Murray Armstrong	New York Americans	48	16	20	36
Hector Blake	Montreal Canadiens	48	17	19	36

Stanley Cup playoffs

The Boston Bruins were expected to make the Stanley Cup finals after a first overall finish during the regular season riding the shoulders of the "Kraut Line". But the New York Rangers were too much for the Bruins who lost in six and were out-scored 14 to 8 and shut-out twice in the first round. The third seed Toronto Maple Leafs swept the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks en route to the Stanley Cup finals.

Note: All dates in 1940

Playoff bracket

Quarterfinals and Semifinals

Series A: Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers

Date	Home	Score	Away	Score
March 19	New York Rangers	4	Boston Bruins
March 21	Boston Bruins	4	New York Rangers	3
March 24	Boston Bruins	4	New York Rangers	2
March 26	New York Rangers	1	Boston Bruins
March 28	Boston Bruins		New York Rangers	1
March 30	New York Rangers	4	Boston Bruins	1

Rangers win best of seven series 4 games to 2

Series B: Chicago Black Hawks vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 19	Chicago Black Hawks	2	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	6:35 of OT
March 21	Toronto Maple Leafs	2	Chicago Black Hawks	1

Toronto wins best of three series 2 games to 0

Series C: New York Americans vs. Detroit Red Wings

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 19	New York Americans	1	Detroit Red Wings	2	0:25 of OT
March 22	Detroit Red Wings	4	New York Americans	5
March 24	New York Americans	1	Detroit Red Wings	3

Detroit wins best of three series 2 games to 1

Series D: Detroit Red Wings vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 26	Detroit Red Wings	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	2
March 28	Toronto Maple Leafs	2	Detroit Red Wings	1

Toronto wins best of three series 2 games to 0

Stanley Cup Finals

The final series between the Rangers and the Maple Leafs was an exciting one that went back and forth with three overtime games. The Rangers took the first two at home and the Leafs took the next two in Toronto. Normally, the series would then go back to New York, but Madison Square Garden was hosting a circus so the final two games, won by New York, were played in Toronto.

Series E: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. New York Rangers

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 2	Toronto Maple Leafs	1	New York Rangers	2	15:30 of OT
April 3	Toronto Maple Leafs	2	New York Rangers	6
April 6	New York Rangers	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	2
April 9	New York Rangers		Toronto Maple Leafs	3
April 11	New York Rangers	2	Toronto Maple Leafs	1	11:43 of OT
April 13	New York Rangers	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	2	2:07 of OT

New York wins best of seven series 4 games to 2

Playoff scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Phil Watson	New York Rangers	12	3	6	9
Neil Colville	New York Rangers	12	2	7	9

1940 New York Rangers roster

General Manager: Lester Patrick
Head Coach: Frank Boucher
Trainer: Harry Westerby
Players: Art Coulter (Captain), Mac Colville, Neil Colville, Ott Heller, Bryan Hextall, Dutch Hiller, Dave Kerr, Kilby MacDonald, Lynn Patrick, Muzz Patrick, Alf Pike, Babe Pratt, Alex Shibicky, Clint Smith, Phil Watson

NHL awards

O'Brien Trophy:	Ottawa Senators
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Boston Bruins
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Kilby MacDonald, New York Rangers
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Ebbie Goodfellow, Detroit Red Wings
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Bobby Bauer, Boston Bruins
Vezina Trophy:	David Kerr, New York Rangers

References

NHL 1939/40

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