# 1940–41 NHL season

The 1940–41 NHL season was the 24th season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Seven teams each played 48 games. The Boston Bruins were the Stanley Cup winners as they swept the Detroit Red Wings four games to none in the final series.

## League business

In September 1940, International Ice Hockey Association president W. G. Hardy announced a new one-year agreement was reached with the NHL, who agreed to pay $250 for signing an amateur and another $250 if the amateur played in the NHL. NHL president Frank Calder signed the new professional-amateur agreement in October 1940. The agreement also included allowing the NHL to sign a limited number of junior age players.

## Regular season

The Montreal Canadiens had hit the bottom in 1939–40, and were in financial trouble. Frank Patrick decided to become an investor and governor for the team, and Tommy Gorman was hired as general manager. He hired recently released Toronto coach Dick Irvin to run the team. One of the first things Gorman and Irvin did was scout for players, and the Canadiens came up with Johnny Quilty, Joe Benoit, Elmer Lach and defenceman Ken Reardon. Bert Gardiner would be used in goal, replacing Claude Bourque and Wilf Cude. Murph Chamberlain was bought from Toronto to bolster the offence.
Quilty and Benoit came through, as did Toe Blake, but the Habs had a long way to go, finishing sixth. Quilty won the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie. In fact, before the season started, Coach Irvin handed a sealed envelope to a reporter of his guess who would win the Calder Trophy, and when the season ended, the reporter opened the envelope: Johnny Quilty was the choice Irvin made.
The Boston Bruins set a record 23 straight unbeaten games en route to a strong first-place finish at the end of the schedule. The Rangers, finished fourth after the previous year's Stanley Cup win and Dave Kerr was not up to his usual form in goal.

### Final standings

National Hockey League :
| | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA |
| Boston Bruins | 48 | 27 | 8 | 13 | 67 | 168 | 102 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 48 | 28 | 14 | 6 | 62 | 145 | 99 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 48 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 53 | 112 | 102 |
| New York Rangers | 48 | 21 | 19 | 8 | 50 | 143 | 125 |
| Chicago Black Hawks | 48 | 16 | 25 | 7 | 39 | 112 | 139 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 48 | 16 | 26 | 6 | 38 | 121 | 147 |
| New York Americans | 48 | 8 | 29 | 11 | 27 | 99 | 186 |
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
 Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

## Playoffs
### Playoff bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Stanley Cup Finals | Stanley Cup Finals | Stanley Cup Finals |
| | | | 1 | Boston | 4 | | | |
| | | | 2 | Toronto | 3 | | | |
| | | | | | | 1 | Boston | 4 |
| 3 | Detroit | 2 | | | | 1 | Boston | 4 |
| 3 | Detroit | 2 | | | | 3 | Detroit | 0 |
| 4 | NY Rangers | 1 | | | | 3 | Detroit | 0 |
| 4 | NY Rangers | 1 | 3 | Detroit | 2 | | | |
| | | | 5 | Chicago | 0 | | | |
| 5 | Chicago | 2 | 5 | Chicago | 0 | | | |
| 6 | Montreal | 1 | | | | | | |

### Quarterfinals
#### (3) Detroit Red Wings vs. (4) New York Rangers

* Detroit won series 2–1

#### (5) Chicago Black Hawks vs. (6) Montreal Canadiens

* Chicago won series 2–1

### Semifinals
#### (1) Boston Bruins vs. (2) Toronto Maple Leafs

* Boston won series 4–3

#### (3) Detroit Red Wings vs. (5) Chicago Black Hawks

* Detroit won series 2–0

### Stanley Cup Finals

* Boston won series 4–0

## Awards

| Calder Trophy: (Best first-year player) | Johnny Quilty, Montreal Canadiens |
| Hart Trophy: (Most valuable player) | Bill Cowley, Boston Bruins |
| Lady Byng Trophy: (Excellence and sportsmanship) | Bobby Bauer, Boston Bruins |
| O'Brien Cup: (Stanley Cup runners-up) | Detroit Red Wings |
| Prince of Wales Trophy: (Top regular season record) | Boston Bruins |
| Vezina Trophy: (Fewest goals allowed) | Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs |

### All-Star teams

| First Team | Position | Second Team |
| Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs | G | Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins |
| Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins | D | Earl Seibert, Chicago Black Hawks |
| Wally Stanowski, Toronto Maple Leafs | D | Ott Heller, New York Rangers |
| Bill Cowley, Boston Bruins | C | Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs |
| Bryan Hextall, New York Rangers | RW | Bobby Bauer, Boston Bruins |
| Sweeney Schriner, Toronto Maple Leafs | LW | Woody Dumart, Boston Bruins |
| Cooney Weiland, Boston Bruins | Coach | Dick Irvin, Montreal Canadiens |

## Player statistics
### Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes
| PLAYER | TEAM | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM |
| Bill Cowley | Boston Bruins | 46 | 17 | 45 | 62 | 16 |
| Bryan Hextall | New York Rangers | 48 | 26 | 18 | 44 | 16 |
| Gordie Drillon | Toronto Maple Leafs | 42 | 23 | 21 | 44 | 2 |
| Syl Apps | Toronto Maple Leafs | 41 | 20 | 24 | 44 | 6 |
| Syd Howe | Detroit Red Wings | 48 | 20 | 24 | 44 | 8 |
| Lynn Patrick | New York Rangers | 48 | 20 | 24 | 44 | 12 |
| Neil Colville | New York Rangers | 48 | 14 | 28 | 42 | 28 |
| Eddie Wiseman | Boston Bruins | 47 | 16 | 24 | 40 | 10 |
| Bobby Bauer | Boston Bruins | 48 | 17 | 22 | 39 | 2 |
| Roy Conacher | Boston Bruins | 41 | 24 | 14 | 38 | 7 |
Source: NHL

### Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min – Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts
| Player | Team | GP | MIN | GA | GAA | W | L | T | SO |
| Turk Broda | Toronto Maple Leafs | 48 | 2970 | 99 | 2.00 | 28 | 14 | 6 | 5 |
| Frank Brimsek | Boston Bruins | 48 | 3040 | 102 | 2.01 | 27 | 8 | 13 | 6 |
| Johnny Mowers | Detroit Red Wings | 48 | 3040 | 102 | 2.01 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 4 |
| Dave Kerr | New York Rangers | 48 | 3010 | 125 | 2.49 | 21 | 19 | 8 | 2 |
| Paul Goodman | Chicago Black Hawks | 21 | 1320 | 55 | 2.50 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 2 |
| Bert Gardiner | Montreal Canadiens | 42 | 2600 | 119 | 2.75 | 13 | 23 | 6 | 2 |
| Sam LoPresti | Chicago Black Hawks | 27 | 1670 | 84 | 3.02 | 9 | 15 | 3 | 1 |
| Chuck Rayner | N.Y. Americans | 12 | 773 | 44 | 3.42 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| Earl Robertson | N.Y. Americans | 36 | 2260 | 142 | 3.77 | 6 | 22 | 8 | 1 |

## Coaches

* Boston Bruins: Cooney Weiland
* Chicago Black Hawks: Paul Thompson
* Detroit Red Wings: Jack Adams
* Montreal Canadiens: Dick Irvin
* New York Americans: Red Dutton
* New York Rangers: Frank Boucher
* Toronto Maple Leafs: Hap Day

## Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1940–41 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
* Max Bentley, Chicago Black Hawks
* John Mariucci, Chicago Black Hawks
* Joe Carveth, Detroit Red Wings
* Elmer Lach, Montreal Canadiens
* Ken Reardon, Montreal Canadiens
* John Quilty, Montreal Canadiens
* Chuck Rayner, New York Americans
* Bill Juzda, New York Rangers

## Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1940–41 (listed with their last team):
* Paul Haynes, Montreal Canadiens
* Georges Mantha, Montreal Canadiens
* Hooley Smith, New York Americans
* Charlie Conacher, New York Americans
* Dave Kerr, New York Rangers