1939–40 NHL season

The **1939–40 NHL season** was the 23rd season for the National Hockey League.

### Scoring leaders

_Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points_
|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="125"|Player|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="125"|Team|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|GP|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|G|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|A|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|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|||||||
|Gordie Drillon|Toronto Maple Leafs|43|21|19|40|||||||
|Bill Cowley|Boston Bruins|48|13|27|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|||||||
|Hector Blake|Montreal Canadiens|48|17|19|36|||||||
|Murray Armstrong|New York Americans|48|16|20|36|||||||

### Leading goaltenders

_Note: GP = Games played; Min - Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts_
|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="20%"|Player|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="20%"|Team|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="6%"|GP|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="6%"|MIN|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="6%"|GA|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="6%"|GAA|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="6%"|W|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="6%"|L|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="6%"|T|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="6%"|SO|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Dave Kerr|New York Rangers|48|3000|77|1.54|27|11|10|8|||||||||||
|Paul Goodman|Chicago Black Hawks|31|1920|62|1.94|16|10|5|4|||||||||||
|Frank Brimsek|Boston Bruins|48|2950|98|1.99|31|12|5|6|||||||||||
|Turk Broda|Toronto Maple Leafs|47|2900|108|2.23|25|17|5|4|||||||||||
|Cecil "Tiny" Thompson|Detroit Red Wings|46|2830|120|2.54|16|24|6|3|||||||||||
|Earl Robertson|N.Y. Americans|48|2960|140|2.84|15|29|4|6|||||||||||
|Claude Bourque|Montreal Canadiens|36|2210|121|3.29|9|24|3|2|||||||||||
|Mike Karakas|Chicago Black Hawks|17|1050|58|3.31|7|9|1|0|||||||||||

## Playoffs

_Note: All dates in 1940_

### Quarter-finals and Semi-finals

**Series A: Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers**
|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="60"|Date|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Home|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|Score|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Away|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|Score|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="60"|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|March 19|**New York Rangers**|**4**|Boston Bruins|0||||||||
|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|0||||||||
|March 28|Boston Bruins|0|**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**
|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="60"|Date|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Away|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|Score|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Home|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|Score|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="60"|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**
|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="60"|Date|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Away|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|Score|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Home|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|Score|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="60"|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**
|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="60"|Date|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Away|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|Score|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Home|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|Score|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="60"|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 Final

**Toronto Maple Leafs vs. New York Rangers**
|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="60"|Date|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Away|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|Score|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Home|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5"|Score|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="60"|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|0|**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; PIM = Penalty Minutes_

|style="width: 12em;"|Player|style="width: 13em;"|Team|style="width: 4em;"|GP|style="width: 4em;"|G|style="width: 4em;"|A|style="width: 4em;"|Pts|style="width: 4em;"|PIM|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Phil Watson|New York Rangers|12|3|6|**9**|16||||||||
|Neil Colville|New York Rangers|12|2|7|**9**|18||||||||
|Syl Apps|Toronto Maple Leafs|10|5|2|**7**|2||||||||
|Bryan Hextall|New York Rangers|12|4|3|**7**|11||||||||
|Alex Shibicky|New York Rangers|11|2|5|**7**|4||||||||
|Hank Goldup|Toronto Maple Leafs|10|5|1|**6**|4||||||||
|Wilbert Hiller|New York Rangers|12|2|4|**6**|2||||||||
|Mac Colville|New York Rangers|12|3|2|**5**|6||||||||
|Mud Bruneteau|Detroit Red Wings|5|3|2|**5**|0||||||||
|Alf Pike|New York Rangers|12|3|1|**4**|6||||||||

### Playoff leading goaltenders

_Note: GP = Games played; Min - Minutes Played; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts_
|style="width:12em"|Player|style="width:12em"|Team|style="width:4em"|GP|style="width:5em"|Min|style="width:4em"|W|style="width:4em"|L|style="width:5em"|T|style="width:5em"|SO|style="width:5em"|GAA|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Dave Kerr|New York Rangers|12|770|**8**|4|0|3|1.56||||||||||
|Turk Broda|Toronto Maple Leafs|10|657|**6**|4|0|1|1.74||||||||||
|Frank Brimsek|Boston Bruins|6|360|**2**|4|0|0|2.50||||||||||
|Tiny Thompson|Detroit Red Wings|5|300|**2**|3|0|0|2.40||||||||||
|Earl Robertson|New York Americans|3|180|**1**|2|0|0|3.00||||||||||
|Paul Goodman|Chicago Black Hawks|2|127|**0**|2|0|0|2.36||||||||||

## NHL awards

|Calder Trophy:|Kilby MacDonald, New York Rangers|
| --- | --- |
|Hart Memorial Trophy:|Ebbie Goodfellow, Detroit Red Wings|
|Lady Byng Trophy:|Bobby Bauer, Boston Bruins|
|O'Brien Cup:|Toronto Maple Leafs|
|Prince of Wales Trophy:|Boston Bruins|
|Vezina Trophy:|Dave Kerr, New York Rangers|

### All-Star teams

|First Team|Position|Second Team||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Dave Kerr, New York Rangers|align=center|G|Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins|
|Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins|align=center|D|Art Coulter, New York Rangers|
|Ebbie Goodfellow, Detroit Red Wings|align=center|D|Earl Seibert, Chicago Black Hawks|
|Milt Schmidt, Boston Bruins|align=center|C|Neil Colville, New York Rangers|
|Bryan Hextall, New York Rangers|align=center|RW|Bobby Bauer, Boston Bruins|
|Toe Blake, Montreal Canadiens|align=center|LW|Woody Dumart, Boston Bruins|
|Paul Thompson, Chicago Black Hawks|align=center|Coach|Frank Boucher, New York Rangers|

## References

- Hockey Database
- 1939-40 NHL Playoff Season Stats - quanthockey.com
- 1939-40 NHL Playoff Season Goaltender Stats
- NHL.com