1943 - 44 NHL season The 1943 - 44 NHL season was the 27th season of the National Hockey League . Six teams played 50 games each . Regular season . In memory of Frank Calder , the former NHL President who died in 1943 , the league ' s Board of Governors donated the Calder Memorial Trophy to be awarded to the NHL ' s top rookie . The Montreal Canadiens had turned the corner and now Tommy Gorman and Dick Irvin had a team to make the fans happy . Bill Durnan solved the goaltending woes , but not before Gorman had all kinds of problems signing him . Durnan knew his worth , and wanted a handsome sum . Just before the first game , Gorman agreed to his contract demands . He was worth every penny , as he ran away with the Vezina Trophy and the Canadiens lost only five games all year , finishing first by a wide margin . The new and more familiar " Punch Line " of Elmer Lach , Toe Blake , and Maurice Richard dominated the offence and Richard had 32 goals . He replaced Joe Benoit , who did his duty to his country by joining the armed forces . Richard , in fact , was dubbed by teammate Ray Getliffe the nickname that would be his legend " The Rocket " . When Paul Bibeault came back from the Army , he found his job lost to the best goaltender in the NHL , Bill Durnan . Montreal agreed to loan him to Toronto , where he played very well , leading the Leafs to third place and leading the NHL with five shutouts . Gus Bodnar , a crack centre , was the top rookie , and for the first time , a team produced Calder Trophy winners in consecutive years . In fact , Bodnar scored the fastest goal by a rookie in his very first game . It took him only 15 seconds to score on Ken McAuley , Ranger goaltender , in a 5 - 2 win over the war - weakened Rangers . The Rangers had plunged to last place the previous year and Lester Patrick was so discouraged that he wanted to suspend operations for the year . This year the Rangers lost Clint Smith , Lynn Patrick , Phil Watson , and Alf Pike . The most unbelievably inept team iced for the Rangers this year . Things were so desperate that coach Frank Boucher had to come out of retirement to play some . But the Rangers set a modern day record of 6 . 20 goals against , giving up 310 goals in 50 games . One night when Lester Patrick went behind the bench to coach the team with Frank Boucher attending a brother ' s funeral , the Rangers were demolished 15 - 0 by Detroit as the Red Wings set a modern day record of most goals by a team in a single game . It was a horrifying experience for Patrick . Only a week later Syd Howe set a modern day record of 6 goals in a game in a 12 - 2 conquest of the hapless Rangers . The Rangers won only 6 games all year and finished a distant last , 23 points behind fifth - place Boston . Chicago started with sub - par goaltending , but then president and general manager Bill Tobin decided to bring back Mike Karakas , who had been demoted to the minors in 1939 - 40 for his lackluster play . Karakas was just what the Black Hawks needed , as he played well and recorded three shutouts and got the team into the playoffs . In Boston , the Bruins lost star forward Bill Cowley to injury after the first 36 games . At that point in the season Cowley was on pace to set a new standard in scoring for the NHL . After the first 36 games he had scored 30 goals - 41 assists - 71 points before going down to injury . However , the scoring title would still eventually end up in Boston as linemate Herb Cain picked up the slack , scoring 82 points over the course of the 50 - game schedule and setting a new record for points in the regular season . Rule changes . For the start of this season , the NHL added the centre red line , which meant players could no longer make two - line passes out of their own end . This was done to try to add more offence to the game as scoring was down and fans were turning away . Oddly enough , 62 years later , the red line was removed for the exact same reasons it was added . Both times critics said , " " You are going to kill the game . " " Final standings . " Note : Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold " Scoring leaders . " Note : GP = Games played , G = Goals , A = Assists , PTS = Points , PIM = Penalties in minutes " Stanley Cup playoffs . Semifinals . Montreal Canadiens vs . Toronto Maple Leafs † Maurice " Rocket " Richard named First , Second and Third Star of the game . " Montreal wins best - of - seven series 4 games to 1 " Chicago Blackhawks vs . Detroit Red Wings " Chicago wins best - of - seven series 4 games to 1 " Finals . Montreal Canadiens vs . Chicago Black Hawks " Montreal wins best - of - seven series 4 games to 0 " Debuts . The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1943 - 44 ( listed with their first team , asterisk ( * ) marks debut in playoffs ) : Last games . The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1943 - 44 ( listed with their last team ) :