1946 - 47 NHL season The 1946 - 47 NHL season was the 30th season of the National Hockey League . Six teams each played 60 games . Regular season . Tommy Gorman , who had been associated with the National Hockey League since its inception in 1917 , announced his retirement in July of 1946 as general manager of the Montreal Canadiens . He left behind him seven Stanley Cup champions and a hall of fame career as a coach and general manager . Frank Selke , released from the Toronto Maple Leafs , took over as general manager and would build the greatest dynasty hockey ever knew in the late 1950s . The Canadiens were in financial trouble at this time , despite their winning team and Selke would turn things around by buying up talent and keeping the cream of the crop , selling some players to teams that needed talent . Red Dutton finally got to resign as president of the NHL , as Clarence Campbell , whom Frank Calder had been grooming as his successor , had come home from Europe . Campbell ' s experience in law and in hockey made him the perfect choice as president . Lorne Chabot , whose outstanding career as goalkeeper brought him two Stanley Cups , a Vezina Trophy and a first all - star selection , died October 10th , five days after his 46th birthday . He had been suffering from kidney disease for some time and had been bedridden with severe arthritis . Detroit lost Syd Howe through retirement , but another Howe started his great career as Gordie Howe was Detroit ' s new rookie . In one of his first fights , he took care of Montreal ' s Rocket Richard . Sid Abel then added a taunt that enraged Richard and he broke Abel ' s nose in three places . Chicago decided to purchase goaltender Paul Bibeault from Montreal and regretted it . He played badly , one of his losses being an 11 - 0 whitewashing at the hands of Toronto . Finally , president and general manager Bill Tobin had enough and brought up 20 year old Emile Francis to replace him . He made his debut on February 9th , 1947 in a 6 - 4 win over Boston . A donnybrook took place March 16th , 1947 between the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens . Cal Gardner lifted Kenny Reardon ' s stick so that it clipped him in the mouth and a fight broke out between both teams and the fans . On that same night , Billy Taylor of Detroit set an NHL record with 7 assists in a 10 - 6 shootout win over the Chicago Black Hawks . Bill Durnan broke George Hainsworth ' s record of consecutive Vezina Trophies as he won his fourth in a row , and Montreal again finished first . Max Bentley edged out Rocket Richard by one point and won the scoring championship . Final standings . " GP = Games Played , W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , Pts = Points , GF = Goals For , GA = Goals Against , PIM = Penalties In Minutes " " 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 " Debuts . The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1946 - 47 ( 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 1946 - 47 ( listed with their last team ) :