1936 - 37 NHL season The 1936 - 37 NHL season was the 20th season of the National Hockey League . Eight teams each played 48 games . The Detroit Red Wings were the Stanley Cup winners as they beat the New York Rangers three games to two in the final series . League Business . Frank Calder had been naming the top rookies commencing with 1932 - 33 . This year , he commenced buying a trophy for the top rookie and Syl Apps was this year ' s winner . The Great Depression had been taking its toll on the NHL . At the beginning of the decade , there were ten teams . Since then , two teams folded and it looked like the New York Americans were to become the third team . The NHL , however , was not about to let that happen . So , instead of letting the team fold because of money and ownership problems , the league assumed control of the team for the 1936 - 37 season . It was then that owner Bill Dwyer sued . A settlement then allowed for Dwyer to own the team , run by the NHL , and that Dwyer would be given a chance to pay back his debts . The Montreal Maroons , short of money , had to sell their star and team captain Hooley Smith to Boston . It was hoped that Carl Voss of the Eagles would fill in adequately for him , but he came down with influenza and never was much help . But Bob Gracie started scoring and the Maroons almost nipped the Canadiens for first place in the Canadian Division . Pre - Season . Training camps were held in the following locatons : Regular season . Highlights . The New York Americans had started in first place , but then their players came down with influenza and the team sagged . But the worst blow was when Roy Worters suffered a hernia and had to retire . Alfie Moore and Lorne Chabot were not adequate replacements and the Amerks finished last in the Canadian Division . The Montreal Canadiens had hit the bottom in 1935 - 36 , and Babe Siebert was obtained to shore up the defence . But the most loved of all movements was buying Howie Morenz back from the Rangers . The Canadiens went from last to first in the Canadian Division . Morenz was just hitting his stride in January of 1937 , when tragedy struck . On one of his hurtling rushes , he was being checked by Earl Seibert of Chicago when his left skate got caught in the dasher of the end boards , and Morenz suffered a badly fractured leg . After suffering a nervous breakdown worrying about if he ' d be able to come back , more bad luck occurred . On March 8 , 1937 , X - rays revealed that Howie had blood clots in his healing leg . An operation was scheduled for the next day , but when Howie ate a light supper and told the nurse he wanted to rest , in falling asleep his pallor suddenly changed and the nurse knew something was wrong . A blood clot had stopped his heart , and attempts to revive Howie failed . News of Morenz ' s death shocked the hockey world , and thousands filed past his bier , many in tears , to pay their last respects to the man who made the NHL a truly major league . Detroit , led by Vezina Trophy winning Normie Smith , finished first in the American Division . The NHL lost greats in one way or the other this year . Boston ' s Eddie Shore suffered a broken back , and Toronto favourite King Clancy retired . But Toronto ' s biggest loss occurred when Charlie Conacher injured his wrist . He was never the same again . With five games left to play and his team hopelessly in last place , Chicago owner Frederic McLaughlin decided to try an experiment dear to his heart . He dreamed of the day that an all - American team might be able to compete at NHL calibre . He already had Mike Karakas in goal , but added Ernest Klingbeil and Paul Schaefer on defence , and Milt Brink , a fast skating center , between Al Suomi and Bun Laprairie . The first test came on March 11 when the Boston Bruins beat the Black Hawks 6 - 2 . None of the new players scored , but Klingbeil and Schaefer were on defence for all Boston goals . This brought complaints from Jack Adams , Lester Patrick and Art Ross who stated that such experiments should not be conducted when the other clubs were battling for playoff spots . But McLaughlin ' s kids didn ' t look bad when the Toronto Maple Leafs were lucky to win 3 - 2 at Maple Leaf Gardens . Klingbeil was the star of the game with a goal . The rookies checked tenaciously and at times were impressive on the attack . 9 , 600 fans applauded their effort . Then the Black Hawks beat the New York Rangers 3 - 2 with the yannigans still in the lineup . Lester Patrick had nothing to say except that the attendance had dropped . The experiment was about finished when the New York Americans walloped the Hawks 9 - 4 , as Sweeney Schriner and Nels Stewart each had hat tricks . In a losing cause , Paul Thompson had a hat trick for Chicago . Final standings . " Note : GP = Games played , W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , Pts = Points , GF = Goals for , GA = Goals against , PIM = Penalties in minutes " < br > " 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 " Debuts . The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1936 - 37 ( 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 1936 - 37 ( listed with their last team ) :