1938 - 39 NHL season The 1938 - 39 NHL season was the 22nd season of the National Hockey League . Seven teams each played 48 games . The Boston Bruins were the Stanley Cup winners as they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs four games to one in the final series . Regular season . Just prior to the start of the 1937 - 38 season , the league held a meeting to decide the fate of the Maroons . They requested a shift to St . Louis , but this was rejected after considerable discussion . And so , the Montreal Maroons dropped out of the league . They sold most of their players to the Canadiens , and it was evident that the Maroons were through for good . With only seven teams left , the NHL decided to go back to the one division format . Also prior to the start of the season , the Boston Bruins sold their star goaltender , Tiny Thompson , who had just won a record 4th Vezina Trophy , to the Detroit Red Wings The fans thought Art Ross was crazy , but soon they were applauding rookie Frank Brimsek , would go on to back - stop the Bruins to a first overall finish and a Stanley Cup victory . He wiped out Thompson ' s shutout sequence record with three consecutive shutouts . He nearly equalled his new record with three more . He ended the season with 10 shutouts , and earned the nickname " Mr . Zero " . He also became the first goaltender to win both the Vezina Trophy and Calder Trophy in the same season . A sad event took place December 7 , as Joseph Cattarinich died of a heart attack following an eye operation . Cattarinich was the original goaltender of the Montreal Canadiens when they were formed in 1909 . He was 57 . The Montreal Canadiens eroded to the point where Jules Dugal replaced Cecil Hart as manager and coach . Dugal wasn ' t much better and the Canadiens finished 6th . One bright note was that Toe Blake won the scoring title , however , despite the poor showing of the team . Chicago , after its Stanley Cup win the previous season , began floundering at mid - season and owner Frederic McLaughlin was displeased . Accordingly , he fired coach Bill Stewart and hired left wing Paul Thompson in his place . But the Black Hawks continued to lose and finished last . The New York Americans , up in third place at mid - season , proceeded to fall into a big slump in the second half and though they finished 4th , they were below . 500 and had the worst defence in the league . Part of the problem was the retirements of Ching Johnson and Hap Day on defence . Al Murray was also out of action for quite a time . Still , goaltender Earl Robertson found himself on the second all - star team . The NHL instituted the icing rule on March 13 , 1939 . 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 1938 - 39 ( 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 1938 - 39 ( listed with their last team ) :