Red Dutton Mervyn " Red " Dutton ( July 23 , 1898 – March 15 , 1987 ) was a professional player , an ice hockey executive and a businessman in construction contracting . He played for the Calgary Tigers , Montreal Maroons and the New York Americans . After his playing days , he became the manager of the Americans , and later became the NHL president , before leaving ice hockey and running a contract construction business . He was inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958 . Biography . Personal life . Born in Russell , Manitoba , Dutton ' s father was successful in construction contracting . Dutton was educated at St . John ' s College in Winnipeg but left school to fight in World War I . He joined the Princess Patricia ' s Light Infantry in 1915 . In April 1917 he took a shrapnel blast to the right leg that was so bad that doctors considered amputation . They delayed , and he recovered full use of his leg . After the war , Dutton started a contracting business of his own . It was not successful at first , and he went into professional hockey . However , he kept the business going as a sideline and returned to it after leaving the presidency of the National Hockey League . His business Standard Holdings was a partnership with Reg Jennings , and was based in Calgary , Alberta , where Dutton lived until his death in 1987 . Dutton was pre - deceased by his two eldest sons Alex and Joe who died in flying missions in World War II , and his youngest son Norman who died in 1973 . Playing career . After being discharged from the army , Dutton strengthened his leg by playing in seven local hockey leagues during the 1919 – 20 season . He joined the Calgary Tigers of the Western Hockey League , staying with the club until the league ' s demise in 1926 . He played in one Stanley Cup Final in 1924 , against the Montreal Canadiens . After the WHL folded , he signed with the Montreal Maroons for $ 6 , 000 per season . He played four seasons for the Maroons , before being acquired by the New York Americans . The Americans played at Madison Square Garden , which they rented from the owners of the New York Rangers . Despite beating the Rangers in a playoff series in 1938 , thanks to a dramatic overtime goal by Lorne Carr , the Americans were always treated as second - class citizens by the Madison Square Garden Corporation , the New York media , and fans . While the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1928 , 1933 , and 1940 , the closest the Americans got was the 1938 semifinals , where they lost to the Chicago Black Hawks . Ice hockey executive . In 1935 , Dutton became the Americans ' coach and manager , and often supported the team financially as well , loaning money to its owner " Big Bill " Dwyer , a notorious bootlegger and race track operator . After the NHL assumed control of the Americans from Dwyer , NHL president Frank Calder allowed Dutton to continue running the team . During World War II , the Garden Corporation used its resources to help keep the Rangers in business and virtually ignored the Americans . After the 1941 – 42 season , Dutton announced the Amerks would suspend operations for the duration of the war . While the Amerks had suffered massive financial losses and seen large numbers of players drafted into the military , they were still reeling from massive debt inherited from the Dwyer era . Dutton believed that if the Americans could have held on through the war , his team would become more popular than the Rangers . Dutton was named managing director ( acting president ) of the NHL after the death of Frank Calder in February 1943 , running the league at the direction of a subcommittee of the NHL Board of Governors . He was eventually convinced to assume the presidency in 1945 , but in September 1946 he handed over the reins to his assistant , Clarence Campbell , a former NHL referee who had just returned from military service in Europe and had been in the job for less than a month . Dutton had every intention of reviving the Americans ; in fact , the NHL Board of Governors promised to allow him to revive the team in a new arena in Brooklyn after the war . However , when he tried to set his plan in motion , opposition from Madison Square Garden resulted in the dormant Amerks franchise being canceled . Dutton returned to his contracting business in Calgary , Alberta , and focused his attention on regional hockey . His relations with the NHL were restricted to dealings as a trustee of the Stanley Cup ( succeeding Philip Dansken Ross ) . The NHL sought to bring back Dutton into hockey , backing him as Stanley Cup trustee , and later in his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame . Ultimately , they were unsuccessful , and reportedly he did not attend another NHL game before the inaugural game of the Calgary Flames in 1980 .