1948–49 NHL season

The 1948–49 NHL season was the 32nd season of the National Hockey League. In a rematch of the previous season, Toronto defeated Detroit in the Stanley Cup final to win the championship.
==League business==
===Rule changes===
A new rule, often called the "Durnan Rule", was introduced for the start of the season stating that goalies cannot be the captain and wear the "C" or "A". Specifically, NHL Rule 14-D (today's rule 6.1) read: No playing Coach or playing Manager or goalkeeper shall be permitted to act as Captain or Alternate Captain.
This rule was introduced because Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens goalie and captain, would frequently leave his crease to dispute calls with the referees. Opposing teams claimed that this would give the Canadiens unscheduled timeouts during strategic points in games. It would be another sixty years before another goalie would be captain. For the 2008–09 season, the Vancouver Canucks named Roberto Luongo their 12th team captain and NHL history's seventh goalie captain. The rule remained in place, however, and Luongo could not 'act' as captain during games.
==Regular season==
Don Gallinger of the Boston Bruins, hopeful he could win an appeal of his suspension in the gambling scandal, finally admitted to gambling and was expelled from the NHL for life in September.
On October 8, 1948, the New York Rangers were due to start their season against the Montreal Canadiens, when the team suffered misfortune. Buddy O'Connor, Frank Eddolls, Edgar Laprade, Bill Moe, and Tony Leswick were travelling in their car from Montreal to Saranac Lake, New York when their car was struck by a truck near Rouses Point. O'Connor suffered several broken ribs, Eddolls a severed tendon in his knee, Laprade suffered a broken nose, Moe had a cut in the head requiring several stitches and Leswick escaped with a few bruises.
On November 10, 1948, unseasonably warm temperatures caused a fog bank to occur inside the Boston Garden during a game between the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings. Referee Bill Chadwick abandoned the game after only 9 minutes of the first period due to poor visibility. The game was replayed the following night, with Boston winning 4–1.
A league record of ten major penalties was set November 25, 1948, when 11,000 fans at the Montreal Forum witnessed a donnybrook. It started when the Habs' Ken Mosdell elbowed Maple Leaf Gus Mortson. Mortson retaliated by knocking Elliot de Grey down with his stick. Montreal's Maurice Richard then sprang onto Mortson's back and they fought, and then all hands joined in. Mortson, Richard, Toronto's Howie Meeker and Mosdell were banished with majors. Play had scarcely begun when Ken Reardon (Montreal) and Joe Klukay (Toronto) began fencing and Bill Barilko went at Reardon, while Klukay got into it with Billy Reay, and Hal Laycoe fought Garth Boesch. In the game itself, Turk Broda picked up his first shutout of the year as the Leafs won, 2–0.
A sad note was the death of former Pittsburgh Pirates defenceman Tex White, who was found dead in his bed at his home in Port Colborne, Ontario on December 12. He was only 48 years old.
Both Detroit and Montreal lost key players to injury this year. Montreal lost Elmer Lach with a fractured jaw when he collided with Toronto defenceman Bob Goldham, and Emile "Butch" Bouchard injured a knee. Detroit lost Gordie Howe, who underwent knee surgery.
Bill Durnan got hot in the second half of the season and recorded four consecutive shutouts, going 309 minutes and 21 seconds without giving up a goal. In all, Durnan had 10 shutouts and won his fifth Vezina Trophy in six years.
===Final standings===
===Final standings===
National Hockey League	GP	W 	L 	T 	Pts	GF 	GA 	PIM
Detroit Red Wings 	60	34	19	7 	75 	195	145	621
Boston Bruins 	60	29	23	8 	66 	178	163	434
Montreal Canadiens 	60	28	23	9 	65 	152	126	728
Toronto Maple Leafs 	60	22	25	13	57 	147	161	706
Chicago Black Hawks 	60	21	31	8 	50 	173	211	695
New York Rangers 	60	18	31	11	47 	133	172	413
==Playoffs==
===Semifinals===
Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens
Date 	Away 	Score	Home 	Score	Notes
March 22	Montreal Canadiens	1 	Detroit Red Wings 	2 	OT
March 24	Montreal Canadiens	4 	Detroit Red Wings 	3 	OT
March 26	Detroit Red Wings 	2 	Montreal Canadiens	3 	
March 29	Detroit Red Wings 	3 	Montreal Canadiens	1 	
March 31	Montreal Canadiens	1 	Detroit Red Wings 	3 	
April 2 	Detroit Red Wings 	1 	Montreal Canadiens	3 	
April 5 	Montreal Canadiens	1 	Detroit Red Wings 	3 	
Detroit wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 3
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins
Date 	Away 	Score	Home 	Score	Notes
March 22	Toronto Maple Leafs	3 	Boston Bruins 	0 	
March 24	Toronto Maple Leafs	3 	Boston Bruins 	2 	
March 26	Boston Bruins 	5 	Toronto Maple Leafs	4 	OT
March 29	Boston Bruins 	1 	Toronto Maple Leafs	3 	
March 30	Toronto Maple Leafs	3 	Boston Bruins 	2 	
Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 1
===Final===
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings
Date 	Away 	Score	Home 	Score	Notes
April 8 	Toronto Maple Leafs	3 	Detroit Red Wings 	2 	
April 10	Toronto Maple Leafs	3 	Detroit Red Wings 	1 	
April 13	Detroit Red Wings 	1 	Toronto Maple Leafs	3 	
April 16	Detroit Red Wings 	1 	Toronto Maple Leafs	3 	
Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 0
==Awards==
Trophy 	Winner
Calder Memorial Trophy:(Top first-year player) 	Pentti Lund, New York Rangers
Hart Trophy:(Most valuable player) 	Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings
Lady Byng Trophy:(Excellence and sportsmanship) 	Bill Quackenbush, Detroit Red Wings
O'Brien Cup:(Stanley Cup runner-up) 	Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy:(Top regular-season record)	Detroit Red Wings
Art Ross Trophy:(Top scorer) 	Roy Conacher, Chicago Black Hawks
Vezina Trophy:(Goaltender of team with lowest GAA)	Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens
==Player statistics==
===Scoring leaders===
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Player 	Team 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM
Roy Conacher 	Chicago Black Hawks 	60	26	42	68 	8
Doug Bentley 	Chicago Black Hawks 	60	23	43	66 	38
Sid Abel 	Detroit Red Wings 	60	28	26	54 	49
Ted Lindsay 	Detroit Red Wings 	50	26	28	54 	97
Jim Conacher 	Chicago Black Hawks / Detroit Red Wings	59	26	23	49 	43
Paul Ronty 	Boston Bruins 	60	20	29	49 	11
Harry Watson 	Toronto Maple Leafs 	60	26	19	45 	30
Billy Reay 	Montreal Canadiens 	60	22	23	45 	33
Gus Bodnar 	Chicago Black Hawks 	59	16	26	45 	14
Johnny Peirson	Boston Bruins 	59	22	21	43 	45
Source: NHL
===Leading goaltenders===
Note: GP = Games played; Mins – Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts
Player 	Team 	GP	Mins	GA 	GAA 	W 	L 	T 	SO
Bill Durnan 	Montreal Canadiens 	60	3600	126	2.10	28	23	9 	10
Harry Lumley 	Detroit Red Wings 	60	3600	145	2.42	34	19	7 	6
Turk Broda 	Toronto Maple Leafs	60	3600	161	2.68	22	25	13	5
Frank Brimsek	Boston Bruins 	54	3240	147	2.72	26	20	8 	1
Chuck Rayner 	New York Rangers 	58	3480	168	2.90	16	31	11	7
Jim Henry 	Chicago Black Hawks	60	3600	211	3.52	21	31	8 	0
==Team Photos==
48-49ChiBH.jpg|Chicago Black Hawks
48-49DetRW.jpg|Detroit Red Wings
48-49MtlCdn.jpg|Montreal Canadiens
48-49NYR.jpg|New York Rangers
48-49TorML.jpg|Toronto Maple Leafs
== References ==
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;Notes
==External links==
* Hockey Database
* NHL.com
Category:1948 in ice hockey
Category:1949 in ice hockey