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1921–22 NHL season

The 1921–22 NHL season was the fifth season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Four teams each played 24 games. For the first four seasons of the NHL, the winner of the league playoffs would face the winner of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) for the Stanley Cup. That changed this season with the introduction of another professional hockey league called the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). Now, three leagues were competing for the coveted Stanley Cup.

League Business

This was the first season away from the split season used in the first four NHL seasons. Under the old split system, the winner of each half of the season would face each other in the playoffs. If the same team won both halves, then there would be no league playoffs and that team would simply move on to the Stanley Cup finals. For the new system, the top two teams at the end of the season squared off against each other in a two-game total goals series for the chance to move on to the Stanley Cup finals.

Prior to the start of this season, the NHL's first multiple-player trade in its history was made when Billy Coutu and Sprague Cleghorn of the Hamilton Tigers were traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Harry Mummery, Amos Arbour, and Cully Wilson.

Canadiens owner George Kennedy never recovered from the influenza he contracted in 1919,and died on October 19, 1921 at age 39. His widow sold the Canadiens to a unit that would be known affectionately as the Three Musketeers of owners, Leo Dandurand, Louis Letourneau, and Joseph Cattarinich. Dandurand became manager and coach, and immediately there were problems between him and Newsy Lalonde. At one point, Dandurand accused Lalonde of not trying, and also the fans started to boo their old hero. Finally, Lalonde walked out on the team. NHL president Frank Calder mediated the dispute and Lalonde returned to the team. But his days in Montreal were numbered.

Regular season

After a fairly impressive season for the Toronto St. Patricks, the St. Pats goaltender Jake Forbes refused to play after being denied a raise, and was suspended for the season. John Ross Roach took over in goal.

Punch Broadbent was the star this year, as he scored in 16 consecutive games en route to a 32 goal campaign, and led the league in scoring. His Ottawa team finished first, too.

On February 1st, Sprague Cleghorn almost wiped out the Ottawa team singlehandedly. He cut Eddie Gerard and Cy Denneny and charged Frank Nighbor. All three players missed two games because of injuries and Cleghorn drew a match penalty and a $15 fine. Ottawa police tried to arrest him in wake of his one man war.

Final standings

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

National Hockey League	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Ottawa Senators	24	14	8	2	30	106	84	99
Toronto St. Patricks	24	13	10	1	27	98	97	114
Montreal Canadiens	24	12	11	1	25	88	94	174
Hamilton Tigers	24	7	17	0	14	88	105	76

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Punch Broadbent	Ottawa Senators	24	32	14	46	24
Cy Denneny	Ottawa Senators	22	27	12	39	18
Cecil Dye	Toronto St. Patricks	24	30	7	37	18
Joe Malone	Hamilton Tigers	24	25	7	32	2
Harry Cameron	Toronto St. Patricks	24	19	8	27	18
Corbett Denneny	Toronto St. Patricks	24	19	7	26	28
Reg Noble	Toronto St. Patricks	24	17	8	25	10
Odie Cleghorn	Montreal Canadiens	23	21	3	24	26
Sprague Cleghorn	Montreal Canadiens	24	17	7	24	63
Leo Reise	Hamilton Tigers	24	9	14	23	8

Leading goaltenders

GP = Games Played, GA = Goals Against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals Against Average

Player	Team	GP	GA	SO	GAA
Ivan Mitchell	Toronto St. Patricks	2	6	0	3.0
Clint Benedict	Ottawa Senators	24	84	2	3.5
Georges Vezina	Montreal Canadiens	24	94	0	3.9
John Ross Roach	Toronto St. Patricks	22	91	0	4.1
Howie Lockhart	Hamilton Tigers	24	105	0	4.4

Stanley Cup Playoffs

All dates in 1922

Starting in the Western Canada Hockey League, the Calgary Tigers lost to the Regina Capitals in a match-up to determine second place. The Capitals then went on to beat the first place Edmonton Eskimos in that league's first championship series. Over in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, once again, the Vancouver Millionaires faced the Seattle Metropolitans for their league championship. The Mets had the better regular season record, but the Millionaires won both games of the playoffs by 1–0 scores. The Millionaires were then matched up against the Capitals to see who would go on to play against the winner of the NHL's playoffs. Vancouver beat Regina in the two-game total goals series.

NHL Championship

The Ottawa Senators had won the NHL regular season, but were upset by the second place Toronto St. Patricks in the two-game total goals series for the O'Brien Cup. This set-up a Vancouver Millionaires vs. Toronto St. Patricks Stanley Cup final. In this series, the St.Pats used the strategy of icing the puck to defend their lead.

Toronto St. Patricks vs. Ottawa Senators

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score	Notes
March 11	Toronto St. Patricks	5	Ottawa Senators	4
March 13	Toronto St. Patricks	0	Ottawa Senators	0

Toronto wins total goals series 5 goals to 4

Finals

Vancouver Millionaires vs. Toronto St. Patricks

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 17	Vancouver Millionaires	4	Toronto St. Patricks	3
March 20	Toronto St. Patricks	2	Vancouver Millionaires	1	(OT)
March 23	Vancouver Millionaires	3	Toronto St. Patricks	0
March 25	Toronto St. Patricks	6	Vancouver Millionaires	0
March 28	Toronto St. Patricks	5	Vancouver Millionaires	1

Toronto wins best-of-five series 3 games to 2 for the Stanley Cup

NHL Playoff scoring leader

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Babe Dye	Toronto St. Patricks	7	11	1	12

NHL awards

O'Brien Cup — Toronto St. Patricks

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1921–22 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):