1934–35

1934–35 NHL season

The 1934–35 NHL season was the 18th season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nine teams each played 48 games. The Montreal Maroons were the Stanley Cup winners as they swept the Toronto Maple Leafs in three games in the final series.

League business

With financial difficulties continuing for the Ottawa Senators, the franchise was transferred to St. Louis changing the nickname to St. Louis Eagles. The Senators name was continued as a senior amateur team. The NHL franchise was not profitable in St. Louis, either, partly due to the extended travel of being located in the Canadian Division. The Eagles would sell players Syd Howe and Ralph "Scotty" Bowman to Detroit for $50,000 to make ends meet.

Montreal Canadiens owners Leo Dandurand and Joseph Cattarinich would sell the team to Ernest Savard and Maurice Forget of the Canadian Arena Company.

Regular season

Charlie Conacher decided to play coy this year and Conn Smythe had trouble signing him. With Harvey Jackson out, it looked as though only Joe Primeau would be the only member of the Kid line in action for Toronto. However, he did finally sign. Conacher responded with his best season, scoring 36 goals and leading the league in scoring.

A bombshell trade was made with Howie Morenz, Lorne Chabot, and Marty Burke going to Chicago for Leroy Goldsworthy, Roger Jenkins, and Lionel Conacher. The Canadiens then traded Lionel Conacher and Herb Cain to the Maroons for Nels Crutchfield. The trades did not help and the Canadiens lost some fans.

Meanwhile, Tommy Gorman bought a share of the Montreal Maroons from James Strachan and when he picked up Alex Connell, he had another winner. Although Morenz wasn't his old self, he did help Chicago, who finished second in the American Division, just falling short of Boston by only one point.

The playoffs continued to elude the New York Americans, but they added two important additions, left wing Dave "Sweeney" Schriner and right wing Lorne Carr. Teamed with centre Art Chapman, the Americans were on the way up.

Final standings

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

Canadian Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	30	14	4	64	157	111	444
Montreal Maroons	48	24	19	5	53	123	92	380
Montreal Canadiens	48	19	23	6	44	110	145	314
New York Americans	48	12	27	9	33	100	142	250
St. Louis Eagles	48	11	31	6	28	86	144	385

American Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Boston Bruins	48	26	16	6	58	129	112	368
Chicago Black Hawks	48	26	17	5	57	118	88	375
New York Rangers	48	22	20	6	50	137	139	334
Detroit Red Wings	48	19	22	7	45	127	114	305

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Charlie Conacher	Toronto Maple Leafs	47	36	21	57	24
Syd Howe	St. Louis Eagles/Detroit Red Wings	50	22	25	47	34
Larry Aurie	Detroit Red Wings	48	17	29	46	24
Frank Boucher	New York Rangers	48	13	32	45	2
Busher Jackson	Toronto Maple Leafs	42	22	22	44	27

Stanley Cup playoffs

The most pulsating series was that of Chicago and the Montreal Maroons. Chicago coach Clem Loughlin said that the team who won the series very likely would win the Stanley Cup. Neither team scored after two regulation games. In the overtime, Dave Trottier was cut and retired for stitches. He'd hardly arrived in the dressing room when Baldy Northcott scored the goal that won the series for the Maroons.

Toronto's goaltender George Hainsworth got hot and eliminated the Bruins, while the Rangers outlasted the Montreal Canadiens on Bill Cook's goal in the deciding game. He'd been knocked goofy by the Canadiens Nels Crutchfield, but wasn't too groggy to win the series for the Rangers. George Hainsworth continued hot and the Leafs beat the Bruins to advance to the finals.

Finals

The Montreal Maroons throttled the Kid line of Primeau, Jackson and Conacher and goaltender Alex Connell time and again foiled sure goals for Toronto, and the Maroons won the series 3 games to none, and as game three ended, the crowd let out a roar of approval and Connell leaned back on the crossbar and cried. All of the Maroons' games ended in ties or victories, making them the last team until the 1951–52 Detroit Red Wings to not lose a single game during the playoffs. The Maroons were also the last non-Original Six team to win the Stanley Cup until the Philadelphia Flyers won it in 1974.

see 1935 Stanley Cup Finals

Playoff bracket

NHL awards

1934–35 NHL awards
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Sweeney Schriner, New York Americans
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
O'Brien Cup:	Toronto Maple Leafs
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Boston Bruins
Vezina Trophy:	Lorne Chabot, Chicago Black Hawks

All-Star teams

First Team	Position	Second Team
Lorne Chabot, Chicago Black Hawks	G	Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins
Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins	D	Cy Wentworth, Montreal Maroons
Earl Seibert, New York Rangers	D	Art Coulter, Chicago Black Hawks
Frank Boucher, New York Rangers	C	Cooney Weiland, Detroit Red Wings
Charlie Conacher, Toronto Maple Leafs	RW	Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins
Busher Jackson, Toronto Maple Leafs	LW	Aurel Joliat, Montreal Canadiens
Lester Patrick, New York Rangers	Coach	Dick Irvin, Toronto Maple Leafs

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1934–35 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):