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1947–48 NHL season

The 1947–48 NHL season was the 31st season of the National Hockey League. Six teams each played 60 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs were the Stanley Cup winners. They defeated the Detroit Red Wings four games to none. This season saw the introduction of a new trophy – Art Ross Trophy – that would be handed out to the player who scored the most points during the regular season.

Regular season

The season saw the return of the National Hockey League All-Star Game, an idea that, although proposed in the previous season, came into fruition this year. The all-star game, however, saw a bad ankle injury to Chicago Black Hawks forward Bill Mosienko that nearly ended his career. Other stars would retire, ending both the Montreal Canadiens' Punch line and the Boston Bruins' Kraut Line. However, this season saw the creation of the Detroit Red Wings' Production Line. The policy of having players raise their hockey sticks to signify that a goal was scored was also initiated in this season, at the suggestion of Frank Patrick, with Habs forward Billy Reay being the first to do on November 13, 1947. The season also saw Boston's Don Gallinger suspended indefinitely pending an investigation of gambling activities and the New York Rangers' Billy "The Kid" Taylor being expelled for life for gambling.

Seven games into the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Black Hawks made, at that time, the biggest trade in NHL history. The Maple Leafs sent five players to the Black Hawks in trade for Max Bentley and rookie winger Cy Thomas. Thomas only played eight games that year but Bentley handed to the Leafs a much-needed offensive boost that helped propel the team to first overall and an eventual Stanley Cup.

The New York Rangers decided to make a trade to improve their fortunes and sent Hal Laycoe, Joe Bell, and George Robertson to Montreal in exchange for Buddy O'Connor and defenceman Frank Eddolls. Montreal missed O'Connor, as their goal-scoring plummeted. Ken Mosdell was out from the start of the season with a broken arm, Rocket Richard had trouble with a bad knee and Murph Chamberlain broke his leg. In an attempt to boost the goal-scoring, Montreal traded Jimmy Peters and Johnny Quilty to Boston in exchange for Joe Carveth, but the rot continued. However, the worst occurred on January 11, 1948, when the Canadiens played the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Habs lost more than a game when Bill Juzda checked captain Toe Blake into the boards, breaking Blake's ankle and ending his career. It was also the end of the famed "Punch Line". (Ironically, that same night, Johnny Quilty's career was ended with a compound fracture of the leg). The Canadiens missed the playoffs for the first time since 1940, and Bill Durnan, for the first and only time in his career, failed to win the Vezina Trophy. This season was also the last season in which a goaltender was allowed to be named captain of their team. Bill Durnan was the last goaltender in NHL history to be captain. Toronto's Turk Broda won the Vezina this season.

Final standings

GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties In Minutes
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

National Hockey League	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Toronto Maple Leafs	60	32	15	13	77	182	143	758
Detroit Red Wings	60	30	18	12	72	187	148	593
Boston Bruins	60	23	24	13	59	167	168	515
New York Rangers	60	21	26	13	55	176	201	480
Montreal Canadiens	60	20	29	11	51	147	169	724
Chicago Black Hawks	60	20	34	6	46	195	225	572

Scoring leaders

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Elmer Lach	Montreal Canadiens	60	30	31	61
Buddy O'Connor	New York Rangers	60	24	36	60
Doug Bentley	Chicago Black Hawks	60	20	37	57
Gaye Stewart	Toronto Maple Leafs / Chicago Black Hawks	61	27	29	56
Max Bentley	Black Hawks / Toronto Maple Leafs	59	26	28	54
Bud Poile	Toronto Maple Leafs / Chicago Black Hawks	58	25	29	54
Maurice Richard	Montreal Canadiens	53	28	25	53
Syl Apps	Toronto Maple Leafs	55	26	27	53
Ted Lindsay	Detroit Red Wings	60	33	19	52
Roy Conacher	Chicago Black Hawks	52	22	27	49

Leading goaltenders

GP = Games Played, TOI = Time On Ice (minutes), GA = Goals Against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals Against Average

Player	Team	GP	TOI	GA	SO	GAA
Turk Broda	Toronto Maple Leafs	60	3600	143	5	2.38
Harry Lumley	Detroit Red Wings	60	3592	147	7	2.46
Bill Durnan	Montreal Canadiens	59	3505	162	5	2.77
Frank Brimsek	Boston Bruins	60	3600	168	3	2.80
Jim Henry	New York Rangers	48	2800	153	2	3.19
Emile Francis	Chicago Black Hawks	54	3240	183	1	3.39

Stanley Cup playoffs

All dates in 1948

Playoff bracket

Semifinals

The first round of the playoffs saw third seed Boston Bruins matched up with first seed Toronto Maple Leafs and fourth seed New York Rangers against second seed Detroit Red Wings.

Toronto vs. Boston

Toronto beat Boston 4 games to 1. Still, the Bears kept the series pretty darn close — even the powerful Leafs couldn't deny it. Three of the five games were decided by one goal.

Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 24	Boston Bruins	4	Toronto Maple Leafs	5	(OT)
March 27	Boston Bruins	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	5
March 30	Toronto Maple Leafs	5	Boston Bruins	1
April 1	Toronto Maple Leafs	2	Boston Bruins	3
April 3	Boston Bruins	2	Toronto Maple Leafs	3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 1

NY Rangers vs. Detroit

It looked initially to be a really close series as, after the Blueshirts lost the first two games, the Wings got their Production Line lazy. But as its wingers, Ted Lindsay and Gordie Howe, chose to keep up their rigid scoring as well as follow Lindsay's recent quote —

“In this game, you have to be mean, or you're going to get pushed around.”

(Glenn Liebman, Hockey Shorts: 1,001 of the Game's Funniest One Liners" (Contemporary Books, 1996) ) —

Motown got their team pursuing Lord Stanley's Mug for the fourth time in six years.

New York Rangers vs. Detroit Red Wings

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
March 24	New York Rangers	1	Detroit Red Wings	2
March 26	New York Rangers	2	Detroit Red Wings	5
March 28	Detroit Red Wings	2	New York Rangers	3
March 30	Detroit Red Wings	1	New York Rangers	3
April 1	New York Rangers	1	Detroit Red Wings	3
April 4	Detroit Red Wings	4	New York Rangers	2

Detroit wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 2

Finals

Detroit Red Wings vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
April 7	Detroit	3	Toronto	5
April 10	Detroit	2	Toronto	4
April 11	Toronto	2	Detroit	0
April 14	Toronto	7	Detroit	2

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 0

Playoff scoring leaders

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Ted Kennedy	Toronto Maple Leafs	9	8	6	14

NHL awards

O'Brien Cup:	Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Toronto Maple Leafs
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:	Elmer Lach, Montreal Canadiens
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Jim McFadden, Detroit Red Wings
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Bud O'Connor, New York Rangers
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Bud O'Connor, New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy:	Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs

All-Star teams

First team	Position	Second team
Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs	G	Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins
Bill Quackenbush, Detroit Red Wings	D	Ken Reardon, Montreal Canadiens
Jack Stewart, Detroit Red Wings	D	Neil Colville, New York Rangers
Elmer Lach, Montreal Canadiens	C	Buddy O'Connor, New York Rangers
Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens	RW	Bud Poile, Chicago Black Hawks
Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings	LW	Gaye Stewart, Chicago Black Hawks

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1947–48 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):