Home record 6–4–0 Goals for 103 General Manager Tommy Gorman | Road record 3–9–0 Goals against 114 | |
1917–18 record 5–9–0 (1st half)
4–4–0 (2nd half) | ||
The 1917–18 Ottawa Senators season was the team's first season in the newly formed National Hockey League (NHL) and 33rd season of play overall. The Senators, along with the Montreal and Quebec franchises of the National Hockey Association (NHA), voted to suspend the NHA and form the NHL. Ottawa would finish second and third in the first and second halves of the season, and did not qualify for the playoffs.
Contents
Playoffs
They did not qualify for the playoffs.
Regular season
The Senators began their membership in the new NHL with a 7–4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at The Arena in Ottawa on December 19, 1917. The team would record their first NHL win a week later on the December 26 on the road against the Montreal Wanderers. The Senators would then record their first ever NHL home win 3 days later against the same Wanderers.
The Wanderers withdrew from the league 6 games into the season due to a fire burning down their arena, so that left the NHL with three teams, the Senators, Canadiens and the Torontos. Ottawa picked up Dave Ritchie and Harry Hyland in the dispersal of players. Hyland would become Ottawa's playing coach. Ottawa would finish third in the first half, and second in the second half to miss out on the playoffs.
Cy Denneny would lead the team in scoring with 36 goals, behind only Joe Malone of the Canadiens in league scoring. Goaltender Clint Benedict would win all 9 games for the team, and post a 5.12 GAA.
Final standings
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
The Wanderers defaulted scheduled games against the Canadiens (Jan. 2, 1918) and Toronto (Jan. 5, 1918), when their arena burned down.
These appear as losses in the standings, but the games were not played.
Scoring
Source: hockeydb.com
Goaltending
Note:
Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goalsMin, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;