1933–34 NHL season

League business

The New York Americans introduce new sweaters. The team's home uniform uses the word 'Americans' across the front with white stars over a blue area around the shoulders with red and white stripes below the wording. The road uniform is white with a shield logo. There are sleeves and shoulders are blue with a horizontal red stripe at the bottom of the sweater. The team is the second NHL team to have two sets of uniforms, after the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Regular season

The Ottawa Senators, having enough problems, now had to deal with holdout Cooney Weiland. He was sold to Detroit, strengthening the Red Wings. The Senators continued to lose, but won a few games when they signed an amateur named Max Kaminsky to centre the Roche brothers Desse and Earl. A defenceman, Ralph "Scotty" Bowman, gave Ottawa fans a little to cheer about. But the handwriting was on the wall, and in the last NHL game to be played in Ottawa until the NHL returned to that city in 1992, the Senators let the New York Americans use goaltender Alex Connell when Roy Worters was hurt. He helped the Americans beat his club.

A major trade was a swap of goaltenders as Lorne Chabot was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for George Hainsworth. The Canadiens also loaned Wilf Cude to Detroit and he led the Red Wings to first place. Chabot did not do badly either, leading the Canadian Division in goaltending, helping the goal-strapped Canadiens to second place. Aurel Joliat of the Canadiens won the Hart Trophy.

Final standings

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

NHL All-Star Game

On February 14, 1934, the first NHL All-Star Game, albeit an unofficial one, was held to benefit Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ace Bailey, who suffered a career-ending injury. On December 12, 1933, near the end of the second period of a game between the Leafs and the Boston Bruins in the Boston Garden, Bailey was tripped from behind by Bruins defenceman Eddie Shore, in retaliation for a check that Toronto defenceman King Clancy had delivered to Shore. Bailey was not the intended target of the check; Shore wanted to hit Clancy instead. Bailey was badly hurt, unconscious and bleeding. The Leafs' Red Horner took offence to the hit, and subsequently knocked out Shore with a punch. Shore was forgiven after the game when both players regained consciousness, with Bailey saying that it was "all part of the game." However, Bailey would pass out and lapse into convulsions. Bailey was not expected to live after a single night in the hospital after suffering from severe hemorrhaging. It was made well known that Shore would have been charged with manslaughter were Bailey to die. Fortunately, he gradually recovered, but his hockey career was over. For his actions, Shore received a 16-game suspension, a third of the 48-game schedule of the time, while Horner was suspended for the remainder of 1933.

The game itself was proposed by Walter Gilhooley, the sports editor of the Journal in Montreal. This proposal would become a reality on January 24, 1934, in a meeting of the NHL's Board of Governors in 1934. The NHL's first All-Star Game was held at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, during which Bailey's #6 uniform was retired by the Leafs. It was the first number to be retired in the NHL. The game saw the Leafs battle against an All-Star team made of players from the other eight teams, which the Leafs won 7–3. One of the more memorable moments before the game was when Bailey presented Shore with his All-Star jersey, showing to the public that Bailey had clearly forgiven him for his actions. Bailey also presented a trophy to NHL President Frank Calder before a game in the hope that the trophy would go to the winner of an annual All-Star Game for the benefit of injured players.

Final

see 1934 Stanley Cup Finals

The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Detroit Red Wings three games to one with the fourth game going into double overtime. After regulation time in the fourth game, Black Hawks star goaltender and two-time Vezina Trophy winner, Charlie Gardiner, left the game because he wasn't feeling well. He died two months later of a brain hemorrhage.

Goalie statistics by game and series

Series "A" Detroit vs. Toronto Game #1 2–1 Detroit- Cude 43(1), Hainsworth 31(2) 1:33 Overtime, Game #2 6–3 Detroit- Cude 53(3), Hainsworth 28(6) Game #3 3–1 Toronto- Cude 35(3), Hainsworth 23(1) Game #4 5–1 Toronto- Cude 30(5), Hainsworth 15(1) Game #5 1–0 Detroit- Cude 15(0), Hainsworth 22(1) Totals..Cude 176(12)= .932 Save%...2.38 G.A.A...1 shutout

Hainsworth 119(11)= .908 Save%...2.19 G.A.A.

Great goaltending by Cude against the most explosive team in the league when he faced an average of 11.4 more shots per game in the 5 game series.

Series "B" Chicago vs. Montreal Canadiens Game #1 3–2 Chicago- Gardiner 29(2), Chabot 33(3) Game #2 1–1 tie-.... Gardiner 27(1), Chabot 47(1) 11:05 overtime Totals..Gardiner 56(3), .946 Save%...1.37 G.A.A.

....Chabot 80(4), .950 Save%...1.83 G.A.A.

With the play-off structure of the time, the series reverted to total goals when the teams were tied at 3 goals apiece after game #2 even though Montreal was ahead 1–0 at the end of regulation time of game #2. Chabot was perfect with the shutout but lost the seriesby goals.

Series "C" New York Rangers vs. Montreal Maroons Game #1 0–0 tie.......Aitkenhead 26(0), Kerr 19(0) Game #2 2–1 Montreal..Aitkenhead 32(2), Kerr 38(1) Totals...Aitkenhead 58(2), .966 Save%...1.00 G.A.A...1 shutout

.........Kerr 57(1), .982 Save%...0.50 G.A.A...1 shutout

Series "D" Chicago Black Hawks vs. Montreal Maroons Game #1 3–0 Chicago...Gardiner 32(0), Kerr 27(3) Game #2 3–2 Chicago...Gardiner 28(2), Kerr 41(3) Totals...Gardiner 60(2), .967 Save%...1.00 G.A.A....1 shutout

.......Kerr 68(6), .912 Save%...3.00 G.A.A.

Series "D" Chicago vs Detroit Game #1 2–1 Chicago...Gardiner 22(1), Cude 42(2) Game #2 4–1 Chicago...Gardiner 21(1), Cude 31(4) Game #3 5–2 Detroit...Gardiner 36(5), Cude 45(2) Game #4 1–0 Chicago...Gardiner 39(0), Cude 54(1) Totals....Gardiner 118(7), .941 Save%...1.44 G.A.A....1 shutout

........Cude 172(9), .948 Save%...1.86 G.A.A.

Cude was a great asset on loan from the Canadiens. This was another series that Detroit leaned heavily on Cude, where he faced 13.5 more shots per game for the whole series. It was also good to see Gardiner experience a stanley cup before his sudden and unexpected death when he was really beginning to shine. He was afterall only 29 at the time of his death.

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Scoring leaders

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

Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shut outs; GAA = Goals against average

Source: NHL.

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1933–34 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Russ Blinco, Montreal Maroons

Herb Cain, Montreal Maroons

Lorne Carr, New York Rangers

Flash Hollett, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1933–34 (listed with their last team):

Lionel Hitchman, Boston Bruins

Percy Galbraith, Boston Bruins

Charles Gardiner, Chicago Black Hawks

Clarence Abel, Chicago Black Hawks

George Hay, Detroit Red Wings

Ace Bailey, Toronto Maple Leafs