1938–39 NHL season

League business

Just prior to the start of the 1938–39 season, the league held a meeting to decide the fate of the Montreal Maroons. The team had requested a shift to St. Louis, but this was rejected after considerable discussion, resulting in the Maroons suspending operations for the season. They sold most of their players to the Canadiens, and it was evident that the Maroons were through for good. This was the last time a team that had previously won a Stanley Cup either folded or relocated to another market. With only seven teams left, the NHL decided to go back to the one division format.

The Stanley Cup Final was expanded to a best-of-seven format.

NHL president Frank Calder reached a new professional-amateur agreement with Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) and its president W. G. Hardy in August 1938. The CAHA agreed not to allow international transfers for players on NHL reserve lists, and the NHL agreed not to sign any junior players without permission. It limited the number of amateur players which could be signed to contracts, and stipulated that both organizations use the same playing rules and recognize each other's suspensions.

Regular season

Prior to the start of the season, the Boston Bruins sold their star goaltender, Tiny Thompson, who had just won a record fourth Vezina Trophy, to the Detroit Red Wings. The fans thought Art Ross was crazy, but soon they were applauding rookie Frank Brimsek, who would go on to back-stop the Bruins to a first overall finish and a Stanley Cup victory. He wiped out Thompson's shutout sequence record with three consecutive shutouts. He nearly equalled his new record with three more. He ended the season with 10 shutouts, and earned the nickname "Mr. Zero". He also became the first goaltender to win both the Vezina Trophy and Calder Memorial Trophy in the same season.

Joseph Cattarinich died on December 7 of a heart attack following an eye operation. Cattarinich was the original goaltender of the Montreal Canadiens when they were formed in 1909 and later a part-owner of the team. He was 57.

The Montreal Canadiens eroded to the point where Jules Dugal replaced Cecil Hart as manager and coach. Dugal was not much better and the Canadiens finished sixth. One bright note was that Toe Blake won the scoring title, however, despite the poor showing of the team.

Chicago, after its Stanley Cup win the previous season, began floundering at mid-season and owner Frederic McLaughlin was displeased. Accordingly, he fired coach Bill Stewart and hired left wing Paul Thompson in his place. But the Black Hawks continued to lose and finished last.

The New York Americans, up in third place at mid-season, proceeded to fall into a big slump in the second half and though they finished fourth, they were below .500 and had the worst defence in the league. Part of the problem was the retirements of Ching Johnson and Hap Day on defence. Al Murray was also out of action for quite a time. Still, goaltender Earl Robertson found himself on the second all-star team.

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.

Playoffs

Playoff bracket

With the league reduced to seven teams, a new playoff format was adopted, still using a structure similar to a double-elimination tournament with a "winners' bracket", and a "losers' or repechage bracket". The top six teams in the league qualified for the playoffs. The top two teams played in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup semifinal series. The third-place team then met the fourth-place team in one best-of-five series, and the fifth-place team faced the sixth-place team in another best-of-five series, to determine the participants for the other best-of-five semifinal series. The semifinal winners then met in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each series).

Semifinals

This series was the first to need seven games in NHL history; additionally, the Rangers were the first team in NHL history to force a Game seven after losing the first three games of a series. Mel Hill, a right winger for the Bruins, scored a record three overtime goals in a single series.

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

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

Coaches

Boston Bruins: Art Ross

Chicago Black Hawks: Bill Stewart and Paul Thompson

Detroit Red Wings: Jack Adams

Montreal Canadiens: Cecil Hart

New York Americans: Red Dutton

New York Rangers: Lester Patrick

Toronto Maple Leafs: Dick Irvin

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1938–39 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Roy Conacher, Boston Bruins

Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins

Ab DeMarco, Chicago Black Hawks

Don Grosso, Detroit Red Wings

Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings

Jack Stewart, Detroit Red Wings

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1938–39 (listed with their last team):

Russ Blinco, Chicago Black Hawks

Paul Thompson, Chicago Black Hawks

Baldy Northcott, Chicago Black Hawks

Alex Levinsky, Chicago Black Hawks

Bob Gracie, Chicago Black Hawks

Larry Aurie, Detroit Red Wings

Herbie Lewis, Detroit Red Wings

Dave Trottier, Detroit Red Wings

Babe Siebert, Montreal Canadiens

Jimmy Ward, Montreal Canadiens