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

Scoring leaders

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

Leading goaltenders

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

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

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

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

Finals

Main article: 1948 Stanley Cup Finals

Detroit Red Wings vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

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

Playoff scoring leaders

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

NHL awards

All-Star teams

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):

• Ed Sandford, Boston Bruins
• Paul Ronty, Boston Bruins
• Metro Prystai, Chicago Black Hawks
• Marty Pavelich, Detroit Red Wings
• Red Kelly, Detroit Red Wings
• Floyd Curry, Montreal Canadiens
• Tom Johnson, Montreal Canadiens
• Gerry McNeil, Montreal Canadiens
• Doug Harvey, Montreal Canadiens
• Fleming MacKell, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Tod Sloan, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1947–48 (listed with their last team):

• John Quilty, Boston Bruins
• John Mariucci, Chicago Black Hawks
• Toe Blake, Montreal Canadiens
• Bryan Hextall, New York Rangers
• Phil Watson, New York Rangers
• Billy Taylor, New York Rangers
• Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Nick Metz, Toronto Maple Leafs

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1st National Hockey League All-Star Game
• National Hockey League All-Star Game
• Ice hockey at the 1948 Winter Olympics
• 1947 in sports
• 1948 in sports

References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com