| 1950–51 NHL season | |
| League: | National Hockey League |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Duration: | October 11, 1950 – April 21, 1951 |
| Season: | Regular season |
| No Of Games: | 70 |
| No Of Teams: | 6 |
| Season Champ Name: | Season champion |
| Season Champs: | Detroit Red Wings |
| Mvp Link: | Hart Memorial Trophy |
| Mvp: | Milt Schmidt (Bruins) |
| Top Scorer: | Gordie Howe (Red Wings) |
| Top Scorer Link: | Art Ross Trophy |
| Finals: | Stanley Cup |
| Finals Link: | 1951 Stanley Cup Finals |
| Finals Champ: | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Montreal Canadiens |
| Nextseason Link: | 1951–52 NHL season |
| Prevseason Link: | 1949–50 NHL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1951–52 |
| Prevseason Year: | 1949–50 |
| Seasonslistnames: | NHL |
The 1950–51 NHL season was the 34th season of the National Hockey League. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens four games to one for the Stanley Cup to win their fifth Cup in seven years.
The league implemented a rule requiring all teams to provide an emergency goaltender for every game, for use by either team in case of illness or injury.
| 1950-51 National Hockey League | ||||
| Team | City | Arena | Capacity | |
| Boston Bruins | Boston, Massachusetts | Boston Garden | 13,909 | |
| Chicago Black Hawks | Chicago, Illinois | Chicago Stadium | 16,000 | |
| Detroit Red Wings | Detroit, Michigan | Detroit Olympia | 15,000 | |
| Montreal Canadiens | Montreal, Quebec | Montreal Forum | 15,551 | |
| New York Rangers | New York, New York | Madison Square Garden | 15,925 | |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Toronto, Ontario | Maple Leaf Gardens | 12,586 | |
The biggest trade in NHL history at the time took place in July 1950 with Sugar Jim Henry, Gaye Stewart, Bob Goldham and Metro Prystai of Chicago going to Detroit for Harry Lumley, Black Jack Stewart, Al Dewsbury, Don Morrison and Pete Babando, an exchange of nine players altogether.
Joe Primeau was named coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs with Hap Day kicked upstairs to assistant general manager. Toronto came flying out of the gate, undefeated in 11 games. Al Rollins had a great year, finishing with a 1.75 goals against average in 40 games. The Leafs had hoped to have Rollins share the Vezina Trophy with Turk Broda, but the league decided Rollins alone would be the recipient. The Leafs' .679 win percentage remains their all-time best for a season, despite the fact that they were second in the league standings behind Detroit.
With the New York Rangers slumping this season, they hired a hypnotist, Dr. David Tracy, to help relax the team. The treatment remained in doubt and the Rangers lost to Boston November 12. Asked why the treatment didn't work, Dr. Tracy said that he should have worked with the goaltender (Chuck Rayner) as he wasn't relaxed enough.
Montreal fans were excited when it was reported that two junior stars, Jean Beliveau and Bernie Geoffrion, would be given a trial in a December 16 game with the Rangers. The Canadiens played a 1–1 tie before 14,158 fans. Geoffrion scored the Canadiens goal in his debut.
Chicago was in third place at mid-season when bad luck struck. Their captain, Black Jack Stewart, ruptured a disc in his back and had to undergo surgery. He was finished for the seasonand his career was in jeopardy. Aggravating things were injuries to Gus Bodnar and Bill Gadsby. The Black Hawks won only two games in the second half and finished last.
In March, Rocket Richard ran into trouble in a game with Detroit. Richard was tripped androse with a cut between the eyes. No penalty was called and Richard commenced an argumentwith referee Hugh McLean. He continued his argument too long and was given a misconduct penalty.Richard then skated to the penalty box and found Leo Reise of Detroit there to welcome himwith derisive remarks which infuriated Richard, who then punched Reise, and when linesmanJim Primeau rushed to intervene, Richard took a poke at him and Richard was given a game misconduct. The Canadiens took a train to New York for a game against the Rangers, andthe next morning, Richard encountered referee McLean and linesman Primeau in the lobby of the Picadilly Hotel. No punches were thrown, but Richard grabbed McLean by the tie and thenPrimeau intervened. Considerable profanity filled the air, but cooler heads separated thetrio before fists could fly. NHL President Clarence Campbell took a dim view of the matterand fined the Rocket $500 for conduct prejudicial to the welfare of hockey.
The Detroit Red Wings got hot in the second half, overtaking Toronto and finished in first place again, becoming the first team with more than 100 points. Gordie Howe led the NHL in goals, assists, and points while goaltender Terry Sawchuk won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's best rookie. Sawchuk set a record for most wins by a goalie, as he was in net for all 44 Detroit victories.
The second seed Toronto Maple Leafs eliminated the fourth seed Boston Bruins in five games, and the third seed Montreal Canadiens upset the first overall Detroit Red Wings in six, setting up a Maple Leafs–Canadiens Stanley Cup Finals, won by the Toronto 4–1.
Game two was the last Stanley Cup playoff overtime game to end in a tie. The game was played on a Saturday night and as game crept closer to midnight it had to be stopped due to city bylaws and the federal Lord's Day Act that were in effect at the time in Toronto.[1] These laws prevented businesses from operating on Sunday.
See main article: 1951 Stanley Cup Finals.
| Detroit Red Wings | ||
| Art Ross Trophy
| Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings | |
| Calder Memorial Trophy
| Terry Sawchuk, Detroit Red Wings | |
| Hart Trophy
| Milt Schmidt, Boston Bruins | |
| Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
| Red Kelly, Detroit Red Wings | |
| Vezina Trophy
| Al Rollins, Toronto Maple Leafs |
| First team | Position | Second team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terry Sawchuk, Detroit Red Wings | align=center | G | Chuck Rayner, New York Rangers |
| Red Kelly, Detroit Red Wings | align=center | D | Jimmy Thomson, Toronto Maple Leafs |
| Bill Quackenbush, Boston Bruins | align=center | D | Leo Reise, Detroit Red Wings |
| Milt Schmidt, Boston Bruins | align=center | C | Ted Kennedy, Toronto Maple Leafs Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings (tied) |
| Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings | align=center | RW | Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens |
| Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings | align=center | LW | Sid Smith, Toronto Maple Leafs |
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gordie Howe | Detroit Red Wings | 70 | 43 | 43 | 86 | |
| Maurice Richard | Montreal Canadiens | 65 | 42 | 24 | 66 | |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 67 | 21 | 41 | 62 | ||
| Detroit Red Wings | 69 | 23 | 38 | 61 | ||
| Boston Bruins | 62 | 22 | 39 | 61 | ||
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 63 | 18 | 43 | 61 | ||
| Detroit Red Wings | 67 | 24 | 35 | 59 | ||
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 70 | 31 | 25 | 56 | ||
| Detroit Red Wings | 70 | 17 | 37 | 54 | ||
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 70 | 30 | 21 | 51 |
Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts
| Player | Team | GP | MIN | GA | GAA | W | L | T | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 40 | 2373 | 70 | 1.77 | 27 | 5 | 8 | 5 | |
| Detroit Red Wings | 70 | 4200 | 139 | 1.99 | 44 | 13 | 13 | 11 | |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 31 | 1827 | 68 | 2.23 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 6 | |
| Montreal Canadiens | 70 | 4200 | 184 | 2.63 | 25 | 30 | 15 | 6 | |
| Boston Bruins | 70 | 4200 | 197 | 2.81 | 22 | 30 | 18 | 4 | |
| New York Rangers | 66 | 3940 | 87 | 2.85 | 19 | 28 | 19 | 2 | |
| New York Rangers | 5 | 260 | 14 | 3.23 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| Chicago Black Hawks | 64 | 3785 | 246 | 3.90 | 12 | 41 | 10 | 3 | |
| Chicago Black Hawks | 6 | 355 | 29 | 4.90 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1950–51 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1950–51 (listed with their last team):