1927–28 NHL season

The 1927–28 NHL season was the eleventh season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. The New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup beating the Montreal Maroons becoming the first United States based team since the start of the NHL to win it and first since the Seattle Metropolitans won in 1917. This season saw the reintroduction of the O'Brien Trophy, which used to go to the NHL league champion. It was originally retired in favour of the Prince of Wales Trophy. The reintroduced O'Brien Trophy went to the winner of the Canadian Division while the Prince of Wales Trophy went to the winner of the American division.

Regular season

Final standings

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

Canadian Division GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM
Montreal Canadiens 44 26 11 7 59 116 48 496
Montreal Maroons 44 24 14 6 54 96 77 549
Ottawa Senators 44 20 14 10 50 78 57 483
Toronto Maple Leafs 44 18 18 8 44 89 88 436
New York Americans 44 11 27 6 28 63 128 563
American Division GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM
Boston Bruins 44 20 13 11 51 77 70 558
New York Rangers 44 19 16 9 47 94 79 462
Pittsburgh Pirates 44 19 17 8 46 67 76 395
Detroit Cougars 44 19 19 6 44 88 79 395
Chicago Black Hawks 44 7 34 3 17 68 134 375

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player Team GP G A Pts
Howie Morenz Montreal Canadiens 43 33 18 51
Aurel Joliat Montreal Canadiens 44 28 11 39
Frank Boucher New York Rangers 44 23 12 35
George Hay Detroit Cougars 42 22 13 35
Nels Stewart Montreal Maroons 41 27 7 34
Art Gagne Montreal Canadiens 44 20 10 30
Bun Cook New York Rangers 44 14 14 28
Bill Carson Toronto Maple Leafs 32 20 6 26
Frank Finnigan Ottawa Senators 38 20 5 25
Bill Cook New York Rangers 43 18 6 24
Duke Keats Detroit Cougars/Chicago Black Hawks 38 14 10 24

Stanley Cup playoffs

Playoff bracket

  Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                           
        
  C1  Montreal Canadiens 2G  
Canadian Division
    C2  Montreal Maroons 3G  
C2  Montreal Maroons 3G
  C3  Ottawa Senators 1G  
    C2  Montreal Maroons 2
  A2  New York Rangers 3
          
        
A1  Boston Bruins 2G
American Division
    A2  New York Rangers 5G  
A2  New York Rangers 6G
  A3  Pittsburgh Pirates 4G  

Finals

New York Rangers vs. Montreal Maroons

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
April 5 New York Rangers 0 Montreal Maroons 2
April 7 New York Rangers 2 Montreal Maroons 1 (OT)
April 10 New York Rangers 0 Montreal Maroons 2
April 12 New York Rangers 1 Montreal Maroons 0
April 14 New York Rangers 2 Montreal Maroons 1

New York wins best-of-five series 3–2

NHL awards

1927–28 NHL awards
O'Brien Trophy: Montreal Canadiens
Prince of Wales Trophy: Boston Bruins
Hart Memorial Trophy: Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens
Lady Byng Trophy: Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy: George Hainsworth, Montreal Canadiens

First games

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1927–28 (listed with their first team, stars(*) mark start in playoffs):

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1927–28 (listed with their last team):

References