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):

• Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins
• Norman Gainor, Boston Bruins
• Cy Wentworth, Chicago Black Hawks
• Charlie Gardiner, Chicago Black Hawks
• Larry Aurie, Detroit Cougars
• Marty Burke, Montreal Canadiens
• Jimmy Ward, Montreal Maroons
• Joe Lamb, Montreal Maroons
• Marty Barry, New York Americans
• Allan Shields, Ottawa Senators
• Joe Primeau, Toronto Maple Leafs

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):

• Sprague Cleghorn, Boston Bruins
• Corb Denneny, Chicago Black Hawks
• Frank Foyston, Detroit Cougars
• Jack Walker, Detroit Cougars
• Billy Boucher, New York Americans
• Odie Cleghorn, Pittsburgh Pirates

References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com