1932–33 NHL season

League business

After sitting out for a season due to financial difficulties, the Ottawa Senators rejoined the NHL. The Philadelphia Quakers never rejoined the NHL after sitting out the 1931–32 season.

Detroit Falcons were renamed as the Detroit Red Wings.

Although the Montreal Maroons had Flat Walsh, Dave Kerr and Normie Smith for goal, they were interested in acquiring Chuck Gardiner of Chicago. James Strachan offered $10,000 plus one of his goalkeepers, but there was no deal.

Billy Coutu, expelled from the NHL in 1927, was reinstated to the NHL, but never returned.

Rule changes

This season, the NHL started allowing a substitute to serve penalties for goaltender's penalties.

The NHL now required a captain or alternate captain to be on the ice at all times.

Regular season

There was a record number of four goaltenders who served as captains for their teams: George Hainsworth, Roy Worters, Charlie Gardiner, and Alex Connell. The Red Wings and Boston Bruins tied for the best overall record with 58 points apiece, but it was Boston that was awarded first overall due to a better head-to-head record. Ottawa started the season up in second place in the Canadian Division near the .500 mark at mid season, but collapsed in the second half and finished last. President Ahearn instructed coach Cy Denneny to fine players who displayed indifferent hockey. At the same time, he stated that Hector Kilrea was not for sale.

The Montreal Canadiens, under new coach Newsy Lalonde, spent much of the season in last place, but made the playoffs when they rallied to finish third. Toronto, with its Kid line, finished first for the first time as the Maple Leafs. Led by the play of Eddie Shore, the Boston Bruins finished first in the American Division.

The first forfeit in NHL history occurred during a Black Hawks-Bruins game at Boston Garden on March 14, 1933. Chicago coach Tommy Gorman punched referee Bill Stewart following a disputed overtime goal by Boston's Marty Barry. Stewart threw several punches at Gorman before summoning the police to remove Gorman from the visitors' bench. The Hawks refused to continue the game without their coach. The puck was placed at center ice by Stewart. Boston's Cooney Weiland scored without any Hawks on the ice—at which point the game was forfeited to Boston. Ironically, referee Stewart would coach the Black Hawks to the Stanley Cup in 1937–1938.

Final standings

Playoffs

Playoff bracket

The top three teams in each division qualified for the playoffs. The two division winners met in a best-of-five Stanley Cup semifinal series. The divisional second-place teams and third-place teams played off in a two-game total-goals series to determine the participants for the other two-game total-goals semifinal series. The semifinal winners then played in a best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals.

| RD1-seed1=C2 | RD1-team1=Mtl Maroons | RD1-score1=2G | RD1-seed2=A2 | RD1-team2=Detroit | RD1-score2=5G | RD1-seed3=C3 | RD1-team3=Mtl Canadiens | RD1-score3=5G | RD1-seed4=A3 | RD1-team4=NY Rangers | RD1-score4=8G | RD2-seed1=C1 | RD2-team1=Toronto | RD2-score1=3 | RD2-seed2=A1 | RD2-team2=Boston | RD2-score2=2 | RD2-seed3=A2 | RD2-team3=Detroit | RD2-score3=3G | RD2-seed4=A3 | RD2-team4=NY Rangers | RD2-score4=6G | RD3-seed1=C1 | RD3-team1=Toronto | RD3-score1=1 | RD3-seed2=A3 | RD3-team2=NY Rangers | RD3-score2=3

Quarterfinals

(A2) Detroit Red Wings vs. (C2) Montreal Maroons

|1-1-1 =No scoring |1-1-2 =Larry Aurie (1) – 08:40 |1-2-1 =No scoring |1-2-2 =No scoring |1-3-1 =No scoring |1-3-2 =Carl Voss (1) – 03:42 |goalie1-1 =Dave Kerr |goalie1-2 =John Ross Roach

|2-1-1 =No scoring |2-1-2 =No scoring |2-2-1 =Hooley Smith (1) – 10:06 Hooley Smith (2) – pp – 12:08 |2-2-2 =19:51 – Herbie Lewis (1) |2-3-1 =No scoring |2-3-2 =03:47 – Ebbie Goodfellow (1) 15:54 – John Gallagher (1) |goalie2-1 =Dave Kerr |goalie2-2 =John Ross Roach

(A3) New York Rangers vs. (C3) Montreal Canadiens

|1-1-1 =No scoring |1-1-2 =02:34 – pp – Bill Cook (1) 03:01 – pp – Bun Cook (1) |1-2-1 =No scoring |1-2-2 =05:36 – Murray Murdoch (1) |1-3-1 =Albert Leduc (1) – 18:45 Aurele Joliat (1) – 19:29 |1-3-2 =13:10 – Cecil Dillon (1) 17:44 – Frank Boucher (1) |goalie1-1 =George Hainsworth |goalie1-2 =Andy Aitkenhead

|2-1-1 =04:50 – Wildor Larochelle (1) 07:56 – Aurele Joliat (2) |2-1-2 =Art Somers (1) – 11:39 |2-2-1 =11:34 – Hago Harrington (1) |2-2-2 =No scoring |2-3-1 =No scoring |2-3-2 =Cecil Dillon (2) – 12:50 Cecil Dillon (3) – 18:11 |goalie2-1 =George Hainsworth |goalie2-2 =Andy Aitkenhead

Semifinals

(A1) Boston Bruins vs. (C1) Toronto Maple Leafs

Game five of this series is the second longest game in NHL history, it was the longest at the time.

|1-1-1 =Bill Thoms (1) – 14:03 |1-1-2 =No scoring |1-2-1 =No scoring |1-2-2 =02:14 – Dit Clapper (1) |1-3-1 =No scoring |1-3-2 =No scoring |1-4-1 =No scoring |1-4-2 =14:14 – Marty Barry |goalie1-1 =Lorne Chabot |goalie1-2 =Tiny Thompson

|2-1-1 =No scoring |2-1-2 =No scoring |2-2-1 =No scoring |2-2-2 =No scoring |2-3-1 =No scoring |2-3-2 =No scoring |2-4-1 =Busher Jackson (1) – 15:03 |2-4-2 =No scoring |goalie2-1 =Lorne Chabot |goalie2-2 =Tiny Thompson

|3-1-1 =No scoring |3-1-2 =No scoring |3-2-1 =No scoring |3-2-2 =Nels Stewart (1) – 04:47 |3-3-1 =14:34 – Ken Doraty (1) |3-3-2 =No scoring |3-4-1 =No scoring |3-4-2 =Eddie Shore (1) – 04:23 |goalie3-1 =Lorne Chabot |goalie3-2 =Tiny Thompson

|4-1-1 =06:40 – Charlie Sands (1) 14:40 – pp – Busher Jackson (2) |4-1-2 =Vic Ripley (1) – 00:32 |4-2-1 =02:16 – Busher Jackson (3) 17:14 – Charlie Conacher (1) |4-2-2 =Nels Stewart (2) – 04:43 Marty Barry (2) – 18:01 |4-3-1 =03:39 – Charlie Sands (2) |4-3-2 =No scoring |goalie4-1 =Lorne Chabot |goalie4-2 =Tiny Thompson

|5-1-1 =No scoring |5-1-2 =No scoring |5-2-1 =No scoring |5-2-2 =No scoring |5-3-1 =No scoring |5-3-2 =No scoring |5-4-1 =04:46 – Ken Doraty (2) |5-4-2 =No scoring |goalie5-1 =Lorne Chabot |goalie5-2 =Tiny Thompson

(A2) Detroit Red Wings vs. (A3) New York Rangers

|1-1-1 =17:46 – Ching Johnson (1) |1-1-2 =No scoring |1-2-1 =13:48 – Cecil Dillon (4) |1-2-2 =No scoring |1-3-1 =No scoring |1-3-2 =No scoring |goalie1-1 =Andy Aitkenhead |goalie1-2 =John Ross Roach

|2-1-1 =Ott Heller (1) – 05:50 Cecil Dillon (5) – sh – 14:24 |2-1-2 =05:17 – John Sorrell (1) |2-2-1 =Babe Siebert (1) – 05:05 |2-2-2 =14:50 – Doug Young (1) |2-3-1 =17:32 – Frank Boucher (2) |2-3-2 =06:53 – John Sorrell (2) |goalie2-1 =Andy Aitkenhead |goalie2-2 =John Ross Roach

Stanley Cup Finals

Main article: 1933 Stanley Cup Finals

|1-1-1 =12:18 – Bun Cook (2) 13:11 – Cecil Dillon (6) |1-1-2 =No scoring |1-2-1 =08:31 – pp – Ott Heller (2) 14:25 – sh – Cecil Dillon (7) |1-2-2 =No scoring |1-3-1 =16:55 – Murray Murdoch (2) |1-3-2 =Alex Levinsky (1) – 15:53 |goalie1-1 =Andy Aitkenhead |goalie1-2 =Lorne Chabot

|2-1-1 =Ott Heller (3) – 08:18 Bill Cook (2) – sh – 11:38 |2-1-2 =01:10 – Ken Doraty (3) |2-2-1 =No scoring |2-2-2 =No scoring |2-3-1 =Earl Seibert (1) – 14:39 |2-3-2 =No scoring |goalie2-1 =Andy Aitkenhead |goalie2-2 =Lorne Chabot

|3-1-1 =Cecil Dillon (8) – sh – 02:21 |3-1-2 =No scoring |3-2-1 =No scoring |3-2-2 =07:21 – pp – Ken Doraty (4) |3-3-1 =Butch Keeling (1) – sh – 07:42 |3-3-2 =05:29 – pp – Ken Doraty (5) 08:30 – Red Horner (1) |goalie3-1 =Andy Aitkenhead |goalie3-2 =Lorne Chabot

|4-1-1 =No scoring |4-1-2 =No scoring |4-2-1 =No scoring |4-2-2 =No scoring |4-3-1 =No scoring |4-3-2 =No scoring |4-4-1 =Bill Cook (3) – pp – 07:33 |4-4-2 =No scoring |goalie4-1 =Andy Aitkenhead |goalie4-2 =Lorne Chabot

Awards

It was the first season that league president Frank Calder named the best rookie of the year. The first winner was Carl Voss of the Detroit Red Wings. Although Tiny Thompson was named 'most valuable goaltender', he was not named to the NHL All-Star team.

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Leading scorers

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

Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Source: NHL.{{cite web |url=http://www.nhl.com/stats/historical?fetchKey=19332ALLGAHSALL&ord=asc&sort=goalsAgainstAverage&viewName=statsLeadersSingleSeasonGoalies

Coaches

American Division

• Boston Bruins: Art Ross
• Chicago Black Hawks: Emil Iverson and Tommy Gorman
• Detroit Red Wings: Jack Adams
• New York Rangers: Lester Patrick

Canadian Division

• Montreal Canadiens: Newsy Lalonde
• Montreal Maroons: Eddie Gerard
• New York Americans: Bullet Joe Simpson
• Ottawa Senators: Cy Denneny
• Toronto Maple Leafs: Dick Irvin

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1932–33 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Art Wiebe, Chicago Black Hawks
• Eddie Wiseman, Detroit Red Wings
• Charlie Sands, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Buzz Boll*, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Bill Thoms, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1932–33 (listed with their last team):

• George Owen, Boston Bruins
• Billy Burch, Chicago Black Hawks, last active player from the Hamilton Tigers franchise.
• Reg Noble, Montreal Maroons
• Hib Milks, Ottawa Senators
• Harold Darragh, Toronto Maple Leafs

References

• {{cite book |last1=Fischler |first1=Stan |last2=Fischler |first2=Shirley

;Notes

References

1. ''Hockey's Book of Firsts'', p. 13, James Duplacey, JG Press, {{ISBN. 978-1-57215-037-9