1926-27 nhl season

The 1926-27 NHL season was the tenth National Hockey League season.

Regular Season

The success of the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Pirates led the NHL to further expand to the United States. On May 4, 1926, the Western Hockey League, unable to match the higher salaries being offered by the NHL, folded, with many of its assets sold to the NHL. In particular, the NHL Board of Governors had purchased the contracts of every player in the WHL for $258,000. Two WHL teams, the Portland Rosebuds and the Victoria Cougars, were moved intact and became, respectively, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Cougars. This left the NHL in sole possession of hockey's greatest players, as well as sole control of hockey's greatest trophy, the Stanley Cup. With the infusion of new teams, the NHL was split into the Canadian and American divisions (although interestingly the New York Americans was placed in the Canadian Division), along with an altered playoff format: the top team from each division would meet the winner of a total-goals series between the second and third place teams from their divisions. The winners of those total-goals series would meet in a best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals.

Standings

Canadian Division

Team !! GP !! W !! L !! T !! GF !! GA !! PTS
Ottawa Senators	44	30	10	4	86	69	64
Montreal Canadiens	44	28	14	2	99	67	58
Montreal Maroons	44	20	20	4	71	68	44
New York Americans	44	17	25	2	82	91	36
Toronto Maple Leafs	44	15	24	5	79	94	35

American Division

Team !! GP !! W !! L !! T !! GF !! GA !! PTS
New York Rangers	44	25	13	6	95	72	56
Boston Bruins	44	21	20	3	97	89	45
Chicago Blackhawks	44	19	22	3	115	116	41
Pittsburgh Pirates	44	15	26	3	79	108	33
Detroit Cougars	44	12	28	4	76	105	28

Leading Scorers

Player !! Team !! GP !! G !! A !! PTS
Bill Cook	New York Rangers	44	33	4	37
Dick Irvin	Chicago	43	18	18	36
Howie Morenz	Montreal Canadiens	44	25	7	32
Frank Fredrickson	Detroit / Boston	44	18	13	31
Babe Dye	Chicago	41	25	5	30
Ace Bailey	Toronto	42	15	13	28
Frank Boucher	New York Rangers	44	13	15	28
Billy Burch	New York Americans	43	19	8	27
Harry Oliver	Boston	42	18	6	24	17
Duke Keats	Boston / Detroit	42	16	8	24

Leading Goaltenders

Player !! Team !! GP !! MINS !! GA !! SO !! GAA
Clint Benedict	Montreal Maroons	43	2748	65	13	1.42
Lorne Chabot	New York Rangers	36	2307	56	10	1.46
George Hainsworth	Montreal Canadiens	44	2732	67	14	1.47
Alex Connell	Ottawa	44	2782	69	13	1.49
Hal Winkler	New York Rangers / Boston	31	1959	56	6	1.72
Jake Forbes	New York Americans	44	2715	91	8	2.01
John Ross Roach	Toronto	44	2764	94	4	2.04
Hap Holmes	Detroit	41	2685	100	6	2.23
Roy Worters	Pittsburgh	44	2711	108	4	2.39
Hugh Lehman	Chicago	44	2797	116	5	2.49

Stanley Cup Playoffs

The new division alignment and the new playoff format meant that an American team was guaranteed to be the first American NHL team to make the Cup Finals. All dates in 1927.