Talk:History of the National Hockey League/1917–1942

Background and founding
The first attempts to regulate competitive ice hockey matches came in the late 1880s. Before then, teams competed in tournaments and infrequent challenge contests that prevailed in the Canadian sports world at the time. In 1887, four clubs from Montreal formed the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) and developed a structured schedule. Lord Stanley donated the Stanley Cup and appointed Philip Dansken Ross and Sheriff John Sweetland as its trustees. They decided to award it to either the best team in the AHAC, or to any pre-approved team that won it in a challenge. In 1904, the International Hockey League (IHL), based around Lake Michigan, was created as the first fully professional league, which lasted for two seasons. In recruiting players, the IHL caused an "Athletic War" that drained amateur clubs of top players, most noticeably in the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). In the 1905–06 season, the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) was formed, which mixed paid and amateur players in its rosters, which led to the demise of the IHL. Bidding wars for players led many ECAHA teams to lose money, and it eventually folded on November 25, 1909. As a result of the dissolution of the ECAHA, two leagues were formed—the Canadian Hockey Association (CHA) and the National Hockey Association (NHA). Since the NHA's owners were notable, wealthy businessmen, the CHA did not complete a season, as the NHA easily recruited the top players, and interest in the CHA teams faded.

The National Hockey League came into existence with the demise of the NHA in 1917. After unsuccessfully resolving disputes with Eddie Livingstone, owner of the Toronto Blueshirts, executives of the three other NHA franchises—the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers and Ottawa Senators—suspended the NHA, and formed the National Hockey League (NHL), replacing Livingstone's team with a temporary team in Toronto, the Arenas. Whilst new, the NHL was a continuation of the NHA. The NHL continued to use the NHA's championship trophy, its rules, such as playing with six men to a side rather than the then-traditional seven and the NHA's split-season schedule. The owners originally intended the NHL to only operate for one season. However, the NHA was suspended permanently in 1918 and the ceased to be an organisation in 1920.

Early years
The NHL's first superstar was prolific goal-scorer Joe Malone, who scored 44 goals in 20 games in the NHL's first season, of which five were netted on the NHL's opening night. He also set the record for the most goals in a game that season, with seven. Six games into the season, the Montreal Wanderers were forced to permanently withdraw from the league, as a fire left them without an arena. In the 1918–19 season, the Montreal Canadiens faced the Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) for the Stanley Cup amid the Spanish influenza pandemic. The series was called off after five games after numerous players came down ill; one, Joe Hall of the Canadiens died a few weeks later.



During the early 1920s, the NHL faced competition for players from two other major leagues: the PCHA and the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). As a result, ice hockey players were among the best paid athletes in North America. By the mid-1920s, the NHL emerged as the sole major league in North America; the PCHA and WCHL merged in 1924, and was disbanded two years later. The Victoria Cougars were the last non-NHL team to win and challenge the Stanley Cup, having defeated the Canadiens in 1925, and lost to the Montreal Maroons in 1926, respectively. The NHL continued to expand, adding the Maroons and its first American team, the Boston Bruins in 1924, getting up to 10 teams by 1926. Defence dominated the NHL, and in the 1928–29 season, Canadiens goaltender George Hainsworth set what remains a league recording with 22 shutouts in 44 games. In response, the NHL began to allow forward passing in the offensive zone, which caused the offense to increase by approximately 2.5 times; to stem the tide, the NHL introduced the offside rule, which prevents offensive players to enter the opponent's zone without the puck.

Livingstone continued to press claims in court throughout the 1920s, going as far as the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, England. In early 1927, the Toronto franchise was sold to Conn Smythe, who renamed it to the Maple Leafs, and successfully promised to win the Stanley Cup in five years. He built the Maple Leaf Gardens, which included radio broadcaster Foster Hewitt's famous broadcast booth, affectionately referred to as a "gondola". On December 13, 1933, Eddie Shore charged Ace Bailey causing a severe skull fracture, following what he thought was a check from the latter. Despite the grim prognosis (newspapers printed his obituary), Bailey survived, but never played a game. The Maples Leafs hosted the Ace Bailey All-Star Benefit Game, which raised over $20,000 for Bailey and his family.

Great Depression
Whilst Conn Smythe was able to successfully build a new arena, numerous other teams experienced financial difficulties. With the folding of the Philadelphia Quakers (originally the Pittsburgh Pirates) and the St. Louis Eagles (originally the Ottawa Senators), the NHL was reduced to eight teams starting in the 1935–36 season. The Montreal Canadiens narrowly escaped a move to Cleveland, Ohio, before a syndicate of Montreal businessmen bought the team. Montreal's financial troubles forced them to sell popular player Howie Morenz. When Morenz scored against the Canadiens on the last day of the 1935 season, Montreal fans voiced their opinion, giving him a standing ovation. Morenz was eventually re-acquired by Montreal, and on January 28, 1937, Morenz's skate became caught in the ice during a play. He suffered a broken leg in four places, and died on March 8 of a coronary embolism; 50,000 people filed past Morenz's casket at centre ice of the Montreal Forum to pay their last respects. A benefit game held in November 1937 raised $20,000 for Morenz's family as the NHL All-Stars defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6–5.

In the mid-1930s, Chicago Black Hawks owner and staunch American patriot Frederic McLaughlin commanded his general manager to compile a team of only American players; at the time, Taffy Abel was the only American-born player who was a regular player in the league. With eight out of 14 players Americans, the Black Hawks won only 14 of 48 games. In the playoffs, however, the Hawks upset the Canadiens, New York Americans, and the Maple Leafs to become the only team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup despite a losing regular-season record. In the 1942 Stanley Cup Finals, the heavily favoured Maple Leafs were facing an upset, having fallen 3–0 in the seven-game series to the fifth-place Detroit Red Wings. Toronto rebounded, and won the next four games to capture the Stanley Cup, becoming first out of teams in the NHL to comeback from a 3–0 series deficit.

Prior to the 1938–39 season, the Montreal Maroons folded due to financial difficulties, while the New York Americans suffered a similar fate prior to the 1942–43 season. With the league reduced to six teams, the "Original Six" era began. The league was nearly reduced to five teams before the following season, as World War II had ravaged the rosters of many teams to such an extent that teams battled each other for players. With only five returning players from the previous season, New York Rangers general manager Lester Patrick suggested suspending his team's play for the duration of the war but was persuaded otherwise.

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The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in 1917 following the demise of its predecessor league, the National Hockey Association (NHA). In an effort to remove Eddie Livingstone as owner of the Toronto Blueshirts, a majority of the NHA franchises (the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators and Quebec Bulldogs) suspended the NHA and formed the new NHL. Quebec, while a member, did not operate in the NHL for the first two years. Instead the owners of the Toronto Arena Gardens arena operated a new Toronto franchise. While the NHL was intended as a temporary measure, the continuing dispute with Livingstone led to the four NHA owners meeting and making the suspension of the NHA permanent one year later.

The NHL's first quarter-century saw the league compete against two rival major leagues, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and Western Canada Hockey League, for players and the Stanley Cup. The NHL first expanded into the United States in 1924 with the founding of the Boston Bruins, and by 1926 consisted of ten teams in Ontario, Quebec, the Great Lakes region, and the Northeastern United States. At the same time, the NHL emerged as the only major league and the sole competitor for the Stanley Cup.

The game itself continued to evolve during this time. Numerous innovations to the rules and equipment were put forward as the NHL sought to improve the flow of the game and make the sport more fan-friendly. The NHL played with six men to a side rather than the traditional seven, and was among the first leagues to allow goaltenders to leave their feet to make saves. The NHL's footprint spread across Canada as Foster Hewitt's radio broadcasts were heard coast-to-coast starting in 1933.

The Montreal Forum and Maple Leaf Gardens were built, and each played host to All-Star benefit games held to raise money to support Ace Bailey and the family of Howie Morenz in Toronto and Montreal, respectively. Both players' careers had ended due to an on-ice incident, with Morenz eventually dying, a month after he sustained his initial injury. These early NHL All-Star games would lead to the annual All-Star games which continue today.

The Great Depression and World War II reduced the league to six teams by 1942. Founding team Ottawa, and expansion teams New York Americans, Montreal Maroons and Pittsburgh Pirates/Philadelphia Quakers passed from the scene. Expansion team Detroit Falcons declared bankruptcy in 1932 and only survived through a merger with the Chicago Shamrocks of the American Hockey League and the pockets of prosperous owner James Norris to become the Detroit Red Wings. Desperate conditions in Montreal meant that the city nearly lost both of its teams in the 1930s; the Canadiens nearly moved to Cleveland, but survived due to its stronger fan support. The six teams left standing in 1942 (the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs) are known today as the "Original Six".