The1936–37 NHL season was the20thseason of theNational Hockey League (NHL). Eight teams each played 48 games. TheDetroit Red Wings were theStanley Cup winners as they beat theNew York Rangers three games to two in the final series.

Frank Calder had been naming the top rookies commencing with1932–33. This year, he commenced buying a trophy for the top rookie and Syl Apps was this year's winner.

TheGreat Depression continued to take its toll on the NHL. At the beginning of the decade there were ten teams and in the years since two teams had folded. It appeared like theNew York Americans were to become the third team but the NHL took steps to prevent that from happening. Instead of letting the team cease operating because of money and ownership problems the league assumed control of the team for the 1936–37 season. It was then that team ownerBill Dwyer sued. A settlement then allowed for Dwyer to own the team, run by the NHL, and that Dwyer would be given a chance to pay back his debts.

TheMontreal Maroons, short of money, had to sell their star and team captainHooley Smith to Boston. It was hoped thatCarl Voss of the former Eagles would fill in adequately for him, but he came down withinfluenza and was not much help. However,Bob Gracie started scoring and the Maroons almost nipped the Canadiens for first place in the Canadian Division.

The New York Americans had started in first place, but then their players came down withinfluenza and the team went downhill. But the worst blow was whenRoy Worters suffered ahernia and had to retire.Alfie Moore andLorne Chabot were not adequate replacements and the Amerks finished last in the Canadian Division.

On November 16, 1936, Hal Winkler made his NHL debut for the New York Rangers and gained a 1–0 shutout over the Montreal Maroons. He was the first goaltender to have a shutout in his NHL debut.^[1] The Montreal Canadiens had hit the bottom in 1935–36, andBabe Siebert was obtained to shore up the defence. But the most loved of all movements was buyingHowie Morenz back from the Rangers. The Canadiens went from last to first in the Canadian Division. Morenz was just hitting his stride in January 1937, when tragedy struck. On one of his hurtling rushes, he was being checked byEarl Seibert of Chicago when his left skate got caught in the dasher of the end boards, and Morenz suffered a badly fractured leg. After suffering a nervous breakdown worrying about if he would be able to come back, more bad luck occurred. On March 8, 1937, X-rays revealed that Howie had blood clots in his healing leg. An operation was scheduled for the next day, but when Howie ate a light supper and told the nurse he wanted to rest, in falling asleep his pallor suddenly changed and the nurse knew something was wrong. A blood clot had stopped his heart, and attempts to revive Howie failed. News of Morenz's death shocked the hockey world, and thousands filed past hisbier, many in tears, to pay their last respects.

Beyond Morenz's tragic mishap, it was an injury-filled year for many stars. Already suffering from a bad back, Boston'sEddie Shore suffered a broken vertebra that cost him the remainder of the season.Charlie Conacher of the Maple Leafs repeatedly injured his wrist, costing him much of the season, and was never the same player thereafter. A series of minor injuries precipitatedLionel Conacher's decision to retire at year's end, whileSylvio Mantha andRoy Worters suffered career-ending injuries. Other stars who missed several weeks of time or had season-ending injuries included Red Wings captainDoug Young,Larry Aurie,Russ Blinco,Buzz Boll,Pit Lepine,Dave Trottier,Toe Blake andArt Chapman.

With five games left to play, Chicago ownerFrederic McLaughlin, a partisan of American-born players, decided to field an all-American lineup, the first time in major senior hockey that this was done. With incumbentMike Karakas in goal, the Black Hawks signedErnest Klingbeil andPaul Schaefer on defence, with a line of Milt Brink centeringAl Suomi and Bun Laprairie. The team went 1–3 with the sextet in the lineup.

Detroit, led byVezina Trophy winningNormie Smith, finished first in the American Division.

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

The playoffs were modified, replacing alltwo-game total-goals series withbest-of-three series in the "lowerrepechage" portion of the bracket. The top three teams in each division qualified for the playoffs. The two division winners met in abest-of-five Stanley Cup semifinal series. The divisional second-place teams and third-place teams played off in a best-of-three series to determine the participants for the other best-of-three semifinal series. The semifinal winners then played in a best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each series).

The "Rookie of the Year" award now had a trophy, the Calder Trophy, for the first time.

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

Source: NHL^[2]

• Boston Bruins:Art Ross
• Chicago Black Hawks:Clem Loughlin
• Detroit Red Wings:Jack Adams
• New York Rangers:Lester Patrick

• Montreal Canadiens:Cecil Hart
• Montreal Maroons:Tommy Gorman
• New York Americans:Red Dutton
• Toronto Maple Leafs:Dick Irvin

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1936–37 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Bobby Bauer, Boston Bruins
• Milt Schmidt, Boston Bruins
• Clint Smith, New York Rangers
• Bryan Hextall, New York Rangers
• Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Gordie Drillon, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1936–37 (listed with their last team):

• Bun Cook, Boston Bruins
• Sylvio Mantha, Boston Bruins
• Andy Blair, Chicago Black Hawks
• Wildor Larochelle, Chicago Black Hawks
• Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens
• George Hainsworth, Montreal Canadiens
• Lionel Conacher, Montreal Maroons
• Alex Connell, Montreal Maroons
• Baldy Cotton, New York Americans
• Harry Oliver, New York Americans
• Lorne Chabot, New York Americans
• Roy Worters, New York Americans
• Bill Cook, New York Rangers
• Murray Murdoch, New York Rangers
• King Clancy, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Frank Finnigan, Toronto Maple Leafs

• 1936–37 NHL transactions
• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1936 in sports
• 1937 in sports

• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000).Total Hockey. Total Sports.ISBN 1-892129-85-X.
• Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011).The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates.ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5.
• Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000).Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd.ISBN 0-7710-4179-9.
• Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley; Hughes, Morgan; Romain, Joseph; Duplacey, James (2003).The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Publications International Inc.ISBN 0-7853-9624-1.
• McFarlane, Brian (1973).The Story of the National Hockey League. New York: Pagurian Press.ISBN 0-684-13424-1.

Notes

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com

• 1936–37 NHL season
• 1936–37 in Canadian ice hockey by league
• 1936–37 in American ice hockey by league

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from August 2023
• Short description matches Wikidata