| 1939–40Montreal Canadiens | |
|---|---|
| League | 7thNHL |
| 1939–40 record | 10–33–5 |
| Home record | 5–14–5 |
| Road record | 5–19–0 |
| Goals for | 90 |
| Goals against | 168 |
| Team information | |
| General manager | Jules Dugal |
| Coach | Pit Lepine |
| Captain | Walter Buswell |
| Arena | Montreal Forum |
| Team leaders | |
| Goals | Toe Blake (17) |
| Assists | Toe Blake (21) |
| Points | Toe Blake (38) |
| Penalty minutes | Polly Drouin (51) |
| Wins | Claude Bourque (9) |
| Goals against average | Claude Bourque (3.26) |
The1939–40Montreal Canadiens season was the31stseason in franchise history. The team placed seventh in the regular season and did not qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the1935–36 season. The Canadiens would not finish a season in last place in their division foranother 59 years, and would not finish last in the league foranother 82 years.
The Canadiens' first game saw them score what would be a season-high 8 goals as they defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 8–2 at the Montreal Forum on November 5, 1939. The Habs were undefeated over their first six games (4–0–2) and were 6-2-2 in their first ten. After that, however, long winless streaks were the rule. They went 3-8-0 in December, 1-10-1 in January, 1-8-1 in February and 1-5-1 in March. Their most lopsided loss happened on February 22, 1940 – 1–10 against the Chicago Black Hawks at Chicago.
| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | PIM | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Bruins | 48 | 31 | 12 | 5 | 170 | 98 | 330 | 67 |
| New York Rangers | 48 | 27 | 11 | 10 | 136 | 77 | 520 | 64 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 48 | 25 | 17 | 6 | 134 | 110 | 485 | 56 |
| Chicago Black Hawks | 48 | 23 | 19 | 6 | 112 | 120 | 351 | 52 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 48 | 16 | 26 | 6 | 91 | 126 | 250 | 38 |
| New York Americans | 48 | 15 | 29 | 4 | 106 | 140 | 236 | 34 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 48 | 10 | 33 | 5 | 90 | 167 | 338 | 25 |
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalty Minutes, Pts = Points
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
| 1939–40 NHL Records[2] | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BOS | CHI | DET | MTL | NYA | NYR | TOR | |||||
| Boston | — | 6–1–1 | 5–3 | 6–1–1 | 7–1 | 2–4–2 | 5–2–1 | |||||
| Chicago | 1–6–1 | — | 6–0–2 | 5–2–1 | 3–4–1 | 4–4 | 4–3–1 | |||||
| Detroit | 3–5 | 0–6–2 | — | 5–3 | 5–3 | 2–3–2 | 1–6–1 | |||||
| Montreal | 1–6–1 | 2–5–1 | 3–5 | — | 2–4–2 | 1–6–1 | 1–7 | |||||
| N.Y. Americans | 1–7 | 4–3–1 | 3–5 | 4–2–2 | — | 1–6–1 | 2–6 | |||||
| N.Y. Rangers | 4–2–2 | 4–4 | 3–2–2 | 6–1–1 | 6–1–1 | — | 4–1–3 | |||||
| Toronto | 2–5–1 | 3–4–1 | 6–1–1 | 7–1 | 6–2 | 1–4–3 | — | |||||
| 1939–40 regular season[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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November
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December
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January
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February
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March
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Legend: Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toe Blake | LW | 48 | 17 | 19 | 36 | 48 |
| Charlie Sands | C/RW | 47 | 9 | 20 | 29 | 10 |
| Ray Getliffe | C/LW | 46 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 29 |
| Georges Mantha | D/LW | 42 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 6 |
| Lou Trudel | LW | 47 | 12 | 7 | 19 | 24 |
| Polly Drouin | LW | 42 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 51 |
| Marty Barry | C | 30 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 2 |
| Doug Young | D | 47 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 22 |
| Red Goupille | D | 48 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 48 |
| Paul Haynes | C | 23 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 8 |
| Johnny Gagnon | RW | 10 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| Rod Lorrain | RW | 41 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Bill Summerhill | RW | 13 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 24 |
| Tony Demers | RW | 14 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Earl Robinson | RW/C | 11 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| William Meronek | C | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Armand Mondou | LW | 21 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Walt Buswell | D | 46 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
| Cy Wentworth | D | 32 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| John Doran | D | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Armand Raymond | D | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Claude Bourque | G | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wilf Cude | G | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Karakas | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gus Mancuso | RW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gordon Poirier | C | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rhys Thomson | D | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Bourque | 2210 | 36 | 9 | 24 | 3 | 121 | 3.29 | 2 |
| Wilf Cude | 415 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 24 | 3.47 | 0 |
| Mike Karakas | 310 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 3.48 | 0 |
| Charlie Sands | 25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12.00 | 0 |
| Team: | 2960 | 48 | 10 | 33 | 5 | 168 | 3.41 | 2 |
| First Team | Position |
|---|---|
| Toe Blake | LW |
| May 15, 1939 | ToMontreal Canadiens cash | ToChicago Black Hawks Des Smith | [5][6] |
| October 10, 1939 | ToBoston Bruins Herb Cain | ToMontreal Canadiens Ray Getliffe Charlie Sands | [5][7] |
| October 11, 1939 | ToMontreal Canadiens Earl Robinson | ToChicago Black Hawks cash | [5][8] |
| November 29, 1939 | ToBoston Bruins George Brown | ToMontreal Canadiens cash | [5][9] |
| January 4, 1940 | ToNew York Americans Johnny Gagnon | ToMontreal Canadiens cash | [5][10] |
| April 26, 1940 | ToMontreal Canadiens Herb Gardiner cash | ToNew York Rangers Claude Bourque | [5][11] |