The 1922–23 NHL season was the sixth season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Four teams played 24 games each. The Ottawa Senators defeated the Montreal Canadiens for the NHL championship, and then defeated Vancouver and Edmonton to win the Stanley Cup.

Regular season At the start of the season, Newsy Lalonde found himself moving west as the Montreal Canadiens traded him to the Saskatoon Sheiks of the Western Canada Hockey League for a rising young star named Aurel Joliat. Joliat would help the Canadiens win the second playoff spot over the St. Patricks. Joliat scored two goals in his first game with the Canadiens, but Babe Dye had five goals in the Toronto St. Patricks' 7–2 win. Joliat finished with 12 goals and 21 points in 24 games.

The Canadiens sent Bert Corbeau and Edmond Bouchard to Hamilton in exchange for Joe Malone.

On January 31, 1923, the Montreal Canadiens and Hamilton Tigers played the first penalty-free game in NHL history, a 5–4 Montreal victory.

On February 14, 1923, CFCA, the radio station of the Toronto Daily Star, broadcast the third period of the Senators-St. Patricks game in Toronto. This was the first radio broadcast of an NHL game. The broadcaster has not been identified, but it may have been Norman Albert who broadcast the Midland-North Toronto game February 8 from the Toronto Arena.

On February 17, 1923, Cy Denneny of Ottawa scored his 143rd goal, surpassing Joe Malone as the all-time goal-scoring leader as the Ottawa Senators shut out the Montreal Canadiens 2–0.

Standings

Playoffs This was the second year in which the Stanley Cup playoffs involved three leagues. The previous year saw all three second place teams win their respective leagues. This year, it was all the first place teams. The NHL total goals playoffs for the O'Brien Cup were won by the Ottawa Senators 3 goals to 2. The Pacific Coast Hockey Association abandoned its seven-man hockey in favour of the six-man rules used in the NHL and the Western Canada Hockey League. This allowed the PCHA and the WCHL to play interleague games. Despite playing interleague games, the two separate leagues kept their own standings. The newly renamed Vancouver Maroons won the PCHA championship and the Edmonton Eskimos won the WCHL championship.

NHL Championship In the O'Brien Trophy playoffs, the first-place Ottawa Senators, played off against the second-place Montreal Canadiens in a two-game total-goals series.

Stanley Cup playoffs

The Stanley Cup playoffs were played in Vancouver. There, the WCHL champions received the privilege of battling the winner between Ottawa and Vancouver. In the end, Ottawa prevailed over both Western opponents to win their eighth Stanley Cup (third as a member of the NHL). Injuries had thinned the Senators line-up, and after seeing the gritty show put on by the undermanned Senators, Vancouver head coach Frank Patrick called them the greatest team he had ever seen.

Stanley Cup Finals

NHL Playoff scoring leader Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points Player Team GP G A PtsPunch Broadbent Ottawa Senators 8 6 1 7

Awards O'Brien Cup — Ottawa Senators

Player statistics

Scoring leaders Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; PIM = Penalties in minutes; Pts = Points Name Team Babe Dye Toronto St. Patricks 22 26 11 19 37 Cy Denneny Ottawa Senators 24 23 11 28 34 Billy Boucher Montreal Canadiens 24 24 7 55 31 Jack Adams Toronto St. Patricks 23 19 9 42 28 Mickey Roach Hamilton Tigers 24 17 10 8 27 Odie Cleghorn Montreal Canadiens 24 19 6 18 25 George Boucher Ottawa Senators 24 14 9 58 23 Reg Noble Toronto St. Patricks 24 12 11 47 23 Cully Wilson Hamilton Tigers 23 16 5 46 21 Aurel Joliat Montreal Canadiens 24 12 9 37 21Source: NHL

Leading goaltenders GP = Games Played, GA = Goals Against, Mins = Minutes played, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals Against Average Name Team Clint Benedict Ottawa Senators 24 1486 14 9 1 54 4 2.18 Georges Vezina Montreal Canadiens 24 1488 13 9 2 61 2 2.46 John Ross Roach Toronto St. Patricks 24 1469 13 10 1 88 1 3.59 Jake Forbes Hamilton Tigers 24 1470 6 18 0 110 0 4.49Source: NHL

Coaches Hamilton Tigers: Art Ross Montreal Canadiens: Leo Dandurand Ottawa Senators: Pete Green Toronto St. Patricks: George O'Donoghue

Debuts The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1922–23 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs): Billy Burch, Hamilton Tigers Aurel Joliat, Montreal Canadiens Lionel Hitchman, Ottawa Senators

Last games The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1922–23 (listed with their last team): Didier Pitre, Montreal Canadiens Eddie Gerard, Ottawa Senators Harry Cameron, Toronto St. Patricks

Free agency Date Players Team January 30, 1923 Billy Burch Hamilton Tigers February 23, 1923 Lionel Hitchman Ottawa Senators

Transactions

May 27, 1922 To Hamilton Tigers Jake Forbes To Toronto St. Patrickscash October 1, 1922 To Hamilton TigersBert Corbeau To Montreal Canadiens cash December 22, 1922 To Montreal CanadiensJoe Malone To Hamilton Tigers Edmond Bouchard

See also List of Stanley Cup champions Pacific Coast Hockey Association Western Canada Hockey League List of pre-NHL seasons 1922 in sports 1923 in sports

References

Notes

External links

NHL.com