1926–27 New York Rangers season

The 1926–27 New York Rangers season was the first in the history of the franchise. The team placed first in the new American Division and qualified for the playoffs, losing to the Boston Bruins. They were the last expansion team to win their division until the 1967–68 Philadelphia Flyers (which had a division full of expansion teams) and the last to do so without guarantee to win it until the 2017–18 Vegas Golden Knights. In the playoffs that year, they lost to second place Boston Bruins in the Semifinals.

1926–27 New York Rangers
American Division champions
Division	1st American
1926–27 record	25–13–6
Goals for	95
Goals against	72
Team information
General manager	Lester Patrick
Coach	Lester Patrick
Captain	Bill Cook
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Bill Cook (33)
Assists	Frank Boucher (15)
Points	Bill Cook (37)
Penalty minutes	Taffy Abel (78)
Wins	Lorne Chabot (22)
Goals against average	Lorne Chabot (1.56)

Off-season

The Rangers team was organized by Conn Smythe who used his extensive knowledge of available amateur players along with sound selection of players available from the dispersal of the Western Hockey League (WHL):

• The brothers Bill and Bun Cook were part of the dispersed players of the WHL, having played for the Saskatoon Sheiks;
• Frank Boucher was from the Vancouver Maroons of the WHL;
• Leo Bourgeault was also from Saskatoon of the WHL;
• Murray Murdoch had been a member of the 1923 Memorial Cup-winning University of Manitoba;
• Paul Thompson was a member of the junior Calgary Canadians, Memorial Cup winners in 1926;
• Taffy Abel had been a member of the silver-medal-winning United States team in the 1924 Olympics;
• Stan Brown had been a member of the Allan Cup-winning Toronto Dentals team.

First picture of team at training camp in Toronto in 1926.

Smythe signed several players from the amateur Minneapolis Millers, including Taffy Abel, Billy Boyd and Ching Johnson. The 1925–26 Millers also provided other players to the NHL in the future, including Cooney Weiland and Tiny Thompson, Paul Thompson's brother.

Training camp was held in Toronto at the Ravina Gardens arena near Smythe's home. However, before the season started, Smythe was fired by the club and Lester Patrick took over from Smythe. Patrick received the job as part of the dispersal agreement of the WHL. His brother Frank received a job at the Boston Bruins. Smythe would eventually receive a $10,000 severance, a large amount in those days.

Regular season

Unlike the arenas where the players played before, the Madison Square Garden was kept heated. The temperature was warm due to the insistence of Tex Rickard, who insisted that "the public was everything and the performers nothing". The players complained about the conditions publicly and to Lester Patrick.[1]

On opening night November 16, 1926 at Madison Square Garden, the ceremonial face-off between Frank Boucher of the Rangers and Nels Stewart of the Montreal Maroons was done by Lois Moran, the silent-film movie star.[2] The opening night referee was Lou Marsh.[3] The starting lineup was Boucher, Bill Cook, Bun Cook, Ching Johnson, Taffy Abel and Hal Winkler.[4] The Rangers would win the game 1–0.

Final standings

American Division

	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 Black Hawks	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

[5]

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

Record vs. opponents

1926-27 NHL Records
Team	BOS	CHI	DET	MON	MTM	NYA	NYR	OTT	PIT	TOR
Boston	—	3–2–1	5–1	1–2–1	2–2	2–2	2–3–1	1–3	4–2	1–3
Chicago	2–3–1	—	3–2–1	2–2	2–2	2–1–1	2–4	2–2	2–4	2–2
Detroit	1–5	2–3–1	—	0–4	1–3	3–1	1–3–2	1–3	2–4	1–2–1
M. Canadiens	2–1–1	2–2	4–0	—	5–1	5–1	1–3	1–5	3–0–1	5–1
M. Maroons	2–2	2–2	3–1	1–5	—	4–2	1–2–1	1–3–2	1–2–1	5–1
N.Y. Americans	2–2	1–2–1	1–3	1–5	2–4	—	1–3	3–3	4–0	2–3–1
N.Y. Rangers	3–2–1	4–2	3–1	5–1	3–1–2	3–3	—	0–3–1	5–1	2–1–1
Ottawa	3–1	2–2	3–1	5–1	3–1–2	3–3	3–0–1	—	3–1	5–0–1
Pittsburgh	2–4	4–2	4–2	0–3–1	2–1–1	0–4	1–5	1–3	—	1–2–1
Toronto	3–1	2–2	2–1–1	1–5	1–5	3–2–1	1–2–2	0–5–1	2–1–1	—

Schedule and results

1926–27 Game Log
November: 4–1–0 (Home: 2–0–0; Road: 2–1–0) Game November Opponent Score Record 1 16 Montreal Maroons 1–0 1–0–0 2 20 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 5–1 2–0–0 3 25 @ Pittsburgh Pirates 2–0 2–1–0 4 27 @ Montreal Canadiens 2–0 3–1–0 5 30 Chicago Black Hawks 4 – 3 OT 4–1–0
December: 3–5–1 (Home: 2–1–1; Road: 1–4–0) Game December Opponent Score Record 6 4 @ Detroit Cougars 1–0 4–2–0 7 7 @ Boston Bruins 1–0 5–2–0 8 12 Boston Bruins 2 – 1 OT 6–2–0 9 15 @ Chicago Black Hawks 6–2 6–3–0 10 19 Detroit Cougars 1 – 1 OT 6–3–1 11 21 Pittsburgh Pirates 1–0 7–3–1 12 23 @ Ottawa Senators 1–0 7–4–1 13 26 @ New York Americans 5–2 7–5–1 14 28 Ottawa Senators 3 – 2 OT 7–6–1
January: 8–1–2 (Home: 5–0–2; Road: 3–1–0) Game January Opponent Score Record 15 1 @ Chicago Black Hawks 4–0 8–6–1 16 6 Montreal Canadiens 1–0 9–6–1 17 9 Detroit Cougars 4–1 10–6–1 18 11 @ Montreal Maroons 3–2 11–6–1 19 13 Toronto Maple Leafs 1 – 1 OT 11–6–2 20 16 Chicago Black Hawks 5–4 12–6–2 21 18 @ Boston Bruins 7–3 12–7–2 22 20 Boston Bruins 2 – 2 OT 12–7–3 23 23 New York Americans 2–0 13–7–3 24 27 @ Montreal Canadiens 3–2 14–7–3 25 29 Detroit Cougars 2–0 15–7–3
February: 5–4–1 (Home: 2–4–0; Road: 3–0–1) Game February Opponent Score Record 26 1 Montreal Canadiens 1 – 0 OT 15–8–3 27 6 Pittsburgh Pirates 2–1 16–8–3 28 10 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 3–2 17–8–3 29 12 @ Pittsburgh Pirates 3 – 2 OT 18–8–3 30 15 @ Ottawa Senators 2 – 2 OT 18–8–4 31 17 Montreal Maroons 4–1 18–9–4 32 20 Boston Bruins 3–1 19–9–4 33 22 Toronto Maple Leafs 3 – 2 OT 19–10–4 34 24 Ottawa Senators 1–0 19–11–4 35 27 @ New York Americans 4–1 20–11–4
March: 5–2–2 (Home: 3–0–0; Road: 2–2–2) Game March Opponent Score Record 36 1 @ Chicago Black Hawks 3–0 20–12–4 37 5 @ Montreal Maroons 0 – 0 OT 20–12–5 38 13 @ Detroit Cougars 2 – 2 OT 20–12–6 39 15 @ Pittsburgh Pirates 5–0 21–12–6 40 17 @ Detroit Cougars 2–0 22–12–6 41 20 New York Americans 2–1 23–12–6 42 22 Pittsburgh Pirates 4–1 24–12–6 43 25 Chicago Black Hawks 4–0 25–12–6 44 26 @ Boston Bruins 4 – 3 OT 25–13–6

Playoffs

The Rangers earned a bye in the first round and met the Boston Bruins in the semi-final. The Rangers were limited to one goal in the two games, losing the series three goals to one.

Key:   Win   Loss

1927 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Semi-finals: vs. Boston Bruins – Boston wins series three goals to one # Date Visitor Score Home OT Series 1 April 2 New York Rangers 0–0 Boston Bruins OT Series tied 0 goals to 0 2 April 4 Boston 3–1 New York Rangers Boston wins series 3 goals to 1

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season Player GP G A Pts PIM Bill Cook 44 33 4 37 58 Frank Boucher 44 13 15 28 17 Frederick Cook 44 14 9 23 42 Clarence Abel 44 8 4 12 78 Paul Thompson 43 7 3 10 12 Murray Murdoch 44 6 4 10 12 Stan Brown 24 6 2 8 14 Billy Boyd 41 4 1 5 40 Ivan Johnson 27 3 2 5 66 Leo Bourgeault^† 20 1 1 2 28 Lester Patrick 1 0 0 0 2 Ollie Reinikka 16 0 0 0 0 Reg Mackey 34 0 0 0 16

Playoffs Player GP G A Pts PIM Clarence Abel 2 0 1 1 6 Bill Cook 2 1 0 1 4 Reg Mackey 2 0 0 0 0 Leo Bourgeault 2 0 0 0 0 Ivan Johnson 2 0 0 0 6 Stan Brown 2 0 0 0 0 Murray Murdoch 2 0 0 0 0 Paul Thompson 2 0 0 0 0 Frederick Cook 2 0 0 0 2 Frank Boucher 2 0 0 0 4

Goaltenders

Regular Season

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Lorne Chabot	36	2307	22	9	5	56	1.46	10
Hal Winkler^‡	8	514	3	4	1	16	1.87	2

Goaltenders

Playoffs

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Lorne Chabot	2	120	0	1	1	3	1.50	1

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.
^‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

[6]

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

See also

• 1926–27 NHL season

References

• Boucher, Frank; Frayne, Trent (1973). When The Rangers Were Young. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. ISBN 0-396-06852-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Notes

1. Gibson, Dick (December 17, 1926). "Tips & Tales". Border Cities Star. p. 2.
2. Boucher & Frayne 1973, pp. 2–3.
3. Boucher & Frayne 1973, p. 3.
4. Boucher & Frayne 1973, pp. 3–5.
5. Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
6. "1926–27 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-10-24.

External links

• 1926–27 New York Rangers Statistics
• New York Rangers 1926–1927 Season