10. John Quilty (1940-41)
Photo Credit: NHL
Quilty secured the Calder Trophy as a member of the Montreal
Canadiens in 1940-41, earning 18 goals and 16 assists while playing in all 48
contests. Unfortunately for Quilty, he would not be able to reach these heights
again at the NHL level, playing to diminishing returns in 1941-42 before leaving
to serve in World War II for the Royal Canadian Air Force. He returned to play for
1946-47 and had a pretty strong postseason effort that season, but could only
patch together limited playing time in 1947-48 and opted to exit the NHL in
favor of the Quebec Senior Hockey League soon after.
9. Pentti Lund (1948-49)
Known for being the first player born in Finland to go
full-time at the NHL level, Lund captured the Calder Trophy in 1948-49 with the
New York Rangers after scoring 14 goals and 16 assists. His next two seasons
were unusual to say the least, as his 1949-50 campaign saw him collect 18 goals
with just nine assists, before doing a complete 180 in 1950-51 with four goals
and 16 assists. During the 1951-52 season, however, Lund suffered a severe eye
injury, causing permanent blindness in his right eye. Even so, he was able to
return before the end of the season, amazingly only missing about three months
of play. Lund came back in 1952-53 and did well considering the circumstances
with eight goals and nine assists, which likely would have won him the
Masterton Trophy had the award existed at the time. Similar to Quilty, Lund
left to join a different league after that season.
8. Kilby MacDonald (1939-40)
MacDonald grabbed the Calder in 1939-40 for the New
York Rangers, earning 15 goals and 13 assists along the way. The Rangers
qualified for the postseason and took down the Boston Bruins in six games to
reach the Stanley Cup Finals, with MacDonald contributing a pair of assists.
Although MacDonald was held off of the scoresheet in the Finals against the
Toronto Maple Leafs, New York still took the series in six games for their
third title in franchise history.
Already a Stanley Cup champ, the sky seemed to be
limit for MacDonald. However, the 1940-41 season instead saw him run into a
sophomore slump, scoring less than half of the points he had the year before
despite playing in two more games. As was the case for many NHL players at this
time, MacDonald left the league in order to serve in World War II for the
Canadian Army. He came back to the Rangers during the 1943-44 season and
immediately made an impact with seven goals and nine assists in just 24 games,
but injury issues in 1944-45 forced MacDonald into an early retirement.
7. Frank McCool (1944-45)
This is a tough one to rank as McCool definitely
deserved more than a seventh-place on this list, and it goes without saying
that he has one of the best names for any goalie in NHL history. In the 1944-45
season, McCool burst onto the scene, getting 24 victories, a league-leading
four shutouts and a 3.22 goals against average while playing in all 50 games
with the Toronto Maple Leafs. This allowed him to take home the Calder Trophy, but
he was far from done that season as Toronto was in the playoffs.
In the first game of the opening round against the
bitter rival Montreal Canadiens, McCool posted a shutout in a 1-0 Maple Leafs
win, setting the tone for the rest of the series as the team went on to advance
to the Finals as McCool took the other three wins as well. Facing the Detroit
Red Wings for the title, McCool led Toronto to a 3-0 series lead. He was easily
the standout player from this start as he nabbed three consecutive shutouts,
two of which in 1-0 wins. However, McCool was unable to bail out the Maple
Leafs’ struggling offense as the series continued, with the Red Wings fighting
back to force a game seven after wins by scores of 2-0 and 1-0 in overtime. In
the decisive game, though, McCool stopped the reverse sweep bid, giving up a
lone goal in a 2-1 nailbiter for the Maple Leafs’ fifth championship.
With a Stanley Cup ring in just his rookie season, McCool
looked to lead Toronto to further success in the years to come. Sadly, he would
not have this opportunity, as a history of stomach ulcers forced him to retire
midway through the 1945-46 season. Despite his career being cut short, in my
opinion McCool established himself as the greatest ‘one-year wonder’ in NHL
history.
6. Grant Warwick (1941-42)
Warwick has the distinction of being the final Calder
Trophy winner to be hand-picked by league president and award namesake Frank
Calder, who personally selected the rookie of the year from the award’s
inception until his unexpected passing in early 1943. With the New York Rangers
for his rookie campaign, Warwick contributed 16 goals and 17 assists, helping
the Rangers to what would be their final winning record until the 1955-56
season.
Despite the team’s struggles, Warwick maintained his
role as a consistent 20-goal scorer throughout the 1940’s, including a personal
best season in 1944-45 as he put up 20 goals and 22 assists in 42 games played.
However, after a rough 1949-50 campaign with the Montreal Canadiens in which he
added just two goals in 26 games, Warwick was sent down to the AHL and never
made a return to the big league club. He left the NHL system behind after the
1951-52 season, instead playing in the Okanagan Senior Hockey League for the
next several years. This left his NHL time at a total of 147 goals and 142
assists for 289 points in 395 games played.
5. Jim McFadden (1947-48)
One of the few Irish-born NHL players, McFadden won
the Calder Trophy in 1947-48 with 24 goals and 24 assists for the Detroit Red
Wings. During the 1948 playoffs, McFadden broke through in the first round against
the New York Rangers, earning four goals and a pair of assists in the six-game
series victory, including two goals and an assists in game two. In the Finals
against the Toronto Maple Leafs, McFadden scored the opening goal of the
series, but would be held to just one assist the rest of the way as the Red
Wings were swept in four games.
Unfortunately for McFadden and the Wings, they would
suffer the same fate in 1949 as Toronto swept them aside in the Finals for
their third straight championship, with McFadden notably scoring just one
assist throughout the playoffs. However, both he and the team refused to be
denied in 1949-50, finishing with the best record in the league to reach the
postseason once again. After winning a hard-fought seven-game first round
series against the Maple Leafs, the Red Wings were back in the Finals again for
a battle with the Rangers, though this turned out to be just as much a
challenge. McFadden looked to establish himself early with a goal and an assist
in game one, but was kept off of the scoresheet for the next five contests in
what became a seven-game series.
In the championship-deciding game seven, the Rangers grabbed
a 3-2 advantage just after the game’s halfway mark, but McFadden came through just
a few minutes later with the game-tying goal on an assist from Jimmy Peters to
end his scoring drought. The tie game held through a scoreless third period and
first overtime frame, before left winger Pete Babando, who had only scored six
times all season, put in the game-winning goal at the 8:31 mark of the second
overtime. On his third Finals appearance, McFadden was a Stanley Cup champion.
After a solid 1950-51 season, McFadden was traded to
the Chicago Black Hawks as part of a seven-player deal. While the Black Hawks
were in the midst of a disastrous tailspin by the early 1950’s, as they would
finish dead last in the standings in five of the six seasons, McFadden proved
to be one of the lone bright spots for the club. In fact, he posted his
career-best season in 1952-53, leading Chicago in scoring with 23 goals and 21
assists on the way to an unexpected playoff appearance. After a slow start in
1953-54, however, McFadden would leave the NHL to join the newly-formed Western
Hockey League (not to be confused with the modern-day WHL), playing in the upstart
league until his 1956 retirement. For his NHL career, McFadden claimed exactly
100 goals with 126 assists for 226 total points in 412 games, to go along with
his 1950 Stanley Cup title.
4. Howie Meeker (1946-47)
Despite being known primarily for his legendary
broadcasting career, Meeker also had a rather impressive NHL playing tenure,
starting with his Calder Trophy title in 1946-47 with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
That season, Meeker earned 27 goals and 18 assists (including scoring five
goals in a single game) as the Maple Leafs easily reached the postseason and it
wouldn’t take long before he made an impact in the first round against the
Detroit Red Wings. In game one of the series, Meeker captured the overtime game-winner,
before getting a pair of goals in game four for what would be a five-game
series win to advance to the Finals. Facing the Montreal Canadiens for the Cup,
the series would not be as fruitful as the previous one for Meeker as he had
just one assist in the first five games. With the Maple Leafs holding a 3-2
series lead in game six, though, Meeker showed why he was named rookie of the
year, assisting on both of Toronto’s goals in the 2-1 series-clinching victory.
With that, Meeker was officially a Stanley Cup champion, but of course he was
far from done.
Meeker followed up his Calder-winning campaign with
another strong showing in 1947-48, with the Maple Leafs claiming the best
regular season record in the league as the favorites to go back-to-back in the
playoffs. In the opening round versus the Boston Bruins, Meeker contributed at
least one point in all of Toronto’s wins in the series, taking a goal and four
assists in the five-game triumph. This set up a bout with the Red Wings in the third
Finals matchup between the two teams that decade, with the Maple Leafs winning
the previous two meetings. Indeed, the Red Wings were no match for Toronto, as the
Maple Leafs grabbed the four-game sweep. Meeker registered just one goal on the
series, but with the team winning each contest by multiple goals, this was just
a minor setback on the road to his second career title.
The Maple Leafs went on to capture their third
consecutive championship in 1949, though they were forced to do it without
Meeker, who went down for the season with a broken collarbone before the
halfway point of the year. He returned to lineup for the 1949-50 season with
another solid performance in the new 70-game season, but this turned out to be the
last time he would play in more than 80 percent of the regular season.
In the 1950-51 season, Meeker was limited to just six
goals as he continued to battle with injuries, but most importantly he was
healthy for the upcoming playoff run. The Maple Leafs disposed of the Boston
Bruins in the first round once again, bringing up a Finals rematch with
Montreal. This series was noteworthy as each of the five games went into
overtime, but Meeker would be shut out from the scoresheet in the first three
games. This changed in game four, as he scored the go-ahead goal in the second
period for what would be a 3-2 OT win. With just one more victory needed in game
five, this too would go into an extra frame as Toronto rookie forward Tod Sloan
got the game-tying tally with just 32 seconds to go in regulation. However, this
OT period would not last long. As Meeker collected a loose puck behind the
Montreal net, he passed it over to fellow forward Harry Watson. Although Watson
was unable to put in the shot, the puck found its way to defenseman Bill
Barilko. Barilko made no mistake, finding the back of the net with the goalie
out of position to give the Maple Leafs their ninth Stanley Cup title, though
Barilko would tragically pass away in a plane crash during the offseason.
Now a three-time Stanley Cup champ, Meeker looked to
use this momentum to bounce back from his recent rough regular season, but this
would not be the case as he was hounded by a back injury. In his final two
seasons, he was limited to a total of 30 games before his retirement as a
player in 1954, ending up with 83 goals and 102 assists for 185 points in 346
games played. While he had a brief stint as head coach of the Maple Leafs
shortly after his retirement, Meeker began his broadcasting work as a studio analyst
for Hockey Night in Canada in 1969. He remained in the role for the next 18
years, becoming a fan favorite due to his energetic delivery and incorporation
of the telestrator, which was a new technology at the time, along with coining
the phrase “Golly-gee willikers!”. In 1998, he received the Foster Hewitt
Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame for contributions to hockey
broadcasting.
3. Edgar Laprade (1945-46)
Laprade picked up the Calder Trophy in 1945-46 for the
New York Rangers, scoring 15 goals and 19 assists. He slowly built on this success
over the next couple of seasons, including getting a career-high 34 assists in
1947-48. Shortly after, in the 1949-50 season, Laprade picked up an even 22
goals and 22 assists to help lead the Rangers into the postseason. He captured
a pair of assists in a five-game first round triumph versus the Montreal
Canadiens, before taking on the vaunted Detroit Red Wings in the playoffs. In
game two, Laprade played a crucial role with a pair of third period goals,
ultimately giving the Rangers a 3-1 win. However, despite Laprade ending the Finals
with three goals and three assists, the Red Wings would gut out a seven-game
series victory.
While he was unable to reach the playoffs again after
the 1950 run, Laprade still had the impressive feat of playing two full seasons
without committing a single penalty, interestingly doing so in both his rookie season
and his final season before retirement in 1954-55. In fact, Laprade had just
one season in his career with double-digit penalty minute totals, as he finished
with a mere 42 penalty minutes over the course of his 500-game long career. This,
along with his 108 goals and 172 assists for 280 career points, was likely the
catalyst for his 1993 induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
2. Gus Bodnar (1943-44)
Bodnar earned the Calder Trophy for 1943-44 as a
member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring 22 goals along with a then-rookie
record 40 assists. This mark would stand in the record books through the
2016-17 season, but Bodnar would have plenty of other reasons to be remembered in
the annals of NHL history. Although his goal totals dropped significantly in
1944-45, he remained a brilliant passer with 36 helpers on the season. Despite
Toronto having a disappointing regular season by their standards, they
nonetheless made it into the playoffs with a first-round matchup against the
Montreal Canadiens. In game four of this series, Bodnar scored the game-winning
overtime goal as the Maple Leafs led three games to one, before netting a
crucial insurance goal in the deciding game six. The Leafs would face the
Detroit Red Wings in the Finals, where Bodnar came in clutch once again as he
scored the only goal of game three, enabling Toronto to go up three games to
none. The Red Wings nearly fought their way back with three straight wins of
their own, but Bodnar and the Maple Leafs were able to shut it down in game
seven for his first Stanley Cup.
After a decent bounceback in 1945-46, Bodnar again hit
a down year in 1946-47 with just four goals and six assists in 39 games played.
However, the Maple Leafs were still near the top of the standings and handily
made it into the playoffs. Bodnar did not play in Toronto’s opening round
defeat of the Red Wings, but made his way back into the lineup for what would
be the final game of the Finals against Montreal. Holding a 3-2 series lead in
game six, the Maple Leafs would fend off the Canadiens 2-1, allowing Bodnar to
lift the Stanley Cup for a second time. After this season, though, Bodnar was
traded to the team he would spend the bulk of his NHL career with, that being
the Chicago Black Hawks.
Bodnar had a nice introduction to his new organization
in 1947-48, before putting up the best season of his career since his rookie
season. For 1948-49, Bodnar collected 19 goals and 26 assists, but the Black
Hawks came up short of reaching the postseason. Unfortunately for Chicago, this
became a common occurrence throughout the 1950’s, but Bodnar nonetheless gutted
it out through the difficult times as a staple center in the organization as he
generally scored around 40 points per season. Eventually, Bodnar wound his
career down with the Boston Bruins, retiring after the 1954-55 season with 142
goals and 255 assists for 397 points in 667 games played.
1. Gaye Stewart (1942-43)
Stewart had an impressive start to his NHL career even
before taking the Calder Trophy, winning his first Stanley Cup in 1942 at just
18 years old with three playoff games played for the Toronto Maple Leafs,
despite not appearing in any regular season contests. He won the Calder in
1942-43, nabbing 24 goals and 23 assists in Toronto. With this also taking
place during World War II, Stewart missed each of the next two seasons as he served
in the Royal Canadian Navy. He rejoined the Maple Leafs in 1945-46 and improved
on his already impressive rookie campaign, leading the league with 37 goals on
the way to a first-team All-Star selection. While he wouldn’t be able to follow
up those numbers in 1946-47, the Maple Leafs themselves were still on top of
the hockey world as they went on a deep playoff run once again. They took down
the Detroit Red Wings in the opening round, where Stewart had a goal and three assists
in the five-game series, to take on the Montreal Canadiens in the Finals. The
team recovered from a 6-0 loss in game one to defeat the Canadiens in six
games, with Stewart adding a goal and two assists along the way for his second
Stanley Cup title.
Stewart started out the 1947-48 season with the Maple
Leafs, but shortly after the season began he, along with teammate and fellow
Calder winner Gus Bodnar, were traded across the border to the Chicago Black
Hawks. The deal immediately paid off for the Black Hawks, as Stewart claimed 26
goals and 29 assists in 54 games for Chicago, taking second-team All-Star
honors as well. He followed this up with two more 20+ goal campaigns, before being
traded again prior to the 1950-51 season. Stewart spent his final two full-time
seasons with the Red Wings and New York Rangers to modest success, before being
signed on a minor league deal with the Montreal Canadiens. Stewart played just
five games with the Canadiens in 1952-53 and didn’t get called up at all for
the 1953-54 regular season, but would surprisingly get an opportunity for his
third Stanley Cup in the 1954 playoffs. After not having played in the NHL for
a year and a half, Stewart was brought up in game five of the Stanley Cup
Finals against one of his old teams in the Red Wings. Detroit held a 3-1 series
lead at that point, but Montreal fought back with two straight wins to force a
game seven. Unfortunately for Stewart and the Montreal faithful, the run ended
with the Red Wings scoring a 2-1 overtime win. This turned out to be the final NHL
game for Stewart, who played the 1954-55 season in the AHL before retiring with
185 goals and 159 assists in 502 NHL games to go along with his two Stanley
Cups.
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