1943–44 New York Rangers season

The 1943–44 New York Rangers season was the 18th season for the team in the National Hockey League (NHL). During the regular season, the Rangers had a 6–39–5 record and compiled 17 points, the fewest of any team in franchise history.[1] New York finished in last place in the NHL.[2]

1943–44 New York Rangers
Division	6th NHL
1943–44 record	6–39–5
Goals for	162
Goals against	310
Team information
General Manager	Lester Patrick
Coach	Frank Boucher
Captain	Ott Heller
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Bryan Hextall (21)
Assists	Bryan Hextall (33)
Points	Bryan Hextall (54)
Penalty minutes	Bob Dill (66)
Wins	Ken McAuley (6)
Goals against average	Harry Lumley (0.00)

Regular season

Final standings

National Hockey League[3]

		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	Montreal Canadiens	50	38	5	7	234	109	+125	83
2	Detroit Red Wings	50	26	18	6	214	177	+37	58
3	Toronto Maple Leafs	50	23	23	4	214	174	+40	50
4	Chicago Black Hawks	50	22	23	5	178	187	−9	49
5	Boston Bruins	50	19	26	5	223	268	−45	43
6	New York Rangers	50	6	39	5	162	310	−148	17

Record vs. opponents

1943–44 NHL Records
Team	BOS	CHI	DET	MON	NYR	TOR
Boston	—	5–5	1–7–2	3–5–2	7–2–1	3–7
Chicago	5–5	—	5–5	0–8–2	7–1–2	5–4–1
Detroit	7–1–2	5–5	—	0–9–1	8–1–1	6–2–2
Montreal	5–3–2	8–0–2	9–0–1	—	9–0–1	7–2–1
New York	2–7–1	1–7–2	1–8–1	0–9–1	—	2–8
Toronto	7–3	4–5–1	2–6–2	2–7–1	8–2	—

Schedule and results

1943–44 Game Log
October: 0–2–0 (Home: 0-0-0; Road: 0–2–0) Game October Opponent Score Record 1 30 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 5–2 0–1–0 2 31 @ Detroit Red Wings 8–3 0–2–0
November: 0–9–1 (Home: 0–5–1; Road: 0–4–0) Game November Opponent Score Record 3 2 @ Montreal Canadiens 2–1 0–3–0 4 6 Chicago Black Hawks 4–3 0–4–0 5 7 Toronto Maple Leafs 7–4 0–5–0 6 13 Boston Bruins 6–2 0–6–0 7 14 @ Chicago Black Hawks 10–5 0–7–0 8 18 Detroit Red Wings 3–1 0–8–0 9 21 Toronto Maple Leafs 5–2 0–9–0 10 25 @ Boston Bruins 6–2 0–10–0 11 27 @ Montreal Canadiens 6–3 0–11–0 12 28 Montreal Canadiens 2–2 0–11–1
December: 4–5–0 (Home: 3–1–0; Road: 1–4–0) Game December Opponent Score Record 13 4 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 11–4 0–12–1 14 5 @ Chicago Black Hawks 7–6 0–13–1 15 11 @ Boston Bruins 9–6 0–14–1 16 12 Boston Bruins 6–4 1–14–1 17 19 Detroit Red Wings 6–2 2–14–1 18 23 @ Detroit Red Wings 5–3 2–15–1 19 25 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 5–3 3–15–1 20 26 Chicago Black Hawks 7–6 4–15–1 21 31 Toronto Maple Leafs 4–0 4–16–1
January: 2–9–0 (Home: 1–5–0; Road: 1–4–0) Game January Opponent Score Record 22 2 Boston Bruins 13–3 4–17–1 23 6 Detroit Red Wings 5–0 4–18–1 24 8 @ Montreal Canadiens 8–2 4–19–1 25 9 Montreal Canadiens 6–5 4–20–1 26 13 Chicago Black Hawks 5–2 4–21–1 27 15 @ Boston Bruins 7–5 4–22–1 28 16 Boston Bruins 8–6 5–22–1 29 22 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 5–1 6–22–1 30 23 @ Detroit Red Wings 15–0 6–23–1 31 27 @ Chicago Black Hawks 6–4 6–24–1 32 30 Montreal Canadiens 5–3 6–25–1
February: 0–8–2 (Home: 0–4–2; Road: 0–4–0) Game February Opponent Score Record 33 3 @ Detroit Red Wings 12–2 6–26–1 34 5 @ Boston Bruins 7–2 6–27–1 35 6 Chicago Black Hawks 4–4 6–27–2 36 10 Detroit Red Wings 8–3 6–28–2 37 13 Toronto Maple Leafs 6–3 6–29–2 38 19 @ Montreal Canadiens 5–2 6–30–2 39 20 Montreal Canadiens 7–2 6–31–2 40 22 Chicago Black Hawks 8–4 6–32–2 41 24 Detroit Red Wings 3–3 6–32–3 42 27 @ Chicago Black Hawks 4–2 6–33–3
March: 0–6–2 (Home: 0–2–1; Road: 0–4–1) Game March Opponent Score Record 43 2 @ Detroit Red Wings 6–5 6–34–3 44 4 @ Boston Bruins 10–9 6–35–3 45 5 Boston Bruins 4–4 6–35–4 46 9 Toronto Maple Leafs 8–0 6–36–4 47 11 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 5–0 6–37–4 48 12 @ Chicago Black Hawks 4–4 6–37–5 49 18 @ Montreal Canadiens 11–2 6–38–5 50 19 Montreal Canadiens 6–1 6–39–5

Playoffs

The Rangers finished the season in last place in the NHL for the second consecutive season and missed the 1944 Stanley Cup playoffs.[2][4]

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season Player GP G A Pts PIM Bryan Hextall 50 21 33 54 41 Wilbert Hiller 50 18 22 40 15 Ehrhardt Heller 50 8 27 35 29 Ab DeMarco^† 36 14 19 33 2 John Mahaffy 28 9 20 29 0 Oscar Aubuchon^† 38 16 12 28 4 Fern Gauthier 33 14 10 24 0 John McDonald 43 10 9 19 6 Billy Gooden 41 9 8 17 15 Grant Warwick 18 8 9 17 14 James MacDonald 24 7 9 16 4 Bob Dill 28 6 10 16 66 Frank Boucher 15 4 10 14 2 Wilfred McDonald^† 39 5 6 11 14 Bill Warwick 13 3 2 5 12 Chuck Scherza^† 24 3 2 5 13 Don Raleigh 15 2 2 4 2 Gordon Davidson 16 1 3 4 4 Roger Leger 7 1 2 3 2 Aldo Palazzari^† 12 2 0 2 0 Charlie Sands 9 0 2 2 0 Tom Dewar 9 0 2 2 4 Hank D'Amore 4 1 0 1 2 James Jamieson 1 0 1 1 0 Archie Fraser 3 0 1 1 0 Bob McDonald 1 0 0 0 0 Lloyd Mohns 1 0 0 0 0 Tony Demers 1 0 0 0 0 Henry Dyck 1 0 0 0 0 Jack Mann 3 0 0 0 0 Max Labovitch 5 0 0 0 4 Art Strobel 7 0 0 0 0

Goaltenders

Regular Season

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Ken McAuley	50	2980	6	39	5	310	6.24	0
Harry Lumley^‡	1	20	0	0	0	0	0.00	0

^†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.

Source:[5]

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;

Awards and records

• Longest losing streak to start the season (11 games)[6]
• Longest winless streak to start the season (15 games: 14 losses, 1 tie)[7]

Transactions

Roster

References

1. "New York Rangers Franchise Index". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved 2011-04-16.
2. "1943–44 NHL Season Summary". Hockey-Reference. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-16.
3. "Standings: 1943–1944". National Hockey League. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
4. "Rangers, Tired of Cellar, Hope This Is Their Season". The Windsor Daily Star. 1945-10-22. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
5. "1943–44 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
6. McCaig, Sam (2015-10-16). "The Streakers: Best & worst starts in NHL history (and who might set new mark in 2015–16)". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
7. Cluff, Jeremy (2017-10-27). "Coyotes avoid disastrous date with history". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2017-11-08.