1951–52 NHL season

The 1951–52 NHL season, the league's 35th, featured six teams playing 70 games apiece. Detroit swept Montreal four games to none to claim the Stanley Cup.

On October 12, 1951, Boston president Weston Adams ended a long feud with general manager Art Ross by selling his Boston Garden stock to Walter Brown. Chicago, having made a nine-player deal the prior season, then executed the largest cash transaction for players to that point, paying $75,000 for Jim McFadden, George Gee, Jimmy Peters, Clare Martin, Clare Raglan, and Max McNab. The NHL and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) set a January 15 deadline for pro teams to call up players from the CAHA's Major Series, giving the NHL emergency replacements while preventing Canadian teams from losing players during the Alexander Cup playoffs.

Home teams were now required to wear white uniforms, with road teams wearing colored ones. Previously, teams often both wore colored jerseys; with television broadcasts in black and white, the change helped viewers distinguish the two clubs. The goal crease expanded from 3 by 7 feet to 4 by 8 feet, and faceoff circles grew from a 10-foot radius to a 15-foot radius.

Conn Smythe offered $10,000 for anyone who found Bill Barilko, missing since August 26. Barilko and Dr. Henry Hudson had left Rupert House on James Bay in the doctor's light plane for Timmins, Ontario, after a weekend fishing trip and had not been located. Detroit finished first overall for the fourth straight season.

On November 25 in Chicago, goalie Harry Lumley injured a knee. Trainer Moe Roberts, who had played his first NHL game for Boston in 1925–26, took over in goal for the third period at age 46 and did not allow a goal. Roberts remained the oldest player to appear in an NHL game until Gordie Howe returned at age 51 in 1979. Chicago, struggling with attendance, tried afternoon games.

The experiment worked: a season-high crowd of 13,600 showed up on January 20 to see Chicago lose to Toronto 3–1. On March 8 at the Montreal Forum, Elmer Lach night drew 14,452 fans as the Canadiens tied Chicago 4–4; Lach received a car, rowboat, TV set, deep-freeze chest, bedroom and dining room suites, a refrigerator, and many other gifts. On the season's final night, March 23, 1952, with nothing at stake at Madison Square Garden, 3,254 fans watched Chicago's Bill Mosienko score the fastest hat trick in NHL history—three goals in 21 seconds.

Lorne Anderson was the goaltender who surrendered the goals, and Gus Bodnar set a record with the fastest three assists in NHL history, assisting on all three. Chicago beat the New York Rangers 7–6.

Detroit went 8–0, sweeping defending champion Toronto (the first time the Cup champs were swept in the first round) and then Montreal. It was the first undefeated playoff run since the 1934–35 Montreal Maroons. The Wings scored 24 goals in the playoffs while allowing just five. Goaltender Terry Sawchuk never allowed a goal on home ice during the postseason. The top four teams qualified. In the semifinals, first played third, and second played fourth, each in a best-of-seven series. The winners met in the Stanley Cup Finals, also best-of-seven.

Boston: Lynn Patrick; Chicago: Ebbie Goodfellow; Detroit: Tommy Ivan; Montreal: Dick Irvin; New York: Bill Cook; Toronto: Joe Primeau.

Notable first NHL games (asterisk denotes playoff debut): Leo Labine (Boston), Real Chevrefils (Boston), Kenny Wharram (Chicago), Don Marshall (Montreal), Dickie Moore (Montreal), Wally Hergesheimer (New York), Eric Nesterenko (Toronto), Leo Boivin (Toronto).

Notable final NHL games: Bobby Bauer (Boston), Roy Conacher (Chicago), Jack Stewart (Chicago), Bep Guidolin (Chicago), Turk Broda (Toronto), Bill Juzda (Toronto).