1963–64 NHL season

Did You Know?

• Hockey Night in Canada on CBC Television televised Saturday night regular season games and Stanley Cup playoff games, but games were not broadcast in their entirety until the 1968–69 season.
• This was the fourth consecutive season that the NHL did not have an American national broadcaster until the 1965–66 season.

Offseason

The summer of 1963 saw the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens swap goalies in a blockbuster deal. Montreal received Gump Worsley, Dave Balon, Leon Rochefort, and minor-leaguer Len Ronson from New York. In return, the Rangers got Jacques Plante, whose relationship with Canadiens coach Toe Blake had gone sour, plus Don Marshall and Phil Goyette. Plante had won the Vezina Trophy six times.

Elsewhere, Boston picked up former Norris Trophy winner Tom Johnson from Montreal in the draft. Detroit sent Howie Young, who had fallen out of favor with the Red Wings, to Chicago for goaltender Roger Crozier, who quickly made his mark in Detroit. Billy Reay, who had previously coached the Maple Leafs and was then leading the AHL’s Buffalo Bisons, became the Black Hawks’ new coach, a job he would hold for a record thirteen seasons. At the league’s June 5 meeting, the governors acknowledged the death of 92-year-old William Northey, who had passed away in April, and set up a memorial for Montreal Children’s Hospital in his name.

At an October 4 meeting, the NHL announced that Ron Andrews would take over as director of publicity from Ken McKenzie, who was focusing on his work as publisher and editor of The Hockey News. The waiver rules were also loosened: any player not on the 20-man protected list submitted in June could be sent to the minors without going through waivers. The very first NHL amateur draft took place on June 5 at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel. League President Clarence Campbell created the draft to end the practice of NHL teams sponsoring amateur teams and players, which had limited competition for young talent. The Montreal Canadiens used the first overall pick to select Garry Monahan.

Regular season

Jacques Plante’s first game as a Ranger came on October 9 against Chicago, a 3–1 loss where he was cut by an elbow from Johnny McKenzie. Four nights later, in Montreal’s home opener, the former Canadien lost 6–2 at the Forum as fans mixed cheers and jeers. Maple Leafs defenseman Carl Brewer held out, claiming he would retire to attend the University of Toronto, but he agreed to contract terms by the end of October. In a 6–4 Montreal win over Detroit, Gordie Howe scored his 544th goal, tying Maurice Richard’s all-time record, and the capacity crowd gave him a five-minute ovation.

On October 30, Toronto beat Montreal 6–3 in a penalty-filled game where Terry Harper and Bob Pulford fought. Canadien goalie Gump Worsley badly pulled his hamstring, leading to Charlie Hodge taking over for the rest of the season. On November 8, Maple Leaf Gardens became the first NHL rink with separate penalty boxes. The season’s first penalty shot came on November 3, when Don Marshall was tripped by Jean Beliveau, but Hodge made the save.

On November 10, Detroit shut out Montreal 3–0. Howe scored his 545th goal on Hodge, breaking Richard’s record, while Terry Sawchuk notched his 94th career shutout, tying George Hainsworth for the all-time lead.

Playoffs

For the first time since the league began using the best-of-seven playoff format in 1939, all three series went the full seven games. The top four teams qualified, with the first-place team playing the third-place team and the second-place team facing the fourth-place team in the semifinals. The playoffs had the same match-ups as the previous season: Toronto ousted Montreal, and Detroit again defeated Chicago.