1917–18 NHL season
The Quebec franchise had problems with the war in Europe as many of its players were in the armed forces, and there was trouble getting replacements for them.
Barclay was informed by the directors that Toronto would not play in the 1917–18 season due to the difficulty of operating a five-team league, both in scheduling and availability of players during wartime.
The November 10, 1917, annual meeting of the NHA was presided over by Calder, and attended by Martin Rosenthal and E.P Dey for Ottawa; Sam Lichtenhein for the Wanderers; George Kennedy for the Canadiens and M. J. Quinn and Charles Fremont for Quebec.
At the meeting, Livingstone was represented by J. F. Boland, who stated that if the league operated, that the Toronto franchise intended to be a full member.
As reported by The Globe, there was a movement to form a new four-team league of Toronto, Ottawa and the two Montreal teams.
While Livingstone agreed to a lease of the team, the NHL owners did not intend to share any revenues from the players.
George Kennedy, owner of the Canadiens, would later say: "The Toronto players belong as a body to the National Hockey League, for they were only loaned to the Toronto Arena Company, though Livingstone tried to make the Arena Company believe that he controlled those players"[6]The team played without a nickname for the season.
As a result of losing the Cleghorns, owner Sam Lichtenhein threatened to fold the Wanderers unless he got all of Quebec's players.
The other owners had little sympathy and George Kennedy of the Canadiens pointed out that Lichtenhein could have chosen Malone in the draft.
On January 9, 1918, the league decided to allow goaltenders to drop to the ice surface in order to make saves.
"[10] The new league faced stiff competition for players from the rival Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA).
Although they could have acquired Joe Malone in the draft, they turned to the PCHA and in exchange for waiving their claim on Gordon Roberts, signed goaltender Hap Holmes.They immediately offered him to Toronto for Reg Noble.
A league meeting was planned to deal with the situation, but on January 2, 1918, the matter was resolved when the Westmount Arena burned down, leaving the Canadiens and Wanderers homeless.
[11] The Hamilton arena offered to provide a home for the Wanderers, but Lichtenhein disbanded the team on January 4, after the other clubs refused to give him any players.
The last active player from the inaugural season was Reg Noble, who retired following the 1933 Stanley Cup playoffs.
On January 28, when the Canadiens visited Toronto, players Alf Skinner and Joe Hall got into a stick-swinging duel.
"The league did not accept the Wanderers' resignation immediately, electing to wait and see whether the team showed up for its scheduled match in Toronto on Saturday January 5.
The deadline did expire, and the once-powerful team that had been known as the Little Men of Iron was thrown onto the scrap heap of hockey history.
The Wanderers' scheduled games of January 2 and 5 were officially recorded in the standings as victories for their respective opponents, the Canadiens and Torontos."
It remained under the care of the Canadiens who had won it in 1917, until the death of their owner, George Kennedy, in 1921, when the NHL made arrangements to re-use the trophy.
GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes Source: NHL[18] Source: NHL[19] GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1917–18 (listed with their first team, not including players who previously played in the NHA): Of the players who kicked off their NHL career this season, Reg Noble had the longest career, retiring after the 1932–33 season.
