History of the National Hockey League (1942–1967)

In 1943, in an attempt to 'open up' the game, the league introduced the centre-ice red line allowing players for the first time to pass out of their defensive zone.

The National Hockey League Players Association was formed in 1967, ten years after Ted Lindsay's attempts at unionization failed.

[5] After receiving assurances from the league the Brooklyn franchise he operated would resume play after the war, Red Dutton agreed to take over as president.

[9] With only five returning players from the previous season, Rangers general manager Lester Patrick suggested suspension of his team's play for the duration of the war.

The Rangers were so desperate for players that 42-year-old coach Frank Boucher made a brief comeback, recording four goals and ten assists in 15 games.

[17] On October 13, 1947, to raise money for the newly created NHL Pension Society, the first official All-Star Game took place at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.

[19] Richard became a media and fan focus with attempts to score 50 goals in a 50-game season, a feat no other player had accomplished in league history.

[20] In March 1955, Richard was suspended for the remainder of the season, including the playoffs, after receiving a match penalty for slashing Boston's Hal Laycoe then punching a linesman who attempted to intervene.

[20] The suspension created a wave of anger towards Campbell, who was warned not to attend a scheduled game in Montreal after receiving numerous death threats, mainly from French-Canadians accusing him of anti-French bias.

[22] The following day, Richard went on Montreal radio to ask fans to cease rioting, and instead support the Canadiens in the playoffs; he offered to take his punishment then come back the following year to win the Cup.

Some, including Detroit's Ted Lindsay, said the suspension did not go far enough and argued Richard, a man who had paid more fines than any other player in league history, should have been banned for life.

[27] After dashing from his defensive position, despite an earlier warning from Smythe not to take unnecessary chances, Leafs' defenceman Bill Barilko hammered the Cup-winning goal past Montreal goaltender Gerry McNeil.

[30] Barilko's disappearance was immortalized 40 years later by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip in their 1992 song "Fifty Mission Cap".

[31] By 1962, the disappearance of Bill Barilko and the Maple Leafs' subsequent failure to win the Stanley Cup led Toronto fans to believe a curse was upon the team.

In the third period of game six, trailing the series 3–2, Maple Leafs' defenceman Bobby Baun suffered a broken ankle from a Gordie Howe slap shot.

On March 28, 1950, during a playoff game against the Leafs, Howe was nearly killed as he mistimed an attempted check on Toronto's Ted Kennedy, causing him to slam head first into the boards.

For the following season, the league instituted a rule permitting a player serving a minor penalty to return to the ice when a goal was scored against his team.

James D. Norris was co-owner of the Black Hawks along with Arthur Wirtz; his brother Bruce inherited ownership of the Red Wings.

[49] Making the playoffs, the Black Hawks lost to Montreal in the semi-finals in 1959 and 1960, before capturing their first championship in 23 years, in the 1961 Stanley Cup Finals.

[53] In 1963, Rangers governor William Jennings introduced to his peers the idea of expanding the league to the American West Coast by adding two new teams for the 1964–65 season.

Jennings also hoped inclusion of teams on the west coast would make the league truly national, and thereby, improve the chances of returning to television in the United States as the NHL had lost its deal with CBS.

Maple Leafs coach Punch Imlach stated Vancouver was "sold out" and Toronto and Montreal did not want to share television revenue with another Canadian team.

[58] In 1942, due to World War II related travel restrictions, league president Frank Calder abolished the 10-minute overtime for regular season games so teams could catch their trains without delay.

Formerly, strong fore-checking pinned opponents in their own zone for minutes at a time; subsequently, teams rushed up the ice with defencemen passing to forwards beyond the blue line.

[67] Remarkably, Terry Sawchuk played goal for most of his career not wearing a mask; he crouched very low such that his shoulders nearly touched his knees.

The Hall of Fame waived its waiting period, immediately inducting Sawchuk as the NHL's all-time record holder in wins (447) and shutouts (103).

Considered both unique and foolish, Hall's style of dropping to his knees and kicking his pads out in a V formation forced shooters to aim for the top half of the net.

[73] An eight-time All-Star, Hall became an NHL regular at the start of the 1955–1956 season to begin a sequence of 502 consecutive games as goaltender for Detroit and Chicago.

[76] The idea quickly gained popularity and when the union's founding was announced publicly, every NHL player had signed up with the exception of Ted Kennedy, who was retiring.

Union leadership ultimately agreed to drop the lawsuit in exchange for small concessions, which included a minimum annual salary of $7,000, increases to the pension contributions and moving expenses for traded players.