|
Prior to the 1956-57 NHL season, league General Managers voted (by a count of five to one) to adopt a new rule, which now forms part of rule 16.2, but at the time was rule 26(c), reading as follows:
26(c) If while a Team is “short-handed” by one or more minor or bench minor penalties, the opposing Team scores a goal, the first of such penalties shall automatically terminate.
This was known informally as the “Montreal Canadiens rule”, and indeed Montreal management was the only party to oppose adoption of the rule. It was called this because the Habs at the time had a reputation of having a deadly power-play, and of frequently scoring more than once on the same minor penalty. Presumably the other teams were growing tired of Montreal scoring so many goals on them, and decided to do something about it.
The issue likely came to a head starting on November 5, 1955, when the Bruins visited Montreal. Boston took a two-goal lead in the first period, but then center Cal Gardner took a penalty with 10 seconds left in the period. Sixteen seconds into the second period, defenseman Hal Laycoe took another penalty. The Habs pounced. Man-advantage monster Jean Beliveau took full advantage, recording a natural hat trick with goals at 0:42, 1:08 and 1:26 of the second, with all three goals assisted by Bert Olmstead. Le Gros Bill then added a fourth goal (at even strength) in the third period to seal a 4-2 Montreal victory.
If the Bruins felt badly used by that turn of events, I suppose you couldn't blame them. But would this one incident be enough to justify a major rule change such as this? We'll never know, because the Canadiens' reputation for scoring multiple goals on a single penalty was very well earned. In addition to the game on November 5:
- October 5, 1955: Maurice Richard and Don Marshall score on the Bruins' Bob Armstong's penalty
- December 1, 1955: Beliveau and Richard score on the Bruins' Vic Stasiuk's penalty
- December 10, 1955: Bernie Geoffrion and Beliveau score on the Red Wings' Gord Hollingworth's penalty
- December 20, 1955: Beliveau and Richard score on the Black Hawks' Gus Mortson's penalty
- December 24, 1955: Richard and Ken Mosdell score on the Red Wings' Marty Pavelich's penalty
- January 28, 1956: Beliveau and Richard score on the Bruins' Bob Armstrong's penalty
- February 18, 1956: Beliveau and Richard score on the Rangers' Ivan Irwin's penalty
In total, Montreal scored a total of nine “extra” power-play goals in the 1955-56 season. As a comparison, only one team managed to score twice on the same minor penalty against Montreal, when the Maple Leafs pulled the trick on December 29, 1955. Clearly the idea that Montreal scored a great deal in this manner was well-supported.
So the reason for the rule change is clear, and was actually happening. But did the rule change have the desired effect? That is, did Montreal's advantage on the power-play come down in 1956-57? There are no official power-play statistics from this era, so I went ahead and compiled some myself. For the 1955-56 season, I decided to use the modern convention for major penalties, whereby scoring a goal starts a new power play opportunity. So on a power-play on which Montreal scored two goals, they would be credited as going two for three with the man advantage. For 1956-57, modern scoring conventions are used.
1955-56 NHL Power-Play Statistics
Team PPG PPO PP%
Montreal 63 342 18.4
Detroit 52 339 15.3
New York 42 323 13.0
Boston 40 319 12.5
Toronto 33 338 9.8
Chicago 22 265 8.3
Average 42 321 13.1
1956/57 NHL Power-Play Statistics
Team PPG PPO PP%
Montreal 55 290 19.0
Detroit 47 253 18.6
New York 48 260 18.5
Toronto 42 258 16.3
Chicago 33 238 13.9
Boston 34 280 12.1
Average 43 263 16.3
After the rule change, Montreal was still the best team in the league on the power-play, though their margin was far less. Not all of this change has to do with the new rule, though. A large part of it was due to the other teams in the league simply getting better with the man advantage. Taking out “extra” power-play goals in 1955-56, the league average power-play conversion rate was about 14%. In 1956-57 it was 16%.
Since we're on the subject, we may as well have a look at the power-play scoring leaders for these years as well. Here are some more numbers you've probably never seen before:
1955-56 NHL Power-Play Scoring Leaders
Player Team Position GP PPG PPA PPP
Jean Beliveau Mtl C 70 19 18 37
Gordie Howe Det RW 70 14 23 37
Maurice Richard Mtl RW 70 13 17 30
Red Kelly Det D 70 10 18 28
Bert Olmstead Mtl LW 70 5 23 28
Doug Harvey Mtl D 62 1 25 26
Bernie Geoffrion Mtl RW 59 11 13 24
Bill Gadsby NYR D 70 3 20 23
Ted Lindsay Det LW 67 14 8 22
Tod Sloan Tor C 70 10 11 21
1956-57 NHL Power-Play Scoring Leaders
Player Team Position GP PPG PPA PPP
Jean Beliveau Mtl C 69 12 19 31
Gordie Howe Det RW 70 14 16 30
Andy Bathgate NYR RW 70 6 20 26
Doug Harvey Mtl D 70 2 24 26
Dickie Moore Mtl LW 70 14 9 23
Ted Lindsay Det LW 70 6 17 23
Maurice Richard Mtl RW 63 11 10 21
George Armstrong Tor RW 54 8 11 19
Red Kelly Det D 70 6 11 17
Doug Mohns Bos D 68 2 15 17
Beliveau and Gordie Howe were the real power-play stars during these years, finishing one-two in man-advantage points in both years. The names on these lists are basically the players you expect to be there. But if we strip out the special-teams scoring and look only at even-strength points, you find some names you probably wouldn't have guessed would be there:
1955-56 NHL Even-Strength Scoring Leaders
Player Team Position GP ESG ESA ESP
Jean Beliveau Mtl C 70 28 22 50
Andy Bathgate NYR RW 70 12 37 49
Tod Sloan Tor C 70 27 18 45
Bert Olmstead Mtl Lw 70 9 33 42
Maurice Richard Mtl RW 70 25 16 41
Gordie Howe Det RW 70 24 17 41
Dean Prentice NYR LW 70 24 16 40
Bernie Geoffrion Mtl RW 70 18 20 38
Dave Creighton NYR C 70 15 23 38
Larry Popein NYR C 64 14 24 38
1956-57 NHL Even-Strength Scoring Leaders
Player Team Position GP ESG ESA ESP
Ted Lindsay Det LW 70 23 38 61
Gordie Howe Det RW 70 30 28 58
Jean Beliveau Mtl C 69 21 32 53
Don McKenney Bos C 69 18 35 53
Ed Litzenberger Chi RW 70 28 22 50
Andy Bathgate NYR RW 70 19 30 49
Real Chevrefils Bos LW 70 26 16 42
Leo Labine Bos RW 67 17 25 42
Maurice Richard Mtl RW 63 22 19 41
Henri Richard Mtl C 63 15 24 39
Even though Beliveau score more power-play points than anyone, he was anything but a man-advantage opportunist. He put up 103 even-strength points, tops in the league, beating Howe by four points and Andy Bathgate by five.
The two Boston wingers in 1956-57 are the real surprises on these lists. Real Chevrefils, he of 104 career NHL goals, was third in even-strength goals. Leo Labine put up only 321 career NHL points, but was in the top 10 in even-strength scoring here. Oddly, Boston's second line (Fleming Mackell, Vic Stasiuk, and Johnny Peirson) was their primary man-advantage unit, at least in terms of points. Neither line had any real success on the power-play, which kept their point totals down.
These leaderboards illustrate a point that still applies today; much of the best players' scoring opportunities come on the power-play, which exaggerates the difference between their abilities and the abilities of players who receive less man-advantage time. This is especially true of defenseman, both then and now. | 
0 comments have been left for this article. 
Conn Smythe Watch: Lundqvist Leads