1937–38 New York Rangers season

1937–38 New York Rangers
1937–38 New York Rangers
Division	2nd American
1937–38 record	27–15–6
Home record	14–6–4
Road record	13–9–2
Goals for	149
Goals against	96
Team information
General manager	Lester Patrick
Coach	Lester Patrick
Captain	Art Coulter
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Cecil Dillon (21)
Assists	Phil Watson (25)
Points	Cecil Dillon (39)
Penalty minutes	Art Coulter (90)
Wins	Dave Kerr (27)
Goals against average	Dave Kerr (1.95)
	← 1936–37 1938–39 →

The 1937–38 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 12th season. New York finished second in the American Division in regular season with a record of 27–15–6, and qualified for the playoffs. In the league semi-finals, the Rangers lost to the New York Americans 2–1 in a best of three games series.

Offseason

The team played an exhibition game against the New York Americans in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 30 October to open the new Saskatoon Arena.^[1]

Regular season

Final standings

American Division
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Boston Bruins	48	30	11	7	142	89	67
New York Rangers	48	27	15	6	149	96	60
Chicago Black Hawks	48	14	25	9	97	139	37
Detroit Red Wings	48	12	25	11	99	133	35

^[2]

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Record vs. opponents

Vs. American Division

1937–38 NHL records^[3]
Team	BOS	CHI	DET	NYR	Total
Boston	—	6–2	5–2–1	5–3	16–7–1
Chicago	2–6	—	3–4–1	3–4–1	6–14–2
Detroit	2–5–1	4–3–1	—	1–6–1	7–14–3
N.Y. Rangers	3–5	4–3–1	6–1–1	—	13–9–2

Vs. Canadian Division

1937–38 NHL records
Team	MTL	MTM	NYA	TOR	Total
Boston	2–2–2	4–0–2	3–1–2	2–2–2	11–5–8
Chicago	1–3–2	4–2	0–4–2	1–2–3	6–11–7
Detroit	3–2–1	0–3–3	2–2–2	0–4–2	5–11–8
N.Y. Rangers	1–3–2	5–0–1	4–1–1	4–2	14–6–4

Schedule and results

1937–38 regular season^[4]

November: 3–4–1 (home: 1–2–1; road: 2–2–0)

Game	November	Opponent	Score	Record
1	7	@ Detroit Red Wings	3–0	1–0–0
2	11	Chicago Black Hawks	3–1	1–1–0
3	14	@ Boston Bruins	3–2	1–2–0
4	16	New York Americans	1–0	2–2–0
5	20	@ Montreal Maroons	3–0	3–2–0
6	21	Montreal Maroons	3 – 3 OT	3–2–1
7	25	Toronto Maple Leafs	3–1	3–3–1
8	27	@ Montreal Canadiens	2–1	3–4–1

December: 7–3–1 (home: 3–1–1; road: 4–2–0)

Game	December	Opponent	Score	Record
9	2	@ Chicago Black Hawks	2–1	3–5–1
10	5	Boston Bruins	4–0	4–5–1
11	11	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	6–3	5–5–1
12	12	@ Detroit Red Wings	5–2	6–5–1
13	14	Detroit Red Wings	3–1	7–5–1
14	16	@ New York Americans	2–0	8–5–1
15	19	Montreal Canadiens	2 – 2 OT	8–5–2
16	23	@ Montreal Maroons	4–0	9–5–2
17	26	Chicago Black Hawks	3–1	9–6–2
18	28	@ Boston Bruins	3–2	9–7–2
19	31	Boston Bruins	5–3	10–7–2

January: 6–2–3 (home: 3–0–2; road: 3–2–1)

Game	January	Opponent	Score	Record
20	4	New York Americans	5 – 5 OT	10–7–3
21	6	@ Chicago Black Hawks	4–1	11–7–3
22	8	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	3–2	11–8–3
23	9	Detroit Red Wings	4–1	12–8–3
24	13	Detroit Red Wings	3 – 3 OT	12–8–4
25	16	@ New York Americans	4–0	13–8–4
26	18	Montreal Canadiens	3 – 1 OT	14–8–4
27	23	Montreal Maroons	8–2	15–8–4
28	25	@ Boston Bruins	3–2	16–8–4
29	27	@ Montreal Canadiens	4–2	16–9–4
30	30	@ Chicago Black Hawks	2 – 2 OT	16–9–5

February: 8–3–0 (home: 4–2–0; road: 4–1–0)

Game	February	Opponent	Score	Record
31	1	Chicago Black Hawks	6–1	17–9–5
32	6	Toronto Maple Leafs	2–1	18–9–5
33	10	@ Detroit Red Wings	4–0	19–9–5
34	12	@ Montreal Maroons	5–3	20–9–5
35	13	Montreal Maroons	4–1	21–9–5
36	17	Boston Bruins	3 – 2 OT	21–10–5
37	20	@ Boston Bruins	3 – 2 OT	21–11–5
38	22	Montreal Canadiens	2–1	21–12–5
39	24	Chicago Black Hawks	6–3	22–12–5
40	26	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	4–2	23–12–5
41	27	@ Chicago Black Hawks	4–1	24–12–5

March: 3–3–1 (home: 3–1–0; road: 0–2–1)

Game	March	Opponent	Score	Record
42	3	Detroit Red Wings	4–3	25–12–5
43	6	@ New York Americans	3–1	25–13–5
44	8	Toronto Maple Leafs	4–3	26–13–5
45	13	Boston Bruins	2–1	26–14–5
46	17	New York Americans	5–3	27–14–5
47	19	@ Montreal Canadiens	1 – 1 OT	27–14–6
48	20	@ Detroit Red Wings	4–3	27–15–6

Legend: Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point)

Playoffs

1938 Stanley Cup playoffs^[4]

Quarterfinals vs. (C2) New York Americans – Americans win 2–1

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	March 22	New York Americans	2–1	New York Rangers	OT	New York Americans lead series 1–0
2	March 24	New York Rangers	4–3	New York Americans		Series tied 1–1
3	March 27	New York Americans	3–2	New York Rangers	OT	New York Americans win series 2–1

Legend: Win Loss

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Cecil Dillon	48	21	18	39	6
Clint Smith	48	14	23	37	0
Neil Colville	45	17	19	36	11
Alex Shibicky	48	17	18	35	26
Lynn Patrick	48	15	19	34	24
Phil Watson	48	7	25	32	52
Mac Colville	48	14	14	28	18
Bryan Hextall	48	17	4	21	6
Walter Pratt	47	5	14	19	56
Melville Keeling	39	8	9	17	12
Ehrhardt Heller	48	2	14	16	68
Arthur Coulter	43	5	10	15	90
Bobby Kirk	39	4	8	12	14
Joe Cooper	46	3	2	5	56
Murray Patrick	1	0	2	2	0
Frank Boucher	9	0	1	1	2
Wilbert Hiller	9	0	1	1	2
Larry Molyneaux	2	0	0	0	2

Playoffs
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Bryan Hextall	3	2	0	2	0
Mac Colville	3	0	2	2	0
Phil Watson	3	0	2	2	0
Alex Shibicky	3	2	0	2	2
Clint Smith	3	2	0	2	0
Ehrhardt Heller	3	0	1	1	2
Melville Keeling	3	0	1	1	2
Lynn Patrick	3	0	1	1	2
Neil Colville	3	0	1	1	0
Cecil Dillon	3	1	0	1	0
Larry Molyneaux	3	0	0	0	8
Wilbert Hiller	1	0	0	0	0
Murray Patrick	3	0	0	0	2
Joe Cooper	3	0	0	0	4
Walter Pratt	2	0	0	0	2

Goaltenders

Regular Season
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Dave Kerr	48	2960	27	15	6	96	1.95	8

Playoffs
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Dave Kerr	3	262	1	2	8	1.83	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.
^‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

^[5]

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards and records

Transactions

References

^ O'Brien, Jeff, City Archivist. Saskatoon Chronology: 1882–2005, p.3.
^ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
^ ^a ^b "1937-38 New York Rangers Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
^ "1937–38 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved October 23, 2010.

[1] O'Brien, Jeff, City Archivist. Saskatoon Chronology: 1882–2005, p.3.

[2] Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.

[3] "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.

[Gamelog-4] "1937-38 New York Rangers Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved April 1, 2025.

[5] "1937–38 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved October 23, 2010.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e New York Rangers seasons
1920s	1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

v t e 1937–38 NHL season
Canadian	Mtl Canadiens Mtl Maroons NY Americans Toronto
American	Boston Chicago Detroit NY Rangers
See also	Howie Morenz Memorial Game European Tour Stanley Cup Finals Transactions