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All-Star Team Voting for 1937-38
This is from the Globe & Mail (Tuesday, March 29, 1938, page 14). There were 31 voters this year.
The biggest story was the tie between Cecil Dillon and Gordie Drillon, who were tied in voting for the RW position. They were each awarded a tied berth on the first and second team. The newspaper notes that Dillon's "greater backchecking ability" probably forced the tie, considering Drillon's edge in scoring. Given that Drillon led the league in goals and points, and outscored Dillon by 33%, Dillon must have been an amazing defensive player (or Drillon a very poor one).
It is noted that last year's Detroit all-stars fared poorly in the voting. Norm Smith, Ebbie Goodfellow, Larry Aurie and Jack Adams were "ignored in the voting". It's unclear if they received zero votes, or just a small number. Marty Barry finished 4th in voting for the centre position.
There was an interesting article (pg 15) suggesting that Eddie Shore didn't receive the respect or credit he deserves because he's very dirty and violent. They contrasted Shore with Morenz, Joliat and Boucher, who were clean and classy.
Later in the year (Tuesday, April 19, 1938, page 15), the paper announces that Shore wins the Hart. Surprisingly, they put almost as much emphasis on the Byng as they do the Hart. The paper states that Shore as MVP "will meet with general approval". They note that Thompson is more popular than Shore.
Centre: Cowley is named to the first team, Apps to the second. Cowley dominated the voting: "the majority of selectors considered only Cowley". He had a good margin of victory: "Twice as many voted Cowley on to the first team as named Apps". I don't know who finished 3rd, but Marty Barry was 4th.
RW: As previously mentioned, Dillon and Drillon earned a tied berth on the first and second team. The newspaper says that they "were the only players named for right wing". (How many times in history has that happened?) Dillon had 16 first-team votes versus 15 for Drillon. The paper says that Drillon had 3 more second-team votes. Therefore first-team votes are probably worth 3 pts and second-team votes are probably worth 1 pt (this would give them a tie).
Interesting observation: under modern tie-breaking rules, Dillon would have been the first-team all-star and Drillon would have been the second-team all-star, because, while tied in point, Dillon has more first-place votes. However, under 1937-38 rules, it was a tie.
LW: Six players received votes but Paul Thompson "won out with a comfortable margin".
Toe Blake just barely earned a spot on the second team ("a narrow [close] decision"). Other players receiving votes were George Mantha, Lynn Patrick, Busher Jackson and Sweeney Schriner. Jackson "was not far behind the leaders" and Schriner recieved a "good [number of] votes".
Defense: Eddie Shore and Babe Siebert earn a spot on the first team. The newspaper gushes about how Shore utterly dominates his position. (He won his 4th career Hart trophy this year; only Howe and Gretzky won more). The paper states that "neither he [Siebert] nor Shore had serious opposition". Siebert was "almost unanimous".
Art Coulter (2nd team all-star) was far behind Shore for the 1st team position but was well ahead of Red Horner.
Earl Seibert earned the other spot on the 2nd team with a very weak vote. Babe Siebert earned almost all of the left defense votes; the remaining votes were split among 16 blueliners, and Earl Seibert had a "small vote", though, apparently, it was enough to win.
Goalies: The paper says that Tiny Thompson "had a comfortable margin" over Dave Kerr, his "only serious rival". Only Thompson and Kerr received votes for the first-team; based on the write-up it must have been something like 21-10 for Thompson.
Kerr earned a spot on the alternate team "without a struggle".
All-Star Team Voting for 1938-39
This is from the Globe & Mail (Monday, March 27, 1939, page 17). There were 34 voters this year.
The newspaper notes that Eddie Shore has earned 8 all-star spots in 9 years; all but one of those were on the first team. The paper notes that no player has done as well as Shore in all-star voting. Keep in mind that several stars (ie Morenz, Clancy, Lalonde, Boucher and Shore himself) have had all or part of their careers prior to 1931, when all-star voting began.
Unfortunately there are virtually no details this year. Frank Brimsek becomes the first rookie named to the first all-star goalie position. Shore and Clapper on the first team is "not surprising", but there was "spirited voting in favor of" Art Coulter, who made it to the second team. The paper noted that the first-team forward trio (Apps, Drillon and Hart-winner Blake) is solid ("You can't find any kick on that score"). Really, these are all the details that are available for 1938-39.
Interestingly, Toe Blake's Hart trophy receives virtually no coverage. (Wednesday, April 19, 1939, page 33). Toe Blake led the league in scoring despite the fact that Montreal finished 6th (out of 7). The newspaper (casually) mentions two reasons that Blake might have won. First, Blake scored a lot despite playing on a weak team (I think they were implying that Blake would have scored even more on a stronger team). Second, the newspaper credits Blake for keeping the Canadiens in contention all year long. (Then again, if 6 of 7 teams make the playoffs, and you're 7 pts ahead of last place, how crucial was Blake?)
All-Star Team Voting for 1939-40
This is from the Globe & Mail (Thursday, March 21, 1940, page 16). There were 28 voters this year.
Dave Kerr received more votes (27) than any player at any position. Given his dominance, it's surprising that Kerr isn't one of the top five players in Hart voting.
There appears to be a significant discrepancy in many sources regarding the first-team defense positions. Several sources (including Dan Diamond's "Total NHL" and the NHL Awards Media Guide) mistakenly list Eddie Shore as a first-team all-star in 1940. The newspaper (and some other websites I checked randomly) clearly list Dit Clapper and Ebbie Goodfellow as the two first-team defensemen this year. In fact, Eddie Shore played just 14 games in 1940.
The paper mentioned that Apps didn't make the team, probably due to injuries (he played in 27 of 44 games) but still were "mentioned frequently" in the voting. Drillon was "mentioned frequently" too, but they noted a "slip in the play of Drillon". That comment doesn't really make sense. In 1939, Drillon scored 34 pts (16th in the league) and he was voted to the first team. In 1940, Drillon scored 40 pts (4th in the league). Was he really bad defensively this year?
Schmidt earns a spot on the first team and Dumart and Bauer earn positions on the second team. They finished 1-2-3 in scoring. The "Sauerkraut line" is named one of the greatest lines in history.
Centers: Schmidt is named to the first team. He is described as the driving force behind Boston's "dazzling parade of plays". Schmidt, who led the league in scoring, is described as the league's most improved player, and greatly enhanced his skating speed in 1940. Neil Colville was named to the second team. Apps recieved some votes, too.
LW: This was the closest vote of the season. Toe Blake beat Woody Dumart for the first-team LW position "by a single vote". (Dumart is therefore on the second team). The paper notes that Toe Blake is a "speedball" who is willing to play hard, even though he was on a last-place team.
RW: Hextall, the league's leading goal-scorer, is the first team RW and Bauer is on the second team. Drillon receives some votes.
Defense: The first-team defensemen are Clapper and Goodfellow. Clapper was elected to the 1st team by a "tremendous vote". Seibert and Coulter are named to the second team.
The second closest race of the year is Earl Seibert vs. Ott Heller for the 2nd defense position. Seibert narrowly wins.
Goalies: Dave Kerr dominated the voting. He was named as the first-team goalie by 25 writers and the second-team goalie by 2 more writers. (Only 1 writer didn't pick him).
Frank Brimsek was named to the second team. "It wasn't that Brimsek's goaltending
slipped [from last year, when he was a first-team goalie], but that Kerr was so hot".
Coach Paul Thompson is credited for turning the Blackhawks franchise around. He receives a glowing write-up and, based on what the newspaper said, this could have been one of the best coaching performances of all time.
All-Star Team Voting for 1940-41
This is from the Globe & Mail (Friday, March 21, 1941, page 17). There were 30 voters this year.
Bill Cowley wins the Hart and leads the league in scoring by a huge margin. He becomes the first player in NHL history to have more assists than anyone else has points.
Toronto and Boston dominates the voting, earning 9 of 12 positions.
Dit Clapper (29 votes) and Sweeney Schriner (23 or 25 votes, I can't read the print) earned the most votes.
Centres: Bill Cowley is named to the first team and Syl Apps is on the second. Cowley had 20 votes versus 10 for Apps (I think these are first-team votes). A few days later in the newspaper, Cooney Weiland (Boston's coach, named to the first team) said he prefers Apps over Cowley because the former is "a little better backchecker".
LW: Sweeney Schriner earned 23 or 25 votes (I can't read it clearly) and left the 2nd team LW, Woody Dumart, far behind, with 3 or 5 votes.
RW: Hextall leads the league in goals for the 2nd year in a row. Hextall (13 votes, or maybe 15, I can't tell) earns a spot on the first team over Bobby Bauer (10 votes).
Defense: Dit Clapper received 29 votes (out of 30). He and Wally Stanowski were named to the first team. The newspaper commends Stanowski for his rapid rise to success. Seibert and Heller earn a spot on the second team. Ebbie Goodfellow and Bingo Kaufman (who?) were also contenders for the second team, but Seibert and Heller made it "without too tight a squeeze".
Goalies: Turk Broda, named the "Ugly Duckling", is named to the first team. "Only Frank Brimsek gave him competition". Brimsek made the second team. The newspaper commends Broda for working hard for many years and improving himself from a mediocre to star goalie.
All-Star Team Voting for 1941-42
This is from the Globe & Mail (Tuesday, April 7, 1942 , page 13). There were 30 voters this year. The Globe notes that the voting was done later than in previous years.
Lynn Patrick (29 votes) received the most support of any player.
Centre: Syl Apps dominates with 20 first-place votes. Phil Watson has 9 first-place votes (and earns a spot on the second team) while Don Grosso received the last first-place vote. The paper notes that Apps' competition is weaker because Schmidt is in the Air Force and Schmidt was injured all year.
LW: Lynn Patrick dominates; he earned 29 first place votes, with the remaining vote going to Sid (they spell it "Syd") Abel. Abel had 10 second-place votes versus 7 for Toe Blake and 5 for Red Hamill.
RW: Hextall led the league in scoring and was "easily" named to the first team with 26 first-place votes. It was his third straight first all-star berth. Gordie Drillon got 2 first-place votes and 17 second-team votes. (The last 2 first-place votes are unaccounted for).
Defense: Tommy Anderson (who would win the Hart trophy) and Earl Seibert earned a spot on the first team. The writers spread their votes around "in almost equal numbers" between Bucko McDonald and Pat Egan (who made the 2nd team) and Dit Clapper and Johnny Crawford (who got nothing).
It was Anderson's first year as a defensemen, even though he was a 10-year veteran as a forward. He scored 41 pts (8th in the league in scoring) and set an all-time record for defensemen. He earned 12 first-team votes and 12 more second-team votes.
Goalies: Brimsek is on the first team, Broda on the second. No further details.
========
If you're interested in reading about the 1941-42 in detail, please read page 14 of the Saturday, March 21, 1942 edition of the Globe. They ask exactly 100 players (which, in those days, is probably 80% of the league) to vote on their all-stars. The final results are quite similar to the official all-star team (and the first teams match perfectly), but the newspaper provides a large amount of fascinating discussion and analysis.
The players with the most votes, as selected by their peers, were Brimsek, Hextall and Patrick, with 71 votes each, and Apps next at 50 votes. (All of these players were first-team all-stars on the official team).
The players voted for Bobby Bauer who was now a member of the Air Force. One player in Detroit voted for five of his teammates on the first team.
The differences between the players' team and the official team aren't very significant, except for Bucko McDonald. McDonald is elected to the official 2nd all-star team; the paper lists 10 blueliners receiving votes by the players and McDonald isn't listed there at all. I have no idea why this significant discrepancy occurs, but the players clearly weren't impressed by McDonald this year.
The article also analyzes team-by-team voting patterns. As you'd expect, many players voted heavily for their teammates, even if they weren't deserving. There's also a lot of bias; some players wouldn't vote for former teammates and others wouldn't vote for rivals. I'm sure that this plays a role in the modern-day Pearson balloting.
This is from the Globe & Mail (Tuesday, March 29, 1938, page 14). There were 31 voters this year.
The biggest story was the tie between Cecil Dillon and Gordie Drillon, who were tied in voting for the RW position. They were each awarded a tied berth on the first and second team. The newspaper notes that Dillon's "greater backchecking ability" probably forced the tie, considering Drillon's edge in scoring. Given that Drillon led the league in goals and points, and outscored Dillon by 33%, Dillon must have been an amazing defensive player (or Drillon a very poor one).
It is noted that last year's Detroit all-stars fared poorly in the voting. Norm Smith, Ebbie Goodfellow, Larry Aurie and Jack Adams were "ignored in the voting". It's unclear if they received zero votes, or just a small number. Marty Barry finished 4th in voting for the centre position.
There was an interesting article (pg 15) suggesting that Eddie Shore didn't receive the respect or credit he deserves because he's very dirty and violent. They contrasted Shore with Morenz, Joliat and Boucher, who were clean and classy.
Later in the year (Tuesday, April 19, 1938, page 15), the paper announces that Shore wins the Hart. Surprisingly, they put almost as much emphasis on the Byng as they do the Hart. The paper states that Shore as MVP "will meet with general approval". They note that Thompson is more popular than Shore.
Centre: Cowley is named to the first team, Apps to the second. Cowley dominated the voting: "the majority of selectors considered only Cowley". He had a good margin of victory: "Twice as many voted Cowley on to the first team as named Apps". I don't know who finished 3rd, but Marty Barry was 4th.
RW: As previously mentioned, Dillon and Drillon earned a tied berth on the first and second team. The newspaper says that they "were the only players named for right wing". (How many times in history has that happened?) Dillon had 16 first-team votes versus 15 for Drillon. The paper says that Drillon had 3 more second-team votes. Therefore first-team votes are probably worth 3 pts and second-team votes are probably worth 1 pt (this would give them a tie).
Interesting observation: under modern tie-breaking rules, Dillon would have been the first-team all-star and Drillon would have been the second-team all-star, because, while tied in point, Dillon has more first-place votes. However, under 1937-38 rules, it was a tie.
LW: Six players received votes but Paul Thompson "won out with a comfortable margin".
Toe Blake just barely earned a spot on the second team ("a narrow [close] decision"). Other players receiving votes were George Mantha, Lynn Patrick, Busher Jackson and Sweeney Schriner. Jackson "was not far behind the leaders" and Schriner recieved a "good [number of] votes".
Defense: Eddie Shore and Babe Siebert earn a spot on the first team. The newspaper gushes about how Shore utterly dominates his position. (He won his 4th career Hart trophy this year; only Howe and Gretzky won more). The paper states that "neither he [Siebert] nor Shore had serious opposition". Siebert was "almost unanimous".
Art Coulter (2nd team all-star) was far behind Shore for the 1st team position but was well ahead of Red Horner.
Earl Seibert earned the other spot on the 2nd team with a very weak vote. Babe Siebert earned almost all of the left defense votes; the remaining votes were split among 16 blueliners, and Earl Seibert had a "small vote", though, apparently, it was enough to win.
Goalies: The paper says that Tiny Thompson "had a comfortable margin" over Dave Kerr, his "only serious rival". Only Thompson and Kerr received votes for the first-team; based on the write-up it must have been something like 21-10 for Thompson.
Kerr earned a spot on the alternate team "without a struggle".
All-Star Team Voting for 1938-39
This is from the Globe & Mail (Monday, March 27, 1939, page 17). There were 34 voters this year.
The newspaper notes that Eddie Shore has earned 8 all-star spots in 9 years; all but one of those were on the first team. The paper notes that no player has done as well as Shore in all-star voting. Keep in mind that several stars (ie Morenz, Clancy, Lalonde, Boucher and Shore himself) have had all or part of their careers prior to 1931, when all-star voting began.
Unfortunately there are virtually no details this year. Frank Brimsek becomes the first rookie named to the first all-star goalie position. Shore and Clapper on the first team is "not surprising", but there was "spirited voting in favor of" Art Coulter, who made it to the second team. The paper noted that the first-team forward trio (Apps, Drillon and Hart-winner Blake) is solid ("You can't find any kick on that score"). Really, these are all the details that are available for 1938-39.
Interestingly, Toe Blake's Hart trophy receives virtually no coverage. (Wednesday, April 19, 1939, page 33). Toe Blake led the league in scoring despite the fact that Montreal finished 6th (out of 7). The newspaper (casually) mentions two reasons that Blake might have won. First, Blake scored a lot despite playing on a weak team (I think they were implying that Blake would have scored even more on a stronger team). Second, the newspaper credits Blake for keeping the Canadiens in contention all year long. (Then again, if 6 of 7 teams make the playoffs, and you're 7 pts ahead of last place, how crucial was Blake?)
All-Star Team Voting for 1939-40
This is from the Globe & Mail (Thursday, March 21, 1940, page 16). There were 28 voters this year.
Dave Kerr received more votes (27) than any player at any position. Given his dominance, it's surprising that Kerr isn't one of the top five players in Hart voting.
There appears to be a significant discrepancy in many sources regarding the first-team defense positions. Several sources (including Dan Diamond's "Total NHL" and the NHL Awards Media Guide) mistakenly list Eddie Shore as a first-team all-star in 1940. The newspaper (and some other websites I checked randomly) clearly list Dit Clapper and Ebbie Goodfellow as the two first-team defensemen this year. In fact, Eddie Shore played just 14 games in 1940.
The paper mentioned that Apps didn't make the team, probably due to injuries (he played in 27 of 44 games) but still were "mentioned frequently" in the voting. Drillon was "mentioned frequently" too, but they noted a "slip in the play of Drillon". That comment doesn't really make sense. In 1939, Drillon scored 34 pts (16th in the league) and he was voted to the first team. In 1940, Drillon scored 40 pts (4th in the league). Was he really bad defensively this year?
Schmidt earns a spot on the first team and Dumart and Bauer earn positions on the second team. They finished 1-2-3 in scoring. The "Sauerkraut line" is named one of the greatest lines in history.
Centers: Schmidt is named to the first team. He is described as the driving force behind Boston's "dazzling parade of plays". Schmidt, who led the league in scoring, is described as the league's most improved player, and greatly enhanced his skating speed in 1940. Neil Colville was named to the second team. Apps recieved some votes, too.
LW: This was the closest vote of the season. Toe Blake beat Woody Dumart for the first-team LW position "by a single vote". (Dumart is therefore on the second team). The paper notes that Toe Blake is a "speedball" who is willing to play hard, even though he was on a last-place team.
RW: Hextall, the league's leading goal-scorer, is the first team RW and Bauer is on the second team. Drillon receives some votes.
Defense: The first-team defensemen are Clapper and Goodfellow. Clapper was elected to the 1st team by a "tremendous vote". Seibert and Coulter are named to the second team.
The second closest race of the year is Earl Seibert vs. Ott Heller for the 2nd defense position. Seibert narrowly wins.
Goalies: Dave Kerr dominated the voting. He was named as the first-team goalie by 25 writers and the second-team goalie by 2 more writers. (Only 1 writer didn't pick him).
Frank Brimsek was named to the second team. "It wasn't that Brimsek's goaltending
slipped [from last year, when he was a first-team goalie], but that Kerr was so hot".
Coach Paul Thompson is credited for turning the Blackhawks franchise around. He receives a glowing write-up and, based on what the newspaper said, this could have been one of the best coaching performances of all time.
All-Star Team Voting for 1940-41
This is from the Globe & Mail (Friday, March 21, 1941, page 17). There were 30 voters this year.
Bill Cowley wins the Hart and leads the league in scoring by a huge margin. He becomes the first player in NHL history to have more assists than anyone else has points.
Toronto and Boston dominates the voting, earning 9 of 12 positions.
Dit Clapper (29 votes) and Sweeney Schriner (23 or 25 votes, I can't read the print) earned the most votes.
Centres: Bill Cowley is named to the first team and Syl Apps is on the second. Cowley had 20 votes versus 10 for Apps (I think these are first-team votes). A few days later in the newspaper, Cooney Weiland (Boston's coach, named to the first team) said he prefers Apps over Cowley because the former is "a little better backchecker".
LW: Sweeney Schriner earned 23 or 25 votes (I can't read it clearly) and left the 2nd team LW, Woody Dumart, far behind, with 3 or 5 votes.
RW: Hextall leads the league in goals for the 2nd year in a row. Hextall (13 votes, or maybe 15, I can't tell) earns a spot on the first team over Bobby Bauer (10 votes).
Defense: Dit Clapper received 29 votes (out of 30). He and Wally Stanowski were named to the first team. The newspaper commends Stanowski for his rapid rise to success. Seibert and Heller earn a spot on the second team. Ebbie Goodfellow and Bingo Kaufman (who?) were also contenders for the second team, but Seibert and Heller made it "without too tight a squeeze".
Goalies: Turk Broda, named the "Ugly Duckling", is named to the first team. "Only Frank Brimsek gave him competition". Brimsek made the second team. The newspaper commends Broda for working hard for many years and improving himself from a mediocre to star goalie.
All-Star Team Voting for 1941-42
This is from the Globe & Mail (Tuesday, April 7, 1942 , page 13). There were 30 voters this year. The Globe notes that the voting was done later than in previous years.
Lynn Patrick (29 votes) received the most support of any player.
Centre: Syl Apps dominates with 20 first-place votes. Phil Watson has 9 first-place votes (and earns a spot on the second team) while Don Grosso received the last first-place vote. The paper notes that Apps' competition is weaker because Schmidt is in the Air Force and Schmidt was injured all year.
LW: Lynn Patrick dominates; he earned 29 first place votes, with the remaining vote going to Sid (they spell it "Syd") Abel. Abel had 10 second-place votes versus 7 for Toe Blake and 5 for Red Hamill.
RW: Hextall led the league in scoring and was "easily" named to the first team with 26 first-place votes. It was his third straight first all-star berth. Gordie Drillon got 2 first-place votes and 17 second-team votes. (The last 2 first-place votes are unaccounted for).
Defense: Tommy Anderson (who would win the Hart trophy) and Earl Seibert earned a spot on the first team. The writers spread their votes around "in almost equal numbers" between Bucko McDonald and Pat Egan (who made the 2nd team) and Dit Clapper and Johnny Crawford (who got nothing).
It was Anderson's first year as a defensemen, even though he was a 10-year veteran as a forward. He scored 41 pts (8th in the league in scoring) and set an all-time record for defensemen. He earned 12 first-team votes and 12 more second-team votes.
Goalies: Brimsek is on the first team, Broda on the second. No further details.
========
If you're interested in reading about the 1941-42 in detail, please read page 14 of the Saturday, March 21, 1942 edition of the Globe. They ask exactly 100 players (which, in those days, is probably 80% of the league) to vote on their all-stars. The final results are quite similar to the official all-star team (and the first teams match perfectly), but the newspaper provides a large amount of fascinating discussion and analysis.
The players with the most votes, as selected by their peers, were Brimsek, Hextall and Patrick, with 71 votes each, and Apps next at 50 votes. (All of these players were first-team all-stars on the official team).
The players voted for Bobby Bauer who was now a member of the Air Force. One player in Detroit voted for five of his teammates on the first team.
The differences between the players' team and the official team aren't very significant, except for Bucko McDonald. McDonald is elected to the official 2nd all-star team; the paper lists 10 blueliners receiving votes by the players and McDonald isn't listed there at all. I have no idea why this significant discrepancy occurs, but the players clearly weren't impressed by McDonald this year.
The article also analyzes team-by-team voting patterns. As you'd expect, many players voted heavily for their teammates, even if they weren't deserving. There's also a lot of bias; some players wouldn't vote for former teammates and others wouldn't vote for rivals. I'm sure that this plays a role in the modern-day Pearson balloting.
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