George Hainsworth
George Hainsworth
“I’m sorry I can’t put on a show like some of the other goaltenders. I can’t look excited because I’m not. I can’t shout at other players because that’s not my style. I can’t dive on easy shots and make them look hard. I guess all I can do is stop pucks.”
Vitals
Born: June 26, 1895 in Berlin (Kitchener), Ontario
Died: October 9, 1950 (car accident)
Height: 5'6" / 1.68m
Weight: 150lb / 68kg
Caught: Right
Hardware
Vezina Trophy - 1927, 1928, 1929
Stanley Cup - 1930, 1931
Hockey Hall of Fame - 1961
The Hockey News' 100 Greatest Players - #46
Allan Cup (CAHA) - 1918
Records & Novelties
- Single-season shutouts - 22 in 1928-29
- Single-season GAA - 0.98 in 1928-29
- Won the Vezina each of the first 3 times it was awarded
- Second in career GAA, behind Alex Connell
- Third in career shutouts, behind Brodeur and Sawchuk
- One of 8 goaltenders to have served as captain of his team
- Shutout streak of 343 minutes is the longest in Montreal history and the second-longest in NHL history
- Toronto goaltender in the Ace Bailey Benefit Game
- Never missed the playoffs in his career, regardless of league.
Stats
Season
|
Team
|
League
|
GP
|
W
|
L
|
T
|
Min
|
GA
|
SO
|
GAA
1923–24 |Saskatoon Crescents |WCHL| 30| 15 |12| 3 |1849| 73| 4 |2.37
1924–25 |Saskatoon Crescents |WCHL| 28| 16| 11| 1 |1700| 75 |2| 2.65
1925–26 |Saskatoon Sheiks |WHL| 30 |18 |11| 1 |1812 |64 |4 |2.12
1926–27 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL|
44
|28| 14| 2 |2732 |67 |
14
| 1.47
1927–28 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL|
44
|
26
| 11| 7 |2730 |48 |13|
1.05
1928–29 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL|
44
|22| 7 |15 |2800 |43 |
22
|
0.92
1929–30 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL| 42 |20| 13| 9 |2680 |108 |4 |2.42
1930–31 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL|
44
|26| 10| 8 |2740 |89 |0 |1.95
1931–32 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL|
48
|
25
| 16| 7 |2998 |110 |6| 2.20
1932–33 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL|
48
|18| 25| 5 |2980 |115 |8| 2.32
1933–34 |Toronto Maple Leafs |NHL|
48
|
26
| 13| 9 |3010 |119| 3| 2.37
1934–35 |Toronto Maple Leafs |NHL|
48
|
30
| 14 |4 |2957 |111| 8| 2.25
1935–36 |Toronto Maple Leafs |NHL|
48
|23| 19 |6| 3000 |106| 8| 2.12
1936–37 |Toronto Maple Leafs |NHL| 3 |0 |2 |1 |190 |9 |0 |2.84
1936–37 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL| 4 |2| 1| 1| 270| 12| 0| 2.67
League
|
GP
|
W
|
L
|
T
|
Min
|
GA
|
SO
|
GAA
WCHL |88| 49 |34 |5 |5361| 212| 10| 2.37
NHL |465 |246 |145 |74 |29,087| 937 |94| 1.93
Pro Career | 553| 295| 179| 79| 34,448 |1149 |104 |2.00
PLAYOFFS
Season
|
Team
|
League
|
W
|
L
|
T
|
Min
|
GA
|
SO
|
GAA
1924-25| Saskatoon Crescents |WCHL| 2 |0 |1| 1 |120| 6| 0| 3.00
1925-26| Saskatoon Sheiks |WHL |2 |0 |1 |1 |129 |4 |0 |1.86
1926-27| Montreal Canadiens| NHL| 4 |1| 1| 2| 252 |6 |1 |1.43
1927-28| Montreal Canadiens| NHL| 2 |0| 1| 1| 128 |3 |0 |1.41
1928-29| Montreal Canadiens| NHL| 3 |0| 3| 0| 180 |5 |0 |1.67
1929-30
|
Montreal Canadiens
|
NHL
|
6
|
5
|
0
|
1
|
481
|
6
|
3
|
0.75
1930-31
|
Montreal Canadiens
|
NHL
|
10
|
6
|
4
|
0
|
722
|
21
|
2
|
1.75
1931-32| Montreal Canadiens| NHL| 4 |1 |3 |0| 300 |13 |0 |2.60
1932-33| Montreal Canadiens| NHL| 2 |0 |1 |1 |120 |8 |0 |4.00
1933-34| Toronto Maple Leafs| NHL| 5| 2| 3 |0| 302 |11 |0 |2.19
1934-35| Toronto Maple Leafs| NHL| 7 |3 |4 |0| 460 |12 |2 |1.57
1935-36| Toronto Maple Leafs| NHL| 9 |4 |5 |0| 541 |27 |0| 2.99
Total NHL| MTL/TOR|NHL| 52| 22| 25| 5| 3486| 112| 8| 1.93
Pre-NHL
- Hainsworth played senior hockey for Berlin (later renamed Kitchener) until age 28, winning the Allan Cup in 1918.
- Went pro with Saskatoon of the WCHL, where he teamed with Bill and Bun Cook.
- In 3 seasons in the WCHL/WHL, he twice finished behind "Hap" Holmes for the league lead in GAA.
As a Hab
- After the WHL folded, Newsy Lalonde recommended Hainsworth to the Montreal Canadiens. He became an NHL 'rookie' in 1926, replacing the recently-deceased Georges Vezina.
- In each of his first 3 seasons as a Hab, Hainsworth won the newly created Vezina Trophy for the league's lowest GAA.
- 1928-29 was one of the most dominant seasons by any goaltender in history. See below for details. Forward passing rules were modernized the following season, preventing replication of the feat.
- Hainsworth led Montreal to consecutive Stanley Cups in 1930 and 1931.
- In 1932, having built an incredibly impressive resume over 5 seasons, Hainsworth was named captain of the Habs.
- In a move apparently motivated by ethnic politics, Hainsworth was traded to Toronto for Lorne Chabot the following season.
1928-29
On a statistical basis, Hainsworth's 1928-29 has never been equaled. His eye-popping 0.92 is still the the only sub-1.00 GAA in NHL history, and shattered the record of 1.05 that he set the previous season. Tiny Thompson was second in the league with a 1.15, which gives us a sense of how low-scoring the games were... and how unbelievably far ahead of his peers Hainsworth managed to finish. I'm not sure how many goalies have finished 25% ahead of the pack in GAA, but it's surely a very small and distinguished list.
In addition, Hainsworth set a second major record, which still stands, with 22 shutouts in a single season. This is made even more impressive when one notes that the season was only 44 games long. The second-best seasons, most recently achieved by Tony Esposito in 63 games, were 15 shutouts. This achievement capped a 3-year period in which Hainsworth posted 14, 13 and 22.
The following season, 1929-30, saw the league react by modernizing offside rules. This prevented the possibility of replicating his 1929 numbers, though he did finish 1930 with a respectable 3rd place in GAA and 2nd in shutouts.
Hainsworth was 31 years old in 1927 and 34 in 1930.
As a Leaf
After a rather callous trade out of Montreal, Hainsworth played respectably well for the Maple Leafs. He led the league in wins his first two seasons in Toronto, and fell only one short of the lead in his third year. While pushing age 40, he was one of the better statistical goalies of 1935. In 1935 and 1936 he helped the Leafs to consecutive Finals appearances. He was finally displaced by a young Turk Broda.
When Hainsworth played out a handful of games in Montreal to finish his career at age 41, he became the second-oldest NHL player to date (Hugh Lehman having played till 42, and not counting Lester Patrick's cameo) and remains one of only 10 to play more than a single game at that age.
Among pre-1950 goaltenders
Rk
|
Name
|
Seasons Active
|
GP
|
Wins
|
GAA
|
SO
|
Vezinas
|
1st AS
|
SCs
|
HOF?
1|Turk Broda|1937-1950|597|288|2.54|56|2|2|4|Y
2|Tiny Thompson|1929-1940|553|284|2.08|81|4|2|1|Y
3|Frank Brimsek|1939-1950|514|252|2.70|40|2|2|2|Y
4|John Ross Roach|1922-1935|492|219|2.46|58|0|1*|1|N
5|Roy Worters|1926-1937|484|171|2.27|67|1|0*|0|Y
6
|
George Hainsworth
|
1927-1937
|
465
|
246
|
1.93
|
94
|
3
|
0*
|
2
|
Y
7|Dave Kerr|1931-1941|427|203|2.15|51|0|1|1|N
8|Alec Connell|1925-1937|417|193|1.91|81|0*|0*|2|Y
9|Lorne Chabot|1927-1937|412|201|2.03|71|1|1*|2|N
10|Bill Durnan|1944-1950|383|208|2.36|34|6|6|2|Y
11|Clint Benedict|1918-1930|362|190|2.32|57|0*|0*|3|Y
12|Mike Karakas|1936-1946|336|114|292|28|0|0|1|N
13|Harry Lumley|1944-1950|325|163|2.75|26|0|0|1|Y
14|Charlie Gardiner|1928-1934|316|112|2.02|42|2|3|1|Y
15|Chuck Rayner|1941-1950|285|97|3.11|14|0|0|0|Y
16|Wilf Cude|1931-1941|282|100|2.72|24|0|0|0|N
17|Normie Smith|1932-1945|199|81|2.33|17|1|1|2|N
18|Georges Vezina|1918-1926|190|103|3.28|13|0*|0*|3|Y
19|Johnny Mowers|1941-1947|152|65|2.56|15|1|1|1|N
20|Hap Holmes|1918-1928|103|39|2.43|17|0|0*|1|Y
21|Hal Winkler|1927-1928|75|35|1.60|21|0|0*|0|N
22|Hugh Lehman|1927-1928|48|20|2.68|6|0|0*|0|Y
* = opportunities limited by career timing
The Calgary Daily Herald 3/1/1926 said:
George Hainsworth - Saskatoon net guardian, who is considered to be the greatest in western hockey.
The Border Cities Star 10/25/1933 said:
Hainsworth plays goal in a debonair, nonchalant fashion that at times looks to verge on actual carelessness, but isn't. And this isn't done for effect. He makes the tough shots look easy, but that happens to be Hainsworth's style, not a pose.
New York Times 12/26/2009 said:
Born in Toronto in 1895, Hainsworth was a roly-poly little man, just 5 feet 6 inches and 150 pounds. But for 14 seasons in the 1920s and ’30s he was, like Brodeur much later, the most consistently excellent goalie of his era.
While many marveled that Sawchuk’s shutout mark lasted 39 years before Brodeur broke it, Hainsworth’s has actually lasted far longer. He recorded his 104th and final regular-season shutout 73 years ago, in 1936.
Joe Pelletier said:
Although his statistics were greatly aided by the pre-1930 rules, there is no doubt George Hainsworth was one of the greatest goalies of his era.
LOH said:
His miniscule 1.91 goals-against mark reflected the low scoring climate that existed during all but two of his seasons. Although the rule changes saw his average climb only late in his career, Hainsworth was one of the top backstoppers of his time.