Summary
The National Hockey League expanded once more with the addition of the Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Cougars, and New York Rangers. The Western Hockey League had gone out of business after the 1925-26 season. Chicago bought the entire Portland Rosebud roster and the Detroit Cougars were basically the former Victoria Cougars of the WHL. Other WHL stars also entered the NHL, most notably Eddie Shore with the Boston Bruins, Frank Boucher and Bun Cook with the Rangers.
The league split into two divisions, the American and the Canadian. Ironically, the New York Americans were place in the Canadian Division. The playoff format was also expanded. The second- and third-place teams from each division played a semi-final series, with the winners going against the first-place team for the division championship, and the division champions then played for the Stanley Cup, now the NHL championship trophy.
The Ottawa Senators finished atop the Canadian Division and also won the playoff championship. In the American Division, third-place Boston beat Chicago and then upset the first-place Rangers to advance to the cup finals.
The Senators prevailed in an odd best-of-three series that actually went four games, two of which were ties. At the time, there was just one 20-minute overtime period and the game simply went into the books as a tie if there was no winner.
It's worth noting that the Toronto team began the season as the St. Patricks but became the Maple Leafs after Conn Smythe bought the franchise.
