1930–31 Philadelphia Quakers season

The 1930–31 Philadelphia Quakers season was the Quakers' sole season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The team moved from Pittsburgh, where they had played as the Pittsburgh Pirates since 1925.

1930–31 Philadelphia Quakers
Division	5th American
1930–31 record	4–36–4
Home record	3–17–2
Road record	1–19–2
Goals for	76
Goals against	184
Team information
General manager	Cooper Smeaton
Coach	Cooper Smeaton
Captain	Hib Milks
Arena	Philadelphia Arena
Average attendance	2,500
Team leaders
Goals	Hib Milks (18)
Assists	Gerry Lowrey (14)
Points	Gerry Lowrey (26)
Penalty minutes	D'Arcy Coulson (103)
Wins	Wilf Cude (2) Joe Miller (2)
Goals against average	Joe Miller (3.43)
← 1929–30 (Pittsburgh)

Offseason

The team relocated to Philadelphia and was in the charge of Benny Leonard, the prizefighter who held the world lightweight title from 1917 to 1925.

On October 18, 1930, 13 players, including player-coach Frank Fredrickson, were transferred to the Quakers from Pittsburgh.^[1] But Fredrickson was released two days later and replaced by Cooper Smeaton, who resigned his position as the league's referee-in-chief to become the Quakers head coach.^[1][2]

Regular season

The team finished with 12 points for the season, the worst performance in the six-year history of the Pirate/Quaker franchise. The team lost $100,000 on its operations and folded after the season.^[3] As a result, Philadelphia was left without an NHL franchise until the Flyers arrived in 1967.

Season standings

American Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Boston Bruins	44	28	10	6	143	90	62
Chicago Black Hawks	44	24	17	3	108	78	51
New York Rangers	44	19	16	9	106	87	47
Detroit Falcons	44	16	21	7	102	105	39
Philadelphia Quakers	44	4	36	4	76	184	12

^[4]

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 1930–31 NHL records[5] Team BOS CHI DET NYR PHI Total Boston — 2–4 4–1–1 4–0–2 5–0–1 15–5–4 Chicago 4–2 — 2–3–1 4–1–1 6–0 16–6–2 Detroit 1–4–1 3–2–1 — 2–3–1 4–2 10–11–3 N.Y. Rangers 0–4–2 1–4–1 3–2–1 — 6–0 10–10–4 Philadelphia 0–5–1 0–6 2–4 0–6 — 2–21–1

Vs. Canadian Division 1930–31 NHL records Team MTL MTM NYA OTT TOR Total Boston 1–2–1 3–1 2–2 4–0 2–1–1 12–6–2 Chicago 0–3–1 0–4 3–1 4–0 0–4 7–12–1 Detroit 2–2 0–3–1 0–2–2 2–2 2–1–1 6–10–4 N.Y. Rangers 2–2 2–1–1 1–0–3 3–1 1–2–1 9–6–5 Philadelphia 0–3–1 1–3 0–3–1 0–3–1 1–3 2–15–3

Schedule and results

1930–31 regular season[6]
November: 1–5–1, 3 points (home: 1–2–1; road: 0–3–0) Game Date Score Opponent Decision Attendance Record Points Recap 1 November 11 0–3 New York Rangers Miller 5,000 0–1–0 0 L 2 November 15 0–4 @ Toronto Maple Leafs Miller 6,000 0–2–0 0 L 3 November 16 1–5 @ Detroit Falcons Miller 7,500 0–3–0 0 L 4 November 18 2–2 OT Ottawa Senators Miller 2,000 0–3–1 1 T 5 November 23 2–5 @ New York Rangers Miller 9,000 0–4–1 1 L 6 November 25 2–1 Toronto Maple Leafs Miller 3,500 1–4–1 3 W 7 November 29 3–6 New York Rangers Miller 2,500 1–5–1 3 L
December: 0–10–0, 0 points (home: 0–5–0; road: 0–5–0) Game Date Score Opponent Decision Attendance Record Points Recap 8 December 2 0–2 Montreal Canadiens Miller 4,000 1–6–1 3 L 9 December 4 2–5 @ Ottawa Senators Miller 4,000 1–7–1 3 L 10 December 6 3–4 Boston Bruins Miller 5,000 1–8–1 3 L 11 December 9 1–2 OT New York Americans Miller 3,000 1–9–1 3 L 12 December 13 2–3 Detroit Falcons Miller 5,000 1–10–1 3 L 13 December 16 0–3 @ New York Americans Miller 5,000 1–11–1 3 L 14 December 20 1–5 @ Montreal Maroons Miller 9,000 1–12–1 3 L 15 December 23 2–3 Chicago Black Hawks Cude 2,000 1–13–1 3 L 16 December 25 0–8 @ Boston Bruins Cude 11,000 1–14–1 3 L 17 December 28 2–4 @ New York Rangers Cude 7,000 1–15–1 3 L
January: 1–11–1, 3 points (home: 1–5–0; road: 0–6–1) Game Date Score Opponent Decision Attendance Record Points Recap 18 January 1 3–10 @ Chicago Black Hawks Cude 7,000 1–16–1 3 L 19 January 3 4–5 OT Ottawa Senators Cude 3,500 1–17–1 3 L 20 January 4 0–5 @ New York Americans Cude 7,000 1–18–1 3 L 21 January 8 0–4 Chicago Black Hawks Cude n/a 1–19–1 3 L 22 January 10 4–3 OT Montreal Maroons Miller 3,000 2–19–1 5 W 23 January 13 1–2 Montreal Canadiens Forbes 3,500 2–20–1 5 L 24 January 17 2–5 Detroit Falcons Forbes 2,500 2–21–1 5 L 25 January 20 2–5 @ Detroit Falcons Cude 6,000 2–22–1 5 L 26 January 22 2–5 @ Chicago Black Hawks Cude 6,500 2–23–1 5 L 27 January 24 2–4 Boston Bruins Cude 3,500 2–24–1 5 L 28 January 27 3–3 OT @ Boston Bruins Cude n/a 2–24–2 6 T 29 January 29 1–7 @ Montreal Canadiens Cude 10,000 2–25–2 6 L 30 January 31 2–3 @ Toronto Maple Leafs Cude 7,000 2–26–2 6 L
February: 1–5–1, 3 points (home: 0–2–1; road: 1–3–0) Game Date Score Opponent Decision Attendance Record Points Recap 31 February 5 1–6 @ Chicago Black Hawks Cude 8,000 2–27–2 6 L 32 February 10 1–3 New York Rangers Cude n/a 2–28–2 6 L 33 February 14 1–1 OT New York Americans Cude 3,000 2–28–3 7 T 34 February 17 2–0 @ Detroit Falcons Cude 5,000 3–28–3 9 W 35 February 22 1–6 @ New York Rangers Cude 8,000 3–29–3 9 L 36 February 24 1–5 Boston Bruins Cude 2,000 3–30–3 9 L 37 February 28 1–4 @ Montreal Maroons Cude 9,500 3–31–3 9 L
March: 1–5–1, 3 points (home: 1–3–0; road: 0–2–1) Game Date Score Opponent Decision Attendance Record Points Recap 38 March 3 1–5 Toronto Maple Leafs Cude 1,500 3–32–3 9 L 39 March 7 2–7 @ Boston Bruins Cude n/a 3–33–3 9 L 40 March 10 3–5 OT @ Ottawa Senators Cude 2,000 3–34–3 9 L 41 March 12 7–5 Detroit Falcons Cude n/a 4–34–3 11 W 42 March 14 2–3 Montreal Maroons Cude n/a 4–35–3 11 L 43 March 17 0–4 Chicago Black Hawks Cude 2,500 4–36–3 11 L 44 March 21 4–4 @ Montreal Canadiens Cude n/a 4–36–4 12 T
Legend: W Win (2 points) L Loss (0 points) T Tie (1 point)

Player statistics

Scoring

• Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; F = Forward; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
• † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Quakers only.
• ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Quakers only.

The 1930–31 Philadelphia Quakers.

No.	Player	Pos	Regular season
			GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
7	Gerry Lowrey	C	43	12	14	26	27
4	Hib Milks	C	44	18	6	24	42
15	Syd Howe	LW/C	44	9	11	20	22
14	Wally Kilrea	C	44	8	11	19	26
10	Cliff Barton	RW	43	6	7	13	21
5	James Jarvis	LW	44	5	7	12	32
12	Al Shields	D	43	7	4	11	102
2	Ron Lyons†‡	LW	22	2	4	6	11
17	Eddie McCalmon	RW	16	3	0	3	6
11	Tex White‡	RW	9	3	0	3	2
8	Herb Drury	LW	24	0	3	3	10
6	Harold Darragh‡	RW	10	1	1	2	4
9	John McKinnon	D	39	1	1	2	46
6	Bill Hutton†‡	RW	21	1	0	1	2
16	D'Arcy Coulson†	D	28	0	0	0	103
3	Stan Crossett†	D	21	0	0	0	10
18	Wilf Cude†	G	29	0	0	0	0
1	Jake Forbes†‡	G	2	0	0	0	0
2	Gord Fraser‡	D	5	0	0	0	29
19[a]	Rennison Manners‡	F	4	0	0	0	0
1	Joe Miller‡	G	15	0	0	0	0
3	Rodger Smith‡	D	9	0	0	0	8
16	Aubrey Webster	F	1	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

No.	Player	Regular season
		GP	W	L	T	SO	GA	GAA	MIN
18	Wilf Cude†	29	2	23	3	1	130	4.38	1779
1	Joe Miller‡	15	2	11	1	0	47	3.43	821
1	Jake Forbes†‡	2	0	2	0	0	7	3.50	120

Awards and records

Records

The 1930–31 Quakers are tied with the 1919–20 Quebec Bulldogs for the fewest wins in a season with four, though Quebec played 20 fewer games.^[7] The Quakers .136 points percentage on the season held the NHL record low for 44 years until being surpassed by the expansion 1974–75 Washington Capitals’ .131.^[8]

Transactions

Syd Howe, seen here in a Quakers uniform during the 1930–31 season, was one of three players acquired on loan from Ottawa a few days prior to the start of the regular season.

The Quakers were involved in the following transactions before, during, and after the 1930–31 season.^[9]

Trades

Date	Details
November 6, 1930 (1930-11-06)	To Philadelphia Quakers Loan of Syd Howe Loan of Wally Kilrea Loan of Al Shields	To Ottawa Senators $35,000
November 28, 1930 (1930-11-28)	To Philadelphia Quakers cash	To Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets (IHL) Gord Fraser
December 8, 1930 (1930-12-08)	To Philadelphia Quakers Bill Hutton Ron Lyons cash	To Boston Bruins Harold Darragh
December 16, 1930 (1930-12-16)	To Philadelphia Quakers cash	To Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets (IHL) Rodger Smith Tex White
January 13, 1931 (1931-01-13)	To Philadelphia Quakers Loan of Jake Forbes	To New Haven Eagles (CAHL)
February 12, 1931 (1931-02-12)	To Philadelphia Quakers cash	To Boston Bruins Ron Lyons
February 24, 1931 (1931-02-24)	To Philadelphia Quakers cash	To Detroit Olympics (IHL) Bill Hutton
October 19, 1933 (1933-10-19)	To Philadelphia Quakers cash	To Montreal Canadiens Wilf Cude

Players acquired

Date	Player	Former team	Via
November 12, 1930 (1930-11-12)	Aubrey Shore	Kitchener Flying Dutchmen (CPHL)	Free agency
December 15, 1930 (1930-12-15)	D'Arcy Coulson	Chicago Shamrocks (AHA)	Free agency
	Wilf Cude	Melville Millionaires (S-SSHL)	Free agency
	Eddie McCalmon	Toronto Millionaires (IHL)	Free agency
January 9, 1931 (1931-01-09)	Stan Crossett	Port Hope Eagles (OHA-Sr.)	Free agency
May 9, 1931 (1931-05-09)	Doug Young	Cleveland Indians (IHL)	Inter-league draft

Players lost

Date	Player	New team	Via
October 20, 1930 (1930-10-20)	Frank Fredrickson	Detroit Falcons[b]	Release
November 12, 1930 (1930-11-12)	Tom Cowan		Release
November 28, 1930 (1930-11-28)[c]	Rennison Manners	Niagara Falls Cataracts (OPHL)[d]	Release
February 16, 1931 (1931-02-16)	Joe Miller		Release
September 26, 1931 (1931-09-26)	Cliff Barton	New York Rangers	Dispersal draft
	D'Arcy Coulson	Montreal Maroons	Dispersal draft
	James Jarvis	New York Rangers	Dispersal draft
	Gerry Lowrey	Chicago Black Hawks	Dispersal draft
	Hib Milks	New York Rangers	Dispersal draft
	Doug Young	New York Americans	Dispersal draft
September 27, 1931 (1931-09-27)	Wilf Cude	National Hockey League	Free agency[e]

Signings

Date	Player
November 12, 1930 (1930-11-12)	Gerry Lowrey

Notes

1. Manners wore number 16 in his second game.
2. Fredrickson signed with Detroit on November 23, 1930.^[10]
3. Date approximated
4. Manners played for Niagara Falls for the rest of the 1930–31 season.
5. Cude was signed by the league to serve as utility back-up goaltender. His NHL rights were retained by the Quakers franchise.