GEORGE HAINSWORTH RECORDED 22 SHUTOUTS IN 1928-29, IN ONE OF THE GREATEST SEASONS BY A GOALIE EVER IN NHL HISTORY.

“Little George” Hainsworth had big skates to fill when he took Georges Vézina’s place between the pipes for the Canadiens to begin the 1926-27 season. He came with good references, however, as Newsy Lalonde, his coach in Saskatoon the previous winter, recommended him for the task.

At 31 years of age, with an Allan Cup victory and three years professional experience behind him, Hainsworth was a seasoned veteran and more than up to the challenge.

Cool and unflappable, the 5-foot-6, 150-pounder stood tall in the net, establishing new benchmarks of excellence for the rest of the league. To put it simply, Hainsworth could stop the puck. He often did it for entire games, piling up shutouts the way other netminders accumulated victories.

Playing when an NHL season totaled 44 games, Hainsworth recorded 14 whitewashes in his rookie year and 13 the next. In 1928-29, he recorded 22 shutouts, allowing only 43 goals over the course of the entire season.

The Canadiens had provided a trophy, named in memory of their first superstar goaltender, to be given to the top goaltender in the NHL. George Hainsworth promptly won the Vézina Trophy the first three years it was awarded.

The Stanley Cup was Hainsworth’s next reward for his continued contributions to the team, both as a goaltender and as a steadying influence on his teammates.

With the mercurial Howie Morenz leading the attack and Hainsworth calmly frustrating enemy efforts, the Canadiens won their third Stanley Cup in the spring of 1930. The following season finished with the same result.

Prior to the start of the 1932-33 season, Hainsworth’s teammates showed him how important he was to the Canadiens and selected him as their captain.

Traded to Toronto for Lorne Chabot before the 1933-34 season, Hainsworth returned to finish his career in Montreal, playing a handful of games and recording his final shutout in the 1936-37 campaign.
Over seven decades have passed since George Hainsworth last put on a Canadiens sweater but he still remains among the very best of all time.

It is safe to say that nobody will ever surpass his NHL record of 22 shutouts in one season. His 75 shutouts as a Hab still tops the team’s all-time list and likely will for the foreseeable future. No goaltender in Canadiens history with more than one game to his credit has allowed fewer goals per game than Hainsworth’s career mark of 1.75.

It will take 12 consecutive victories for him to be replaced as the goaltender with the longest winning streak in Habs history, and almost six complete games of netminding perfection are required to overtake Hainsworth’s 343:05 shutout record.

George Hainsworth died following an automobile accident in 1950, at age 55. He was posthumously inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.