Over the years he and his family had been a part of the NAHC, Shamrocks owner Sam Bigsby had never been shy about exercising what he felt was his power in league matters. The year before, Bigsby had been thwarted in his attempt to derail the bailout of the New York Eagles - the Shamrocks' main rival (and tenant) - by Detroit Olympians owner John Connolly Jr. That deal had essentially been a franchise swap, although both Detroit and the Eagles kept their minor league affiliates, every contract held by each club had been swapped in return for Connolly's bailout of the Eagles.
Both clubs appeared to have benefited from the "franchise trade" as many smirkingly termed it. The Eagles actually bounced back with their roster of former Olympians and finished in a tie atop the American Division with the Boston Bees. Though both clubs had 54 points, league rules named the Eagles the division champs because they had 23 wins against 21 for Boston. Meanwhile, the former Eagles took roost in Detroit and promptly finished second in the Canadian Division behind a resurgent Montreal Valiants club, posting a 21-16-11 mark for 53 points.
The 1936-37 season was, to quote Charles Dickens: "the best of times and the worst of times" depending on where you were and where your loyalties lay.
One need look no further than the city of Montreal to see this dichotomy. One club, the Nationals, built on their dominating performance of the prior season to again easily win the Canadian Division with a (slightly) powerful performance that saw them go 33-7-8 and rampage through the revamped playoff format, sweeping their old friends from Toronto and winning the newly best-of-seven Cup Finals in a four-games-to-one romp over the Boston Bees. Across the hall (so to speak since they shared a home arena), the Montreal Valiants' fortunes improved on the ice as they rose to third over their dismal Detroit Olympians, posting an 18-23-7 mark. They brought back old favorite Harvey McLeod and though he was a mere shadow of the dominant force he had been, he fit right back in with his old mates Willie LeBlanc and Rene Mailloux while promising young winger Doug Lynch also joined the fold and things were looking up for the Vals. That was until early February of '37. McLeod had suffered a badly broken leg in a game with the Dukes the month before and then unexpectedly died in the hospital. The cause of death was listed as a heart attack. The death of the NAHC's all-time leader in goals scored and a legend in the city of Montreal stunned the hockey community. In his honor, an unnamed donor offered a trophy, the Harvey McLeod Trophy, to be awarded to the best first-year player in the league each year.