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. 

Another tick on the negative side of the ledger was the New York Eagles. The once-proud franchise was a financial mess. Owner Bill Yeadon was forced to declare bankruptcy and the league took over the club's day-to-day operations. The Eagles limped home with a third-place finish at 15-22-11, five points ahead of Chicago. After the conclusion of the season the NAHC was unable to find a buyer for the club and it looked as if the once-proud franchise would fold. Instead, John Connolly Jr, the owner of the Detroit Olympians approached the league with an offer: he would purchase the club's debt and Yeadon would remain in control of the team. In return, he wanted to trade the entire roster for his own underachieving bunch in Detroit. This was unprecedented and was met with skepticism, and in the case of New York Shamrocks owner Sam Bigsby, outright hostility. Still, faced with the demise of the club, the NAHC's Board of Governors approved the deal which was presented as a trade with each club giving up it's NAHC roster and the Olympians throwing in cash in the exact amount of the Eagles' outstanding debts. The measure passed with all but the Shamrocks voting in favor.

Despite the negatives of the death of Harvey McLeod and the financial situation of the Eagles, the 36-37 season saw some exciting new potential stars emerge. There was the aforementioned Lynch with the Valiants, but Dukes GM/Coach Charles Tattler unveiled a trio of promising youngsters in goalie Gordie Broadway, playmaking center Bobbie Sauer and sniping winger Gil Nagle. Sauer would finish third in the league in scoring with 17 goals and 31 assists for 48 points with many of those assists helping Nagle score 18 goals (he added 18 assists of his own). Sauer won the first-ever McLeod Trophy as Rookie of the Year. Broadway debuted in the team's fourth game and played the rest of the season posting a 22-12-11 mark and 2.27 GAA.

AWARD WINNERS:

McDaniels Trophy - Ralph Speyer, NAT

McLeod Trophy - Bobbie Sauer, TOR

Yeadon Trophy - Ralph Speyer, NAT

Juneau Trophy - Newt McCotter, NAT