In 1934-35, the New York Americans dressed a player that would go on to have a length career. He was just 23 years old when he stepped into the NHL spotlight and that’s when Sweeney Schriner began his trip into the history books.
Schriner, a native of Saratov in the Russian Federation, nearly reached the 20-goal mark in his rookie season with the Americans. In doing so, he became the first player born outside North America to earn the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie and the first Russian-born player to do so as well.
With that, let’s travel back in time and take a look at just how Schriner’s 1934-35 season broke down on route to the Calder Trophy win.
Schriner’s Big Season on Broadway
At 23, Schriner made his NHL debut with the Americans in 1934-35. He joined a team that needed significant help and during his first season with the Americans, the team finished the season with a 12-27-9 record — landing fourth in the NHL’s Canadian Division.
While he was held pointless through his first two games, it took just three games for Schriner to tally his first goal and finish with three points in a 4-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens. The goal came on Nov. 22, 1934, opening the scoring for the Americans on route to the win.
Schriner ended up suiting up for 48 games during the regular season in 1934-35 with 11 multi-point games and five multi-goal games. He recorded his first career hat trick against the New York Rangers on Feb. 7, 1935, on his way to finishing his rookie season with 18 goals and 40 points.
He finished the year first on the Americans in goals and second in points behind only Art Chapman’s 43 points that season and ultimately his numbers were good enough for him to become the first player born in Russia — still considered a Canadian — to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year.
Schriner’s Road to Two Stanley Cups
Known as one of the more durable players of his time, Schriner didn’t miss a single game through the first six seasons of his career. It wasn’t until he was traded to the Maple Leafs that he missed his first regular season game.
Schriner was also part of one of the more unprecedented trades of its time — a five-for-one deal that saw Schriner go to the Maple Leafs on May 18, 1939, in exchange for Murray Armstrong, Buzz Boll, Jimmy Fowler, Busher Jackson and Doc Romnes.
He played six seasons with the Maple Leafs from 1939 to 1946 with 109 goals and 193 points in 244 regular season games and in 1941-42 he helped the Maple Leafs to their first Stanely Cup in 10 years. He put up nine points in 13 games in that run, including the game-tying goal and game-winning goal in Game 7 against the Detroit Red Wings to become the first team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit.
After numerous attempts to walk away from the game as a player, Schriner returned to the Maple Leafs and joined the team in winning another Stanley Cup in 1944-45 as a 33-year-old.
Schriner’s Other Accomplishments
His accomplishments didn’t stop with the Calder win or the Stanley Cups. In fact, the three-time NHL All-Star, also finished second in Lady Byng voting in his second year and third in Hart Trophy voting that same year.
He topped the league in points in both 1935-36 and 1936-37 with the Americans, with the latter being his career season with 46 points in 48 games.
While he did take a year off in 1943-44 before returning to the Maple Leafs for his final two seasons in the NHL, his 407 points in 484 games were good enough to see the 1935 Calder Trophy winner inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.
On top of that, the Canada West Universities Athletic Association awards named the award for their top scorer after him — as the David ‘Sweeney’ Schriner Trophy — an honour for the one-time NHL Rookie of the Year.
Other Calder Seasons:
