1910–11 NHA season
| 1910–11 NHA season | |
|---|---|
| League | National Hockey Association |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | December 31, 1910 – March 10, 1911 |
| Number of games | 16 |
| Number of teams | 5 |
| Regular season | |
| Top scorer | Marty Walsh (35) |
| O'Brien Cup | |
| Champions | Ottawa Hockey Club |
| Runners-up | Montreal Canadiens |
The 1910–11 NHA season was the second season of the now defunct National Hockey Association. The Ottawa Hockey Club won the league championship. Ottawa took over the Stanley Cup from the Montreal Wanderers and defended it against teams from Galt, Ontario, and Port Arthur, Ontario .
The annual meeting was held November 12, 1910, electing the following executive:
Directors:
The Shamrocks resigned from the league and were not replaced. The Club Athletique-Canadien and the Quebec Hockey Club were granted franchises. Haileybury and Cobalt left the league. Club-Athletique-Canadien had made a claim on the Canadiens name and threatened a lawsuit if they were not granted a franchise. There are three written descriptions of this transaction. Coleman(1966) writes that George Kennedy, president of the CAC bought the Haileybury franchise. In Andy O'Brien's book, Ambrose O'Brien is quoted as saying that he sold the Canadiens to Kennedy. In Holzman's book, the franchise was given to Kennedy, but Kennedy had to pay O'Brien for the rights to Newsy Lalonde. In The Globe of March 7, 1911, it is claimed that Lalonde's sale was the first ever sale of a player.
The NHA decided to impose a $5,000 per team salary cap.
A second meeting, on November 26, 1910, updated the Board of Directors to:
The salary cap, while opposed by the players was upheld at the meeting.
Source: Coleman, p. 201–203.
The salary cap of $5000 per club caused a situation where Bruce Stuart of Ottawa threatened a mass defection to a new league. However, the players found that the Arena Company, owners of the Montreal Arena would not rent to the players. There was no other suitable arena in Montreal available for a new league and the players had no choice but to abandon the effort. Some players took a large cut in salary: Marty Walsh, Fred Lake and Dubby Kerr were paid $600 each where they had been paid $1200 each in 1910. The dispute caused the cancellation of a pre-season exhibition series in New York for the Ottawas and Wanderers.
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