1974–75 Washington Capitals season – Wikipedia

NHL hockey team season

The 1974–75 Washington Capitals season was the first in Capitals history. Along with the Kansas City Scouts, the Capitals joined the National Hockey League as an expansion team for the 1974–75 season. The team was owned by Abe Pollin, owner of the NBA’s Washington Bullets. Pollin had built the Capital Centre in suburban Landover, Maryland, to house both the Bullets (who formerly played in Baltimore) and the Capitals. His first act as owner was to hire Hall of Famer Milt Schmidt as general manager.

The team’s record of 8–67–5 is the worst individual season in the history of the NHL,^[1] including an all-time worst 446 goals against, with a fourth-all-time worst 5.58 team goals against average.^[2]

Offseason[edit]

NHL Draft[edit]

Expansion Draft[edit]

Regular season[edit]

Along with the Kansas City Scouts, the Capitals joined the NHL as an expansion team for the 1974–75 season. With a combined 30 teams between the NHL and the rival World Hockey Association, the talent pool available to stock the new teams was extremely thin. In their first season, the Capitals would set an NHL record for futility, losing 67 of 80 games, and only winning one on the road. The Scouts fared only marginally better (getting their first win against the Capitals, albeit in their tenth game of existence), and the expansion was widely seen as having been a mistake.

The Capitals’ inaugural season was dreadful, even by expansion standards. They finished 8–67–5, which is the worst record in NHL history.^[3] Their 21 points were half that of their expansion brethren, the Scouts. They won only eight games, the fewest ever by a team playing at least 70 games. Their .131 winning percentage is still the worst in NHL history. They also set records for most road losses (39 out of 40), most consecutive road losses (37) and most consecutive losses (17), most of which have now been broken. Schmidt himself had to take over the coaching reins late in the season. The Capitals failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Of Washington’s eight wins, seven of them were decided by two goals or more, with their season superlative 8-4 win in their final game.

The last remaining active member of the 1974–75 Washington Capitals was Ron Low, who played his final NHL game in the 1984–85 season, although he missed the 1978–79 season, as well as the season before this one.

Final standings[edit]

Schedule and results[edit]

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 9, 1974	3–6	@ New York Rangers (1974–75)	0–1–0
2	L	October 12, 1974	0–6	@ Minnesota North Stars (1974–75)	0–2–0
3	T	October 15, 1974	1–1	Los Angeles Kings (1974–75)	0–2–1
4	W	October 17, 1974	4–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1974–75)	1–2–1
5	L	October 19, 1974	4–6	@ Detroit Red Wings (1974–75)	1–3–1
6	L	October 20, 1974	0–5	New York Islanders (1974–75)	1–4–1
7	L	October 22, 1974	0–3	Detroit Red Wings (1974–75)	1–5–1
8	L	October 23, 1974	2–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1974–75)	1–6–1
9	L	October 27, 1974	3–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1974–75)	1–7–1
10	L	October 31, 1974	0–3	Montreal Canadiens (1974–75)	1–8–1
11	L	November 3, 1974	4–5	Kansas City Scouts (1974–75)	1–9–1
12	L	November 7, 1974	4–10	@ Boston Bruins (1974–75)	1–10–1
13	L	November 9, 1974	2–6	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1974–75)	1–11–1
14	L	November 10, 1974	1–11	Montreal Canadiens (1974–75)	1–12–1
15	T	November 12, 1974	2–2	Atlanta Flames (1974–75)	1–12–2
16	L	November 13, 1974	3–4	@ Atlanta Flames (1974–75)	1–13–2
17	L	November 16, 1974	1–8	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1974–75)	1–14–2
18	L	November 17, 1974	0–6	Pittsburgh Penguins (1974–75)	1–15–2
19	W	November 19, 1974	6–4	California Golden Seals (1974–75)	2–15–2
20	L	November 20, 1974	3–7	@ Buffalo Sabres (1974–75)	2–16–2
21	T	November 24, 1974	4–4	Minnesota North Stars (1974–75)	2–16–3
22	L	November 27, 1974	4–6	@ Minnesota North Stars (1974–75)	2–17–3
23	L	November 30, 1974	1–7	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1974–75)	2–18–3
24	L	December 1, 1974	2–5	California Golden Seals (1974–75)	2–19–3
25	L	December 3, 1974	3–5	Buffalo Sabres (1974–75)	2–20–3
26	L	December 5, 1974	2–9	@ Buffalo Sabres (1974–75)	2–21–3
27	L	December 7, 1974	2–8	@ St. Louis Blues (1974–75)	2–22–3
28	L	December 8, 1974	1–3	St. Louis Blues (1974–75)	2–23–3
29	T	December 12, 1974	6–6	New York Rangers (1974–75)	2–23–4
30	L	December 14, 1974	1–12	@ Boston Bruins (1974–75)	2–24–4
31	W	December 15, 1974	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1974–75)	3–24–4
32	L	December 17, 1974	2–4	@ Vancouver Canucks (1974–75)	3–25–4
33	L	December 19, 1974	1–4	@ Los Angeles Kings (1974–75)	3–26–4
34	L	December 20, 1974	2–5	@ California Golden Seals (1974–75)	3–27–4
35	L	December 22, 1974	0–4	Buffalo Sabres (1974–75)	3–28–4
36	L	December 26, 1974	1–4	Philadelphia Flyers (1974–75)	3–29–4
37	L	December 29, 1974	0–7	New York Islanders (1974–75)	3–30–4
38	L	January 2, 1975	2–5	@ New York Islanders (1974–75)	3–31–4
39	L	January 4, 1975	0–10	@ Montreal Canadiens (1974–75)	3–32–4
40	L	January 5, 1975	0–3	@ Atlanta Flames (1974–75)	3–33–4
41	T	January 7, 1975	3–3	Boston Bruins (1974–75)	3–33–5
42	L	January 11, 1975	3–5	@ Kansas City Scouts (1974–75)	3–34–5
43	L	January 12, 1975	2–7	Montreal Canadiens (1974–75)	3–35–5
44	L	January 14, 1975	2–6	Los Angeles Kings (1974–75)	3–36–5
45	L	January 16, 1975	0–4	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1974–75)	3–37–5
46	L	January 19, 1975	2–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1974–75)	3–38–5
47	L	January 23, 1975	2–3	Vancouver Canucks (1974–75)	3–39–5
48	L	January 25, 1975	2–5	@ Detroit Red Wings (1974–75)	3–40–5
49	W	January 26, 1975	6–3	Detroit Red Wings (1974–75)	4–40–5
50	L	January 30, 1975	4–6	@ Los Angeles Kings (1974–75)	4–41–5
51	L	February 1, 1975	2–5	@ Vancouver Canucks (1974–75)	4–42–5
52	L	February 5, 1975	1–5	@ California Golden Seals (1974–75)	4–43–5
53	L	February 8, 1975	1–5	@ New York Islanders (1974–75)	4–44–5
54	L	February 9, 1975	3–7	@ New York Rangers (1974–75)	4–45–5
55	W	February 11, 1975	7–4	New York Rangers (1974–75)	5–45–5
56	L	February 13, 1975	1–5	@ Kansas City Scouts (1974–75)	5–46–5
57	L	February 15, 1975	1–7	@ St. Louis Blues (1974–75)	5–47–5
58	W	February 16, 1975	3–0	Kansas City Scouts (1974–75)	6–47–5
59	L	February 18, 1975	1–6	Los Angeles Kings (1974–75)	6–48–5
60	L	February 21, 1975	4–9	Buffalo Sabres (1974–75)	6–49–5
61	L	February 22, 1975	3–10	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1974–75)	6–50–5
62	L	February 23, 1975	2–7	St. Louis Blues (1974–75)	6–51–5
63	L	February 25, 1975	2–6	Chicago Black Hawks (1974–75)	6–52–5
64	L	February 26, 1975	1–3	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1974–75)	6–53–5
65	L	March 1, 1975	4–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1974–75)	6–54–5
66	L	March 2, 1975	3–7	Vancouver Canucks (1974–75)	6–55–5
67	L	March 4, 1975	0–8	Boston Bruins (1974–75)	6–56–5
68	L	March 7, 1975	4–8	@ Montreal Canadiens (1974–75)	6–57–5
69	L	March 9, 1975	2–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1974–75)	6–58–5
70	L	March 15, 1975	1–12	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1974–75)	6–59–5
71	L	March 18, 1975	2–7	Philadelphia Flyers (1974–75)	6–60–5
72	L	March 20, 1975	1–5	Minnesota North Stars (1974–75)	6–61–5
73	L	March 22, 1975	2–8	@ Boston Bruins (1974–75)	6–62–5
74	L	March 23, 1975	0–5	Atlanta Flames (1974–75)	6–63–5
75	L	March 26, 1975	1–5	@ Los Angeles Kings (1974–75)	6–64–5
76	W	March 28, 1975	5–3	@ California Golden Seals (1974–75)	7–64–5
77	L	March 30, 1975	5–8	Detroit Red Wings (1974–75)	7–65–5
78	L	April 2, 1975	3–8	@ Detroit Red Wings (1974–75)	7–66–5
79	L	April 5, 1975	2–10	@ Montreal Canadiens (1974–75)	7–67–5
80	W	April 6, 1975	8–4	Pittsburgh Penguins (1974–75)	8–67–5

Playoffs[edit]

The Capitals had an appalling first season and did not qualify for the playoffs. They had the worst points percentage all-time in NHL post expansion history with a 0.131 win percentage average. In addition, they had the worst road record in NHL history, winning their only road game against the California Golden Seals in the 76th game of the season and third-to-last road game of the season.

Player statistics[edit]

Regular season[edit]

Scoring

Goaltending

Source^[5]

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG=Power-play goals; SHG=Short-handed goals; GWG=Game-winning goals

      MIN=Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SO = Shutouts;

References[edit]

External links[edit]