The Worst NHL Team - The 1974/75 Washington Capitals Story
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- čas přidán 13. 05. 2024
- On October 9th 1974, one of the NHL's newest expansion teams the Washington Capitals took to the ice in their franchise's first ever game. As the season rolled on, the Capitals ended up playing so badly that they would cement their team's place in the hockey history books for all the wrong reasons...
This is the story of the worst team in NHL History.
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I read a book about the 74-75 Capitals, one of many funny stories from that season and book that really sticks out is that after one of their 8 wins the team took the garbage can from the dressing room, brought it out on the ice and skated around with it over their heads like they just won the Stanley Cup, lol...... They knew they were garbage, but at least they were graceful and humorous about it....
It was in their hotel after their first road victory over the California Golden Seals, they took a plastic trash put tape on it wrote "Stanley Cup" on it and paraded around the place.
On November 10, 1974 my father took me to my first ever Washington Capitals game vs the Montreal Canadians at the Capital Centre. They loss 11-1 and I was hooked. I have been a lifetime Caps fan. As I watched the Caps finally win the Stanley Cup in 2018 and I watched the city celebrate. I wondered how many other fans could say they been here from the beginning.
Pretty rare to see that many goals scored in a hockey game, especially in this era where the teams were much slower and bigger.
It was the Habs trade with the caps in 81 that finally made that franchise respectable.
I've been there since 98. I wasn't born until 89 so I can't exactly say from the beginning lol!!!! I have been there since I was a kid and finally seeing the cup on June 7th, 2018, it was the greatest moment for the Caps ever!!!! It's etched in my mind forever!!!
I was happy to see the Caps and Blues finally win the cup, two good long suffering franchises that deserved their time in the glory of a championship.
@@quiricomazarin476 The trade for Langway was known as “trade that saved this franchise”.
1974-75 Caps: We're the worst expansion team in history!
1976-77 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Hold my beer.
Ah i see you haven't heard about the stats and record of my junior team...
Lmao I’ve played on my few share of shitty teams.
I’m guessing your a Surrey Knights legend?
The junior A league I work in had a team that had a bad record not too long ago. Just look up how the Minnesota Iron Rangers did during the 2018-2019 SIJHL season. I'm not going to say how bad here though. Look it up if you're curious.
Cross Crease Hockey he’s lying bro what you expect
bluebear1985 56 games played, 3 wins and 478 goals against ....still made the playoffs
While their expansion counterparts, the Kansas City Scouts, had more wins than the Capitals, the Caps' ownership had far more patience and resources to keep the team going, the Scouts did not, made worse by an economic downturn at the time, and so the Scouts left town after only 2 seasons. The Caps wouldn't become competitive until around 1982-83 when they made their first playoff appearance and saved the team from relocation.
"THE TRADE" had something to do with that
The Scouts moved to Colorado in 1976 and to New Jersey in 1982.
Scouts did have one of the coolest uniforms in NHL history. And you really don't want to compare franchise success.
There were groups that were going to purchased the team from Abe Pollin and moved them either to Regina in Canada, or to Tacoma, Washington in the Tacoma Dome, had that happened they probably would eventually moved to Seattle or a possible merger with the Rockies and being part of the New Jersey Devils or Pollin just folding the team. I remember watching George Micheal on Channel 4 and the “Save the Caps” telethon and buying tickets to the game against Minnesota. Abe Pollin got almost everything he wanted, 10 guaranteed sellouts and an amusement tax break from PG County.
In my early childhood beginning at 1980, my proud and beloved Detroit Red Wings suffered that dark wrath for long stretches of being basement dwellers in the standings. Just until the 1986-87 season when they hired Jacques Demers as Detroit's head coach to bail the Red Wings from the basement of the league.
The 80-81 Winnipeg Jets were brutal.
9-57-14
GF 246 GA 400
At one point they were 2-28-7
Won their first game of that season on Oct 17.The next win didn't come until Dec 23 (31 games later).
Three coaches that season.
The 80-81 Jets were basically a second-year team with only a few veterans. Remember, John Ziegler allowed the NHL to plunder the WHA teams' rosters when they came to the NHL. The Oilers just so happened to protect Gretzky and Messier.
Philadelphia Quakers ?
Why does this remind me of me playing squirt hockey and having my team go 3-54-1.
Pretty solid
The only W my peewee team got was against the all girls team lol
Isaac R haha one of our only wins was with 9 players including a goalie
Brooke - watch out Boston
5 yrs ago i played for a recreational team when we went 1-11-0 with our only win being in the shootout. Since i prefer watching to playing this was my only stint in hockey
As a Sabres fan, I needed to watch this lol
0:23 as a flames fan i am liking this image
As an islanders fan, I don’t like this image
As a Blues fan, I like this image
Why tf is Edmonton in alaska
look at edmonton haha
The Canucks cover a lot of territory! No Toronto Make-Believes. However the North Dakota Jets has a nice ring to it! What's to love about Flamin' Montana? This Brit obviously failed geography. Probably never heard of Canaduh!
I can't tell if its the food poisoning or looking at those stats from the 74/75 season but it makes my stomach turn as a Caps fan and I didn't live through that era.
But I do find it to be poetic how the worst expansion team in NHL history beat the best team in NHL history to win their first Cup. (Even if it did start a civil war in my family xD)
The best expansion* team
@@Redditaurus I kinda thought that was implied
I saw them play Montreal Canadiens in 1974/75. I did not even know the rules back then. I just knew the game was not made to play in just one teams end of the ice. Got season tickets in 1981. Saw some really great players back in those days. Three rows off the ice $10 tickets just left of the goal.
Thanks for the video. I was not aware how much they struggled in the first season. I do wonder if they had a lot of fans go to the home games in their first year. I remember the NJ Devils in their early years and how much they struggled (not as bad as say the capitals did) but eventually they were able to start winning and managed to win some Stanley Cups. Glad that the Capitals were finally able to win their first cup.
One of my childhood friends was on that team ... Mike Marson from Scarborough Ontario.
I hope he had the opportunity to celebrate with the team when they won the cup. As loathsomely bad as the team was, and as shitty the Cap Centre was as an arena, they were part of the story of this team, which many of us have fallen in love with over the years. with such players as Scott Stevens, Rod Langway, Jim Carrey, Olie the Golie, and the current crop of greatness on the team now.
coach Anderson I'm pretty sure a year after 1974 was the car salesman trying to sell me a car. that's how bad it was. this is not a joke.
Did he celebrate when the Caps won the cup.
@@waynejohanson1083 Abe Pollin did favors for Jack Kent Cooke when he bought the Lakers from Bob Short, so Cooke helped return the favor helping getting him the franchise for Washington..
Mike Marson reintegrated the NHL when he played in the Washington Capitals maiden season of 1974-75. He scored 16 goals and 28 points
that season. He was the second black player to play in the NHL.
the senators have tried their best alongside the sharks but none have captured the magic(in the case the lack of) of these 74-75 washington caps
Imagine putting up 58 points on a team like that
I lived in Alexandria, VA in the 1970's. I remember when the Caps came to town...they were AWFUL! First game my dad took me to was in March of 1975 - they lost to Toronto 2-4. I think they only won 8 games all season. Favorite players from that era were Ace Bailey and Guy Charron. Cap Centre was an odd looking building. Great memories!
And only one road victory against the California Golden Seals.
As I sat in Legends Restaurant with my 2 sons watching the Caps finally hoisting the Cup for the first time, I cried like a baby. My boys asked what was wrong and all I could think of was all of the terrible years that the Caps struggled .As a boy I listened to every game on WTOP radio. I never gave up because I knew that someday they would prove everyone wrong. I had met many of the early players , and even got to skate with them in an open practice at Tysons Ice rink. I would cut out newspaper clippings of every win and hang them on my bedroom wall. I would wear my authentic Caps jersey to school { which I still have }.
I can die now HAPPY !!!!! Lets Go Caps..... forever and always !!!!!
Before the Caps came, my Dad used to drive me up to Baltimore to see the AHL Clippers at the Civic Center. So I knew what was going on when they started up.
I sometimes heard their games on the radio in that era, far away in eastern Canada. Being a strong Montreal Expos fan I warmed to the Caps as an underdog. I was pleased when they eventually became a fine hockey team.
The NHL set up the Capitals for failure by limiting where they drafted from in the early years and also severely limiting the talent pool they were able to choose from on the existing clubs. Fast forward to Vegas where they gifted them a Stanley Cup finalist out of the gate. Expansion is always tough but back then the owners simply wanted cash from a new team and really cared little about a new teams success, so short sighted hats off to the teams that survived the horrible start up challenges.
Also there was a rival league, the WHA that took a lot of the potential talent the Caps could have had.
Even if lost all 80 games I'd be grateful just to be playing in the league.
@@dennis3351 They went through 3 coaches that year. Their last one Milt Schmidt had his best years with Boston.
@@rockvilleraven Anderson sold cars after at Casey Chevrolet. I almost bought a used car from him 1978.
Wow, this makes the 17-18 coyotes look good.....the yotes would had so many 10 game losing streaks that season....I know how depressing it must have been for caps fan that year.
Those Northland sticks (2:38)where similar to finding a fallen branch in the woods, slapping some tape on the end and boomm. Your stick!
I am 1 of 88 people that gave the Capitals their team name through a contest to name the new hockey team. I still have the autographed Victoriaville stick I received at the Capital Center buffet dinner. Signed by Pollin, GM Schmit plus 1st pick Greg Joly. I had 2 season tickets the 1st season. A very tough first season.
That is an amazing piece of history, I sure would love to see a picture sometime if you have it. Living history!
Ya subscribe the odd man is pretty dope..his vids r very educational even for the avid hockey fan. Thanks Odd man!
The worst team in NHL is the Philadelphia Quakers
Their logo was a duck hence the name Quackers.😉
Quakers*
Quakers. Not Quackers. Lol
Maybe he's going by the worst team under a minimum number of games played.
quick correction u said the caps won their first cup after 34 years its actually 44 years
How does a young british chap like yourself know so much about hockey? Not just the present era, but the 90s, and prior decades?
The terrible 1974-75 Washington Capitals had no real goaltender. Ron Low won eight games, and Michel Belhumeur won none. Belhumeur did not do much of anything behind the twine, but he had perhaps the best surname:
Belhumeur is French for "good humor".
I saw Bill Clement's pic several times here, but he didn't play there until the 1975-76 season. Bad research by you!
i thought Bill Clement played in the Cup Final for the Flyers against the Sabers 74-75 and scored the last goal when they clinched, He was not a Capital till 75-76
Yeah, good eye Steven! Let's not take anything away from Bill, he busted his butt to get that 2nd Cup. OMR: congrats on a very nice video which prompted my subscription, and sorry to nit-pick, but it would have been outstanding without the 75-76 photos and the mis-pronounced French-Canadien names, such as Michele BELL-heh-MEWRE (or BELL-haym-YOUR). He is one of my all-time favorite goalies; If he had landed with a decent team I think he wold have done well in the NHL. As it was, he had several good years in the AHL.
I saw this team play my Penguins on March 15, 1975 at the old Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. We won 12-1. Michel Belhumeur gave up 5 "quick" goals and was relieved by Ron Low, who coughed up 7 more. This team was devoid of the concept of defense and I remember feeling sorry for them.
I also blame the rival WHA for taking away some of the talent back then.
Hey fix your map in the beginning . The up and Wisconsin like the packers and the wings haha . Thanks for the video
May have some Wild fans in the far western UP, but that is a matter of distance and disdain of Chicago as Packers/Brewers fans as well. The Blackhawks are poorly tolerated so the Wings and Wild are beneficiaries of the historical hatred of Chicago Bears and Cubs
Hammable Of Carthage there about as common as Chicago fans haha
Hawaii also likes Anaheim the most. But nobody cares so it’s good
I think Peter Mueller would be an excellent video. Former 2006 #6 overall pick. Had an insane rookie season and never panned out to what he could have been. Would be an interesting video.!
He was my favorite player as a kid, went to so many of his junior hockey games. Such a natural. Shame about his concussions
Isaac R he had insane potential back in the old NHL games. He would always grow to a 99 ovr for me and just dominate lol
Even though I am a Pens' fan, I was really glad that the Caps finally won a Stanley Cup a few years ago because I do remember how bad they were in their early existence.
I was there, it was worse than the stats . I watched the first year Caps fail to advance the puck beyond their own blue line for two consecutive periods.
As a Flyers fan, I remember Bill Clement being part of this team. Talk about "penthouse to outhouse"!
I was noticing his pictures prominently featured in the video! Although, in 1974-1975 he was on the Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers (and scored the last goal in the cup clinching game against Buffalo). So, I imagine those pictures of him in this video must be from a later season?
@@matthewhetzler4912 Clement went to the Caps the following season but was traded to Atlanta halfway through the 75-76 season.
werent the '92 Ottawa senators just as awful? they also only won one road game, and lost 41. i think goalie peter sidorkiewitz only won 8 games and was their all-star
I believe Ottawa had a record closer to KC in their first year. Really bad but not bad enough to beat this record.
They and (San Jose) had 24 points.
Paul L they had 24 points. 3 more than Washington isnt exactly sîmilar to kansas unless u go by different criteria like:
"Any team wîth more pts than WSH is like Kansas" paul l
Wasnt that 93? The only time two teams battled it out for last place?
Shoutout to Bill Riley, from a town close to me, played 1 game for that 74-75 team, and stuck with the Capitals for a while after
I watched them during this season when they were playing the Canadiens and the Leafs. I always cheered for them even though I knew they were practically guaranteed to lose. Since then I've always had a soft spot for them and was very pleased when they finally won the Cup.
They went through 3 coaches that year, the last Milt Schmidt was more famous with the Bruins.
It’s Yvon LUH-BRAY say it with me slowly
Yeah,he was only one of the first Capitals players to have his number 7 retired. And how many years went by before they were finally able to beat the Philadelphia Flyers?!?!
Yvon Labre is the first Washington Capital to have his sweater retired. Bill Clement is the first Capital to play in the All-Star Game.
I’ve been a capitals fan since 1988 after so long waiting and several failed playoff runs I was so happy when they finally won the cup.
0:37 Is that man far left, Ex Edmonton Oilers defenceman Steve Smith.? I didn't know he was coaching.. The story of this man would be nice to hear how things went, he was born in Glasgow in Scotland, and won many Stanley cups in the team of Edmonton Oilers..
I was there. 6 years old. I remember those days.
The Old "Capital Centre" or the Cap Centre,, I have great memories there,, Bullets Games, concerts with my High School date, leaving the lights on and your battery dead when you walked out. The Concorse Level, pretty cool. It was kind of dark, but for DC area Sports guy, in the 70's, a cool place. A fond memory kind of place, like RFK, gone now. The Caps were just a new team, Hockey wasn't known to us Virginia or Maryland kids much.. 8-67-5 ,, how did they ever win 8.
Greg Joly may have been the worst #1 overall pick of all time!
he was bad but that’s bold😂
Nail Yakupov Enters the chat
Patrik Stefan nearly misses the chat
Alexander Daigle has entered the chat
As a DC native I’m glad I wasn’t there but my dad was and he told me no one really cared because no one really cared about hockey in dc
I’ve subscribed!!!
Great documentary-I remember when I was a kid around that time frame my team the Red Wings were almost as bad for quite a while. At keast there was one team that they comparatively looked pretty good against. Those original Caps uniforms were awesome they should go back to them.
Reminds me of the inaugural season of the London knights (uk) in the old superleague. 10 wins in 42 games, mostly against equally inept Newcastle, a revolving cast, beleaguered goalies and cast off Basingstoke players, topped by a shock 6-2 stonking of champions Manchester. Oh, and Pat Sharpe as MC. Wonderfully bizarre days gone by.
Pat Sharpe as MC, oh dear. Guess he hasn't stopped dancing yet (I'll get my coat) XD
@@evaharrison1733 sadly few will get that reference! 😋
Love vids like this and your what ever happend to... 👍
Part of the problem was the number of decent player exposed in draft was the 20th best player as opposed to vegas and Seattle got the 8th best play on the teams huge factor
You should have mentioned after one of their few wins, the players mocking picked up a trash can and began to celebrate with it like it was the cup.
Many Long Time Washington Capitals Fans Had a Rough Time Rooting For a Bad Team Before Washington Became Suddenly Good in 1982!
One road win! That was in Oakland against the Seals. Story has it that the players in the visiting dressing room picked up a waste can and passed it around, like winning a Stanley Cup!
One nitpick. You said the first year (1972-73) Islanders were 12-60-2; they were actually 12-60-6.
Another team that can be called the worst NHL team ever were the Philadelphia Quakers of 1930-31; they were 4-36-4.
This record won't be broken. The NHL has made it easier for an expansion team to acquire a capable roster that can win more than 8 games in a season. It's good business for the league to make sure new teams can get a fan base behind a team that isn't constantly losing.
The San Jose Sharks would like to test this theory
they make it even sound sadder when they got a brit on the mic talking about the caps lol
Hes not on a professional contract with the nhl, actually
What's amazing is that the cup winning team had/has a Russian Captain.....talk about a total 180 from the cold war if the 70s.
The Capitals wore white pants with red jerseys in that first game, and as I remember, it was kind of unusual just for that! Of course they would lose that game, and 66 more to follow. But we will never forget the Washington Capitals of 1974-75!
Speaking of bad starts - when the narrator mispronounces the owner's name in the first sentence after the intro?
not one canadian team in canada here did you fall off the turnup truck ??
2:55 Took a while to realize that the goalie here wearing #30 is hall of famer Bernie Parent. A very, very young pre-Flyers Parent.
At least they were an expansion team.
Check out the 1989-90 Quebec Nordiques. Not an expansion team and only 12 wins that season.
And look at Vegas was the opposite first in the league. 51-24-7 1st Pacific and got to 2nd playoff round losing to my oilers and the first time in playoffs since 2006.
Bettman wasn't going to let the Knights be as pitiful as the Capitals, Sharks and Senators in their expansion years. Bettman loves the warm weather teams. Why else are the Coyotes still in Arizona?
In 2019 we Blues fans finally got that jubilation of the first franchise Cup... we had felt your same pain. Well, except that terrible first season.
I find your lack of including Canada in the intro map.... disturbing....
More than disturbing... placing the Canadian teams in various US states is bizarre. Perhaps this CZcams creator needs a geography lesson... or a free downloadable map of North America.
jhn924 that map was made a long time ago
@@Tropicalfire it had vgk in it so not that old?
Tropicalfire define long time ago... the knights were founded in 2017... and why are the oilers tucked away in Alaska? Not sure who did this map but they suck at geography...
Charles Fecteau by long time ago I meant like 2-3 years ago that’s what I mean probably should have said a couple of years ago.
Fun fact-The Kansas City Scouts lasted 2 years in KC and then moved to Denver to become The Colorado Rockies. The Rockies eventually became The New Jersey Devils in 1982.
I honestly wouldn't have thought that the Capitals had such a shaky start in their inaugural season in the NHL
3:44 why do they all look the same?
Most team owners of North American sports Leagues have made it a sort of hazing ritual that expansion teams have only mediocre talent available to draft from existing rosters and resources of the existing teams. Case in point: regarding pro basketball When Charlotte Hornets inaugural and second seasons received Shaq O'Neal and Chris Webber and were competitive fairly early in their existence, owners were so dismayed that when the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies were granted franchises, rules were adjusted so that the two new teams could not select the first and second places in the annual draft until their third seasons. Back to NHL, more recently the Vegas Golden Knights, having paid an enormous entrance fee, leveraged a less restrictive arrangement, and with better talent had a startlingly strong impact from their inception. Conditions for Seattle Kracken were less lenient, however they are not exactly 'stinking out the joint'. Incidentally, until the Capitals set the benchmark for early onset futility, the title holders were 'The Lowly Islanders' of New York' who became the : 'How About Those Islanders' and eventually became a cup winning juggernaut.
Zero percent chance that Seattle will have a record even close to this. It's just not possible the way the draft is set up now.
Jesus and to think I had season tickets to this mess too. I remember being there for the first win but the rest of the season is just a blur.
As an oddball aside, when Milt Schmidt was fired my father ended up buying his house. He took me over to see it before Milt moved out and there were all these miniature Stanley Cups in the living room....
Fun Fact: If you were a terrible hockey team in the 70's-early 80's more than likely your goaltender was Ron Low. Also, you showed a picture of captain Bill Clement. Clement didn't join the Caps until the following season. He was still a Flyer in 1974-75(scored the final goal in the Stanley Cup finals against Buffalo).
I'm trying to figure out why Poulin would change the team colours and logo? It was definately breaking tradition.
They picked Greg Joly when they could have picked Brian Trottier LMAO
GM Milt Schmidt said Joly will be the next Bobby Orr. Double LMAO
You forget Calgary picking Dale Hunter and the Edmonton on the next pick gets Mark Messier! Hunter was supposed to be tougher!
Joly played all of his minor hockey in our hometown with my big brother. Knew him well as a hero for us youngsters.
14goldmedals wonder how he would have turned out if he didn’t have his injuries. IMO not a Bobby Orr but could have been a useful player at the NHL level.
so apparently the map shows city of Cleveland are redwings fans. Thats the city of the Blue jackets minor league team...
The NHL will never allow an expansion team that is as bad as that one was to exist again. Just check out how the league kind of helped Las Vegas to immediately become at the very least competitive from the get go.
And you know Bettman wasn't going to let a team in a warm-weather location fail. Look how much he worships the Coyotes and always does everything to make sure they never leave Arizona.
They actually tied The Canadians 4-4 who had Ken Dryden in goal in their first preseason game. I was there and had hope for their first season. My mistake! I’ve never heard a crowd at a game collectively moan so loud at the almost comical things that they would do on the ice. It was at times like the Keystone Cops. Or to quote one of the Charlestown Chiefs from the film Slapshot “This is fuc*ing embarrassing”!
The worst team ever? Did you miss the Red wings season that was cut short this year? Even with the year being cut short 17-49-5.
0:24 Why would a map a map display Michigan people being a fan of Chicago black hawks?. I understand the extended range for states without a team, but sorry Chicago wouldn't own fan base in Michigan, at least not that deeply. We kind of hate them.
while I did live in NYC and still Ranger fan you look at their 1943-44 results ( only 6 wins for the season). Yes the season was much shorter and war was raging that time but that was the worst team.
This record may never be broken
Your hockey team "map" at 0:23 is ridiculous. There's a certain little country that was somewhat influential in hockey's development, called "Canada". Maybe you've heard of it?
San jose sharks and colarado avalanche:"Allow us to intruduce ourselves
'almost 35 years after..." - That's not how math works. It was 44 years, not 34.
it was around this time that the WHA was pretty much on par with the NHL..on average , expansion and the WHA really started to effect the NHLs overall talent pool
What's with the white pants in those old b&w photos vs. Rangers?
What’s up with the ridiculous map of the U.S. with the Canadian franchises stuffed into the northern U.S. A total insult to those of us from the of hockey. Like one of other comments, you lost me completely 26 seconds in. Zero credibility...
I so remember the 1974-75 Capitals..it took till the 2nd half of the 1979-80 season where they got 39 points in the last 40 games where they showed signs of climbing into the league finally..and when they beat the Habs for the first time in their history that year 3-1 I believe it was and the fans in Washington flooded the ice like they won the cup..it was that big back then..so for years when the Sabres were knocked out I would always pull for the Caps mostly cause of their first season..they were 1-39-0 on the road that year and their lone win was in KC the other expansion team..without a doubt the worst team we will ever see..even the Sharks team that lost 70 games? would have swept this Caps team 4 straught in a best of 7 lol..all this said? they still have a Stanley Cup and I am still waiting :( but if any franchise I could say suffered like the Sabres in their playoff history? its easily the Capitals
Remember it like yesterday, Greg Joly , drafted # 1 would be the next Bobby Orr. It was the start of the choking syndrome - losing as the norm was burned into their psyche like an elephant tied to the stake as a baby. As a Habs fan, I never worried about them winning until Ovy slayed the dragon. Until then, all they knew how to do was lose and choke. BTW... remember the 4 OT heartbreak with Pat Lafontaine?
I lived through Rockies hockey in the 70’s, pretty bad.
Very interesting team, we have a Stanley cup, was the best team in the league 3 times, while also having the record for worst season
The 1980-81 Winnipeg Jets weren't much better. While the Caps went 8-67-5 in 74-75 with 21 points, the Jets went 9-57-14 with 32 points. A little better, but not much. BUT, it did get us Dale Hawerchuck, a future hall-of-famer, with the next year's #1 pick, so...
I'm a native Washingtonian born in 1981. It's hard to believe that the inaugural season for the Caps will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Their record in 1974-75 would have made both incarnations of the Senators blush and I would probably think after the novelty wore off, the Cap Centre was virtually empty. Nowadays, trying to get tickets to a Caps game is near impossible just like the Washington Football Team and Georgetown Hoyas Basketball, who played their big Big East games at the Cap Centre in Landover in the 80s.
The sellout streak started year or two after Ovetchin start playing with the Caps. I remember their first time they went to the finals against the Red Wings, Susan O’Malley sold 5000 tickets to Detroit area travel agencies for Red Wings packages. They were swept in 4 straight.
Game 5 where they beat Vegas, was supposed be scheduled on the same day the Mystics were supposed to have a home game there, so they opened the doors early with free admission to both the basketball game and the viewing party for game 5 on the Jumbotron afterwards.
Even the teams tanking this year have over 20 wins. I think this record is safe, if a modern team only won 8 games it would be a bad look for the league
Yeah, Niagara County is not a Toronto Maple Leafs hot bed. Not by a long shot. Still a big Buffalo Sabres county after Sabres home Erie County.
The 1992 1993 San Jose Sharks were almost as bad. Last Shark team to play in The Cow Palace before The Tank was built in San Jose
44 years not 34 years
The 1974-75 Capitals were like a baby born prematurely. The NHL was competing with the WHA and I blame a lack of foresight on their part not only for the Capitals having such a futile season; but also for Kansas City Scouts being relocated after just their second season.
The irony is, the moment the Capitals made a certain blockbuster deal with my team, the Montreal Canadiens; THAT'S when they started to make the playoffs!
....and the franchise has never looked back.
Gave away Rod Langway. Not good.
@@DNSKansas No, you're right. That was NOT good!
How about the 1980-81 Winnipeg Jets. They won only 9 games that season.
They sucked and I thing they hold the record for most games without a win.
Ron Loustel, where are you?
The Jets were for all intents and purposes a second year team with only a few veterans. John Ziegler allowed the WHA teams (Jets, Oilers, Whalers, Nordiques) to have their rosters plundered by the existing NHL teams upon the "merger".
The Kansas City Scouts/Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils gave the Caps a run for their money.
That was a bad time for nhl expansion as the '70's expansion teams didn't get the Bettman expansion draft gifting vgk and kraken get today. And with the wha out there the talent pool was drained. And markets were saturated as well. Due to the instability of caps and kc scouts (who moved to denver (a '76 expansion site with seattle) and atl. flames floundering at the gate as well nhl called off '76 expansion. And moved cali golden seals to cleveland to become the barons. And caps just like scouts got a garbage expansion list of re-treads and never will be's to choose from. Probably why caps only won 8 games that inaugural season.