1974–75 Washington Capitals season

Offseason

NHL draft

Expansion draft

Regular season

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. 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.

They won 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.

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.

Final standings

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

|- |1||L||October 9, 1974||3–6 || align="left"| @ New York Rangers (1974–75) ||0–1–0 |- |2||L||October 12, 1974||0–6 || align="left"| @ Minnesota North Stars (1974–75) ||0–2–0 |- |3||T||October 15, 1974||1–1 || align="left"| Los Angeles Kings (1974–75) ||0–2–1 |- |4||W||October 17, 1974||4–3 || align="left"| Chicago Black Hawks (1974–75) ||1–2–1 |- |5||L||October 19, 1974||4–6 || align="left"| @ Detroit Red Wings (1974–75) ||1–3–1 |- |6||L||October 20, 1974||0–5 || align="left"| New York Islanders (1974–75) ||1–4–1 |- |7||L||October 22, 1974||0–3 || align="left"| Detroit Red Wings (1974–75) ||1–5–1 |- |8||L||October 23, 1974||2–3 || align="left"| @ Chicago Black Hawks (1974–75) ||1–6–1 |- |9||L||October 27, 1974||3–4 || align="left"| Toronto Maple Leafs (1974–75) ||1–7–1 |- |10||L||October 31, 1974||0–3 || align="left"| Montreal Canadiens (1974–75) ||1–8–1

| Legend:

Player statistics

Regular season

;Scoring

;Goaltending

Source

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

References

1. Shannon, Mike. (2011-08-02). "NHL History: The 10 Worst Teams of All Time". [[Bleacher Report]].
2. (2022-05-01). "Statistics {{!}} Teams {{!}} Regular Season {{!}} 1917–18 to 2021–22". [[National Hockey League]].
3. "NHL History: The 10 Worst Teams of All Time". BleacherReport.com.
4. "1974-75 Washington Capitals Schedule".
5. "1974-75 Washington Capitals Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com.