The History of the Washington Capitals(Est. 1973)
1974-75: EXPANSION TEAM AND RECORD SETTING FUTILITY
Opening Night - Oct. 9, 1974
by Mike Vogel, WashingtonCaps.com January 30th, 2017
It was nearly 43 years ago that the Washington Capitals first took to the ice for an NHL regular season game. That 6-3 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on October 9, 1974 was the culmination of years and months of legwork and preparation.
Washington was awarded its franchise in May of 1972. Milt Schmidt was hired as the team's first general manager in 1973 and by year's end he had assembled his assistant (Lefty McFadden), his head scout (Red Sullivan) and had spirited another respected scout (Billy Taylor) away from another NHL club (the Flyers). On May 31, 1974, Schmidt signed Jimmy Anderson to a two-year deal as the team's head coach.
In January of 1974, the team was christened Capitals after a contest that produced several other "finalists" including "Domes," "Cyclones," "Streaks," and "Comets." The most popular choice was "Comets;" it garnered 250 votes. "Capitals" was the choice of 88 voters. One of those who chose Capitals was the recipient of a pair of season tickets. Runners-up received two pairs of season tickets (ba-dump-bump). Actually, the 87 runners-up received autographed hockey sticks.
Season tickets were sent out to an initial base of several thousand subscribers. Although 30,000 requested information on season tickets, the team's base fell far below the projected goal of 10,000 because the club insisted on demanding full payment for tickets when they went on sale. Checks were cashed but according to local news reports, it was months before those who sent money received their tickets or any information concerning their applications.
Television and radio deals were set up; all 80 games were broadcast on WTOP-AM but a mere 15 of Washington's 80 games were televised locally during the 1974-75 season.
In July, the Caps announced the hiring of a staff of 14 "minor officials," now known as "off-ice officials." Some of those gentlemen are still serving in that capacity and have done so for more than three decades now.
An expansion draft, an amateur draft and several other player transactions took place during the late spring and summer of 1974. When the Caps opened their maiden training camp in London, Ontario on Sept. 14 of that year, there were 56 players vying for jobs. One of those who didn't make the cut was a young Harvard graduate named Bob Goodenow. Goodenow later became the the head of the NHL Players' Association (1992-2005).
Doug Mohns, a 40-year-old defenseman who made his NHL debut in 1953-54 as Schmidt's teammate on the Boston Bruins, was obtained from the Atlanta Flames in June and named as the first Capitals captain. Only one (Tommy Williams, 34) of the other 53 players in camp that year was older than 28. Mohns turned 41 in December of that first season.
Finally the team's schedule, seating capacity and pricing structure were announced. Washington was placed in the Norris Division along with Detroit, Los Angeles, Montreal and Pittsburgh. The Capital Centre initially seated 17,962 patrons for hockey and ticket prices were $8.50, $6.50 and $4. Season ticket packages could be had for $340, $260 and $160. During the 1974-75 season, the Toronto Maple Leafs had the league's highest ticket prices at $12.
Of course, the team had expenses long before the puck dropped in New York on October 9. Washington's five-day rookie camp set the team back $16,100. Training camp cost the club an additional $55,000 in meal money, travel and hotel expenses and salaries for Schmidt, Anderson and the rest of the staff.
As Opening Night drew nearer, The Washington Post ran an extensive, multi-part series on hockey basics designed to educate the novice fan. The Post piece featured Peanuts comic strip canine Snoopy as the hockey-playing example. The Washington Star-News ran a Mohns-authored piece on how to watch a hockey game.
Finally, the calendar pages turned to October 9 and all the paper shuffling, marketing and check-writing took a back seat to the game itself. With Ron Low - he of the 1.82 preseason goals against average - manning the pipes for Washington, the white-panted Caps faced the Rangers, an Original Six team coming off a 102-point season and just 18 months removed from its most recent appearance in the Stanley Cup finals.
The nascent Capitals held their own for most of the game's 60 minutes. Rookie center Jim Hrycuik gave Washington its first-ever lead at 5:06 of the first period. Skating on his first NHL shift, Hrycuik stripped the puck from veteran defenseman Rod Seiling and skated into the New York zone with linemate Dave Kryskow on his wing. When the lone man back for the Rangers (defenseman Gilles Marotte) opted to cover Kryskow, Hrycuik went to the net and slipped his first NHL shot -a backhander - netward. It beat future Hall of Famer Eddie Giacomin and the Caps were on the board.
"The defenseman just stood there and the goalie - I'm not sure of his name - stood up so I didn't have any trouble," said Hrycuik afterwards.
The Rangers answered less than a minute later on a goal by Greg Polis, who would later do time with the Capitals. Polis scored again in the third period, snapping a 3-3 tie with what proved to be the game-winner. Rick Middleton - skating in his first NHL game - also scored twice for New York.
Ron Anderson scored Washington's first-ever power play goal, a tally that gave him a great sense of personal relief.
"I'm kind of relieved," sighed Anderson after the game. "Last year I went 20 games in the American League before my first goal."
After Middleton scored to give New York a 3-2 lead early in the third, the Caps answered and tied the game on a Kryskow goal. But Kryskow's marker came on what would prove to be Washington's only shot on goal in the third period. The Rangers outshot Washington 19-1 in the third and 43-12 on the night, cruising to a 6-3 win in the process. "It could have been worse, but not much," said Low, who then had no idea of the shell-shocking that awaited him over the season's next 79 games. "It's not going to be like it was tonight all year. The first two periods the guys played pretty good hockey. But we were pretty tired after that trying to keep up with the Rangers.
"The defense just fell down, that's all. But you've got to expect that - we're brand new. Still, I think we've got a pretty good team. It's just that we played a better one."
Those comments were echoed by most of Low's teammates and head coach Anderson, too.
"They always talk about how expansion dilutes the quality of play," observed coach Anderson after the game. "But these kids really looked like they belonged out there. I think we're going to give some teams a lot of trouble.
"They were tired. Remember, they were playing a pretty good hockey club. They played against a club that should have won the Stanley Cup four years in a row."
Ron Anderson also saw a good future for the expansion Caps after their first night on the ice.
"We should be all right now," he said. "What else have we got to be nervous about? We played a tough team in their own rink. I'm tired. We're all tired. But we know that we can play in this league."
Rangers bench boss Emile "The Cat" Francis also gave Washington its props in the aftermath of that first game.
"They worked, Washington; they really worked," said the diminutive Rangers coach. "In the third period we just kept the pressure on them, won the faceoffs and kept them in their end. They worked really hard in the first two periods and it took its toll. But you've got to give them their marks, they've got a good little team."
Francis, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, played for the old Washington Lions of the Eastern Hockey League as an 18-year-old goaltender during the 1943-44 season.
"It was hard to imagine Washington being in the National Hockey League," he remarked. "It was scary that Washington had this team for only a few weeks and here they were skating with the Rangers like that.
Ironically, Giacomin also had a taste of pro hockey with the Lions in 1956-57.
"It took me two hours to find Uline Arena the first time," said Giacomin, remembering his days in DC. "I hear we play in a new place now."
But amid all the plaudits for the plucky Capitals, there were a few ominous observations, too.
"The worst moments were when we got trapped in our own zone and couldn't move the puck out," admitted Hrycuik after the game. "They swarmed all over us. They hit us. They out-muscled us. I never realized how strong some of the guys are who are in this league."
And the beleaguered Ronnie Low was only just then beginning to sense what a rough ride he would be in for as the primary goaltender on what would go on to become the worst team in NHL history.
"I have no feeling left in me," he said, exhausted. "I'm numb. I've been numb for 30 minutes or so. I can't say I'm proud. We lost, didn't we? But what the hell, we ran out of shots."
Low would have many, many more nights like this one as Washington managed a sorry 8-67-5 record in its first season. But better and brighter days were on the distant hockey horizon in the District.
1974-75 CAPITALS--RECORD SETTING FUTILITY
By 1972 the NHL had more than doubled in size, bringing in ten teams in the five years since expansion began in 1967, with more to be added in the very near future. Spots for two more teams would open up for the 1974-75 season... and Abe Pollin, owner of the NBA's Baltimore Bullets, had his eye on one of them.
Pollin was looking to move his NBA team closer to the nation's capital, with plans in the works for a luxurious new arena in Landover, Maryland to house them. But the building needed a second tenant, another franchise to make it a truly multi-purpose building - and thanks to the promise of that new building and his lobbying efforts, Pollin was awarded one of the two new NHL franchises in the spring of 1972. Over the next two years Pollin would complete construction on the state-of-the-art Capital Centre while also completing construction on the Washington Capitals franchise.
by Rebecca Henschel, Japers' Rink
Hall of Famer and Bruins legend Milt Schmidt was lured away from his assistant GM role with Boston to be the team's first general manager, a hefty responsibility that would involve building a team completely from scratch via the amateur and expansion drafts. Manning the bench would be longtime AHLer Jim Anderson, whose sixteen-year career would span over 1200 games in seven different leagues - but just seven games at the NHL level.
"You couldn’t get anybody because all the NHL guys who you could maybe get your hands on [via the Expansion Draft or free agency] left the National Hockey League and went [to the WHA] for hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars, so it wasn’t easy to get personnel..." - Milt Schmidt (from Behind the Moves: NHL General Managers Tell How Winners are Built)
On May 28, 1974, the NHL held its amateur draft; a coin flip determined that the Capitals would have the first selection (and at times the only selection) in each of the twenty-five rounds while that season’s other expansion team, the Kansas City Scouts, would pick first in the expansion draft. Twenty-five players were picked from the relatively shallow draft, which for the first time included 18-year-olds; four of those first draft picks - #1 overall pick Greg Joly, Mike Marson, Paul Nicholson and Tony White - would play for the team in that first season.
The remaining roster would largely be filled out via the expansion draft, held just over two weeks later, when the Caps and the Kansas City Scouts each selected twenty-four players from the NHL's sixteen existing teams. Among those added to the new franchise were goaltenders Ron Low and Michel Belhumeur and defenseman Yvon Labre, with a few cash-for-player transactions (including defenseman Doug Mohns, who would become the team’s first captain) rounding out the team.
In September of 1974 the Caps played their first preseason games in front of their new fans, including their first ever game at the Capital Centre against the Montreal Canadiens that ended in a surprising 4-4 tie. It was the closest game they would play against their Norris Division rivals that year; Montreal would go 6-0 against the upstart Caps during the regular season and outscore them 49-9 in the process.
The 1974-75 season got underway on October 9, 1974 when the Caps made their first trip to Madison Square Garden to face the New York Rangers. It was there that Jim Hrycuik would cement himself as the answer to a trivia question, scoring the very first goal in Washington Capitals’ history against future Hall of Fame goalie Eddie Giacomin. The Caps held on early in the game and matched the Rangers goal for goal through forty minutes, but would eventually go on to lose the game 6-3… the first of many.
In their home debut on October 15, the Caps skated to a 1-1 tie (remember those?) against the Los Angeles Kings, with Labre picking up the first home goal in franchise history in front of thousands of brand new Caps fans and helping the Caps earn their first standings point.
Two nights later, it was the Caps emerging victorious when they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-3. It took a couple of odd bounces - one goal would go in off of the posterior of Chicago defenseman Doug Jarrett - and an 18-save performance in the third by Low, but the Caps would earn their first ever win in front of just under 10,000 hometown fans.
After that, things started to go downhill.
Over the next two months the Caps would win just once more, defeating the California Golden Seals in the middle of a stretch in which they went 1-22-3 and were outscored by a whopping 152 to 61. They would have to wait until the middle of December to earn their third win of the season when they hosted Toronto, defeating the Leafs 3-1 before kicking off a winless streak that stretched over seventeen games – a franchise record that stands to this day.
The season got slightly better (relatively speaking) after the halfway point of the year, with the Caps almost doubling their win total from the first half with a whole five wins in their final forty games. While the first half of the season saw the Caps get shutout nine times, they would only be blanked four times over the rest of the season, and had their first multiple-win month in February when they defeated the Rangers and Kansas City within a five-day span... although the second win would come shortly after bench boss Jimmy Anderson was replaced by Red Sullivan (who would also be fired a month later, Schmidt taking over for the rest of the season).
The second half of the year also featured the team’s first ever road win, as they defeated the California Golden Seals – the only team to have the dubious distinction of losing to the 74-75 Caps twice that season – in their 37th road game. It was a momentous occasion for the franchise, one that led to a celebration most teams would reserve for winning a championship game (albeit with a nicer trophy):
"Tommy Williams got a hold of this trash can and had a few guys sign it and we started parading it around the room. It was as if we’d won the Stanley Cup. That was a fun time for us—there weren’t that many." – Yvon Labre
A week later the season would come to a close, a year that featured mostly low notes ending on a high one with an 8-4 defeat of division rival Pittsburgh on home ice. The win would give the Caps a final record of 8-67-5 – the worst record in the expansion era, besting the New York Islanders’ robust mark of 12-60-6 set two years earlier.
And it wasn’t just the team’s overall record that would inscribe them in the history books for all the wrong reasons. That first year they would set the record for fewest points (21), most goals-against (446), lowest win percentage (.131) and lowest goal differential (-265). Defenseman Bill Mikkelson would finish the season with a record plus-minus rating of -82; goalie Michel Belhumeur would fail to register a single win as a Cap, going 0-24-3 in that first season and a combined 0-29-4 in his two years with the team.
Still, the futility with which the franchise started wasn’t all bad. That inaugural team produced two twenty-goal scorers, saw Mike Marson score 16 as an 18-year-old rookie (and become just the second African-American to skate in the NHL, nothing to sneeze at) and featured the first professional hockey in the district in fifteen years.
It was also the start of something that has lasted almost four decades (and counting)... and as bad as that first season was, there was a sense that it could only get better.