The Washington Capitals No Good, Very Bad Start

The Washington Capitals No Good, Very Bad Start

[paypal_donation_button]The Washington Capitals no good, very bad start

The Washington Capitals of the ‘80s and ‘90s were a competitive and steadily high-quality team, though they didn’t bring home much hardware to show for it. They led their division in points in the 1988-89 NHL season, led their conference in the 1997-98 NHL season, and missed the playoffs only 4 times in that 20 year span, culminating in a Cup Finals loss in the 1998 post-season. Their streak of good years is almost enough to make one forget about the abysmal start the franchise saw at its inception, missing the playoffs each of their first 8 seasons, and never once in that span winning more than 30 games a year.

The Capitals had a record-setting first season in the 1974-75 NHL season — if not in the way they probably wanted. The Capitals finished that season with 21 points, the lowest end of season point total for any NHL team in history that played a season of at least 70 games. They got their first win on October 17, 1974, then went over a month without another win. They ended up the year with a record of 8-67-5 (also a record for the fewest wins in a season). Over half of that loss column came from a 37-game road losing streak, which held as the NHL’s record for consecutive road losses until the Ottawa Senators lost 38 straight road games in the 1992-93 NHL season. Even the 1992-93 Senators couldn’t manage to be overall as bad as the 1974-75 Capitals, ending up in a tie for last with the San Jose Sharks as both teams earned only 24 points (the Senators that year went 10-70-4; the Sharks, 11-71-2).

The Capitals’ fates improved over their next few seasons only in comparison. They won only 11 games in the 1975-76 NHL season, and by their third season (1976-77) at least managed to not be last in their division, ending up 4th in the Norris Division with 24 wins and 62 points. In the 1979-80 NHL season they moved from the Norris Division to the Patrick Division, where they continued to flounder, finishing last in their division in their first 3 seasons under the new structure. To be fair, the Patrick was one of the strongest divisions in the league at this time, and so while they still missed the playoffs in 1981-82, their end of season point total was higher than that of the Los Angeles Kings, who squeaked into the playoffs in 4th place in the Western Conference’s Smythe Division.

Less forgiving markets have lost teams in less time than this. Colorado gave up on the Rockies after only 6 seasons, and they even made the playoffs for one of them; the Cleveland Barons and Kansas City Scouts survived only 2 seasons before folding; Atlanta lost the Flames after 8 seasons. The Capitals, too, might have found themselves on the search for a new home had their luck not started coming in. They drafted Scott Stevens 5th overall in the 1982 entry draft, filling some defensive gaps. David Poile took over as general manager in September of that year. A few days after taking the reins, Poile made a trade with the Montreal Canadiens that brought Brian Engblom, Doug Jarvis, Rod Langway, and Craig Laughlin to Washington. They ended up that season with 39 wins and 94 points and made their first playoffs as a franchise. For the next decade, the Capitals would make the playoffs every year, never finishing lower than 3rd in their division.

Teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets and Winnipeg Jets get a lot of grief for sub-par performance in their early seasons, and while these teams certainly weren’t good, no team in NHL history has failed, in such an epic way, as the Washington Capitals. Modern basement dwellers can take solace in this in a few different ways. First, to know that they would have to work pretty hard to end up with a worse record than the 1974-75 Caps. Second, it may be heartening to realize that sustained success is possible, even after such humble beginnings. One season of good draft picks, trades, and changes to the management shifted the Capitals from one of the worst to one of the best, and that kind of upwards mobility is not only possible in hockey—it’s what makes the sport so exciting to watch, year after year.