Washington Capitals’ Worst Start Ever

Washington Capitals’ Worst Start Ever

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 four times in that 20-year span, culminating in a Cup Finals loss in the 1998 postseason. Their streak of good years is almost enough to make fans forget the Washington Capitals’ worst start in franchise history — missing the playoffs in each of their first eight seasons and never once winning more than 30 games in that span.

A Record-Setting Debut for All the Wrong Reasons

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 debut campaign 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 one. They ended 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 quite as bad overall 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).

Years Mired in the Basement

The Capitals’ fortunes improved over their next few seasons only in comparison. They won just 11 games in the 1975-76 NHL season, and by their third season (1976-77) at least managed to avoid finishing last in their division, ending up fourth 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 each of their first three seasons under the new structure. To be fair, the Patrick was one of the strongest divisions in the league at the time, and while the Capitals still missed the playoffs in 1981-82, their end-of-season point total was actually higher than that of the Los Angeles Kings, who squeaked into the playoffs in fourth place in the Western Conference’s Smythe Division.

From the Brink of Relocation to a Turning Point

Nearly a Relocation Candidate

Less forgiving markets have lost teams in less time than this. Colorado gave up on the Rockies after only six seasons, and they even made the playoffs in one of them; the Cleveland Barons and Kansas City Scouts survived only two seasons before folding; Atlanta lost the Flames after eight seasons. The Capitals, too, might have found themselves searching for a new home had their luck not started to turn.

The Trade and Draft That Changed Everything

They drafted Scott Stevens fifth 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. The Capitals ended that season with 39 wins and 94 points and made their first playoff appearance as a franchise. For the next decade, the Capitals would make the playoffs every year, never finishing lower than third in their division.

What Today’s NHL Basement-Dwellers Can Learn

Teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets and Winnipeg Jets get a lot of grief for subpar performance in their early seasons, and while these teams certainly weren’t good, no team in NHL history has failed quite as spectacularly as the Washington Capitals. Modern basement dwellers can take solace in this in a couple of ways. First, matching the Washington Capitals’ worst start would take some serious effort — it’s a low bar few teams could ever clear. Second, it’s heartening to realize that sustained success is possible even after such humble beginnings. One season of good draft picks, a franchise-altering trade, and a change in management shifted the Capitals from one of the worst teams in the league to one of the best, and that kind of upward mobility isn’t only possible in hockey — it’s what makes the sport so exciting to watch, year after year.