Changing the Game

by Stephen Laroche

  By the middle of December, however, Crashley was on his way out of Kansas City and was moved to the Red Wings in a five-player deal.

  “I was very happy and would much rather have been in Detroit,” he said. “We were working on getting back to being successful.”

  Butch Deadmarsh

  After Deadmarsh was selected early by the Scouts in the 1974 expansion draft, the team counted on him to be a leader because of his experience in playing with first-year clubs. As they prepared to start the year they named him an assistant captain.

  It was a fairly respectable start for the veteran winger, as he scored the first power-play goal in franchise history against the New York Islanders on October 12, 1974. He was also responsible for their first game-winning tally in a match with their expansion cousins, the Washington Capitals, on November 3. The honeymoon did not last long, though, as Deadmarsh grew disenchanted with the Scouts and decided to quit the team abruptly after 20 games.

  Fortunately, Kansas City knew that the WHA had been trying to get him to jump over, and a rare transaction between the two leagues took place when the Scouts sold him to the Vancouver Blazers.

  Denis Herron

  One of the most promising young goalies in hockey in the early 1970s, Herron began his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins and was the first netminder in NHL history to make his team’s roster in the same year that he was drafted. He was occasionally sent down to the minors for conditioning and spent most of the early part of the 1974–75 campaign with the AHL’s Hershey Bears before he was traded to Kansas City along with Jean-Guy Lagace.

  “I came a lot cheaper than Michel Plasse,” he said. “For me, I was very pleased because I was in Hershey. There were three goalies there and I was barely playing.”

  In fact, Herron did not even find out about the trade until partway through Pittsburgh’s game against Atlanta on January 10, 1975, as he sat on the bench. Just 13 days later, he was in the crease for one of the most important games of his career when the Scouts took on the Boston Bruins. He stole the show that night in a 3–2 victory.

  “The first shot of the game came from Bobby Orr and went right in,” he said. “From there, my confidence went up. I went from a guy who wasn’t playing at all and I never looked back. That was really a turning point for my career.”

  Over the rest of the schedule, Herron emerged as the team’s top man in net, but he faced a lot of challenges in Kansas City.

  “It was very rough,” he said. “It was a good thing for me because I faced a lot of shots and got a lot of experience. I became a free agent after that and had the choice of going to Pittsburgh or Vancouver. I tried to work as much as possible in practice with my defencemen to let them know what I needed them to do. In that era, it was all about communication. If they have confidence in you compared to another goalie, they’ll play differently with you.”

  Denis Herron

  Michel Plasse

  Plasse was the Scouts’ first selection in the 1974 NHL Expansion Draft. He had spent the previous two seasons in a Montreal Canadiens uniform and performed well in a backup role. Back in 1968, he was the first overall pick in the NHL Amateur Draft and was shuffled off to the St. Louis organization for a couple of seasons. During that time, he became the first goaltender to score a goal while playing for Kansas City in the Central League.

  In Kansas City, the feeling was that Plasse would be the team’s number one netminder. He was in net for the club’s second victory on November 13, 1974, against the Blues. Riding a hot streak, he played the next night when the Scouts took on the New York Islanders and they won by a score of 4–2. During a 2–2 tie with Vancouver on December 14, he recorded an assist on a goal by Norm Dube.

  The ownership group in Kansas City was notoriously tight-fisted and, in negotiations for a long-term deal, they balked at Plasse’s demand for a six-figure contract for the following season. The Pittsburgh Penguins traded for him, but he later rejoined the franchise when they became the Colorado Rockies. Sadly, he passed away from a heart attack on December 30, 2006.

  EXPANSION YEAR RECORD: 8–67–5

  (21 points — fifth in Norris Division)

  Coaches: Jim Anderson, Red Sullivan and Milt Schmidt

  GENERAL MANAGER: Milt Schmidt

  FIRST GAME: October 9, 1974 —

  6–3 loss vs. New York Rangers

  FIRST GOAL: October 9, 1974 by Jim Hrycuik

  WASHINGTON

  CAPITALS

  Residents of the capital district had been without a pro hockey team to call their own for well over a decade, but the sport was set to return in a big way in the early 1970s to combat the spread of the WHA into new markets.

  The NHL was committed to expanding to 18 teams in time for the 1974–75 season and on June 9, 1972, granted a new franchise to Abe Pollin, also the owner of the NBA’s Washington Bullets. One of Pollin’s first acts was to hire Hall of Famer Milt Schmidt to head up the operation, but nobody was prepared for the sheer horror that was about to ensue.

  By 1974, the war between the two pro leagues had weakened NHL rosters as players left in droves to seek out more lucrative contracts. For the 1974–75 season, a whopping 32 teams were about to take to the ice across both leagues, and the talent pool was starting to seriously thin out. The NHL had already seen the result of expanding too quickly to gain a foothold in some markets, and it was about to come to an ugly culmination at the 1974 NHL Expansion Draft.

  The Capitals and their expansion cousins, the Kansas City Scouts, had to pick from a talent pool that was arguably weak when compared to previous drafts, but the Capitals grabbed two promising young goalies first in Ron Low and Michel Belhumeur. After that, most of the players they chose tended to be minor-leaguers or players with limited NHL experience. Perhaps the best of the group were Denis Dupere and Yvon Labre, but they were not household names. Their chances at success looked bleak, and even the addition of amateurs like first overall pick Greg Joly and rough-and-tumble Mike Marson did not inspire confidence in observers at the time.

  The team’s arena, the Capital Centre, was finished well before the start of the 1974–75 season, and many bumper stickers began to pop up with the phrase, “Stick it to ’em, Capitals!” Former AHL standout Jim Anderson was brought on to coach the club, and Schmidt also added a former teammate in Doug Mohns to help provide veteran leadership. Training camp was full of players who were on the bubble when it came to making it in pro hockey, but as the roster was trimmed down and they took to the ice for their first pre-season games, they actually made a good impression on some opposing clubs.

  “Those guys are obviously shooting for a place on the roster,” said Montreal Canadiens coach Scotty Bowman. “That’s the pattern with almost all the new teams. It is amazing how deep some guys can dig.”

  On October 9, 1974, the Caps opened their first season on the road against the New York Rangers, and rookie Jim Hrycuik scored their first goal. They lost 6–3 that night but eventually got their first victory in their second home game when they surprised the Chicago Black Hawks eight days later. From that point on, it was a bit of a disaster — and not just because of the white pants they wore on the ice. They started a 14-game winless streak and finished with just three triumphs in the first half of the season.

  The team’s lack of success was blamed partly on a rash of injuries and the general inexperience of many of the players. As a result, the players held several meetings and declared Mohns their official captain. Anderson felt the pressure and opened up to the press about the problems of coaching a first-year team.

  “Actually, I am satisfied as a coach,” he said. “I realize the record isn’t inspiring. We’ve been blown out at times. Other times, though, we’ve been in games against older teams. I know what I’m teaching. I see progress. Just about all the other teams have had some bad scores against them this year. Clubs like Minnesota, Detroit and Toronto. For some of those older clubs to get beat the way they do is terrible. We’re not as bad off as they
are … really.

  “I’m certain that these guys have not given up, that they have more enthusiasm today than they did a month ago. I saw it the other night when they saw a capacity crowd at the Capital Centre. These fellows have pride and they’re together as a team.”

  At one point, the team had 60 consecutive power plays without scoring. It just kept getting worse as they occasionally lost games by a 10-goal margin. One of the few bright spots was a 3–0 win over their expansion cousins, the Kansas City Scouts, on February 16, 1975, and attendance was actually on a bit of an upswing as the year progressed. To help shake things up they also made some trades, including a deal that saw their first All-Star Game representative, Dupere, traded away.

  “We’ve been busting our bottoms to make it more entertaining,” said Schmidt. “Our phone bills the past four days are going to put Mr. Pollin back a few more dollars, but that’s the thing that has to be done. We’re down in the dumps, but we’re still kicking.”

  The Caps also faced a brief challenge when the WHA’s Michigan Stags relocated to nearby Baltimore. The general manager of the Blades, Skip Feldman, shot out the first salvo on a local radio show.

  “If people will pay to see the Washington Capitals, they’ll pay for anything.”

  Schmidt probably had an inkling that the war with the Blades for the hearts of hockey fans was not going to last long and his response was much more professional.

  “People in this area now have a chance to see hockey from both sides. In a way it will make them all more conscious of the sport. We’ll just let the chips fall where they may.”

  After just five wins in his first 55 games, Anderson was let go and replaced behind the bench by chief scout Red Sullivan. Anderson was honest about his role in the team’s early failures.

  “I wasn’t Red. I tried my best the way I thought we would build. I was in expansion hockey and they were very fair to me. Red Sullivan probably told me more of what to expect and how to handle myself more than anything else. He told me whenever I was really down that I was earning twice what they were paying me. At times maybe I was. At times maybe I wasn’t. This didn’t exactly jump up and hit me cold. I knew they would have to make a change if we didn’t start winning. I guess I knew while we were on the west coast. I came out of the Los Angeles Forum and stared up into the dark sky. There I was standing alone and hearing things. We had lost. I was running out of time. It was a game we should have won.”

  The players were not necessarily gung-ho about the coaching change. One anonymous Capital was quoted about Sullivan, “He scares the hell out of me.”

  Sullivan felt he might be able to motivate his charges and help improve their record.

  “I’m not promising I’ll turn things around overnight. There are a few things that I want and I’ll get them … respect, hard work, checking. I took it with every intention of being behind the Washington bench for 10 years. There are 26 games remaining this year, and one thing I’d like to see is that this club gets 18 or 19 more points in the standings. I don’t want anyone calling it the worst team in league history.”

  In the end, Sullivan’s winning percentage was greater than Anderson’s, but it was not enough to help them improve in the standings. With just eight games left in the year, Schmidt had enough of the on-ice nightmare and took over the coaching reins.

  “I have been sitting upstairs and cursing all year,” he said. “I had to go down to the bench and try to do something myself. It’s obvious, though, it’s going to take more than coaching.”

  Sullivan went back to being the team’s chief scout, and the Capitals finally won a road game on March 28, 1975, under Schmidt. After dispatching the California Golden Seals by a score of 5–3, they celebrated in the dressing room by taking a garbage can and parading it around as if it were the Stanley Cup, the festivities spilling out to the empty arena. They later closed out the year against Pittsburgh with their eighth win of the season. Their finish was one for the ages as it was the worst in modern NHL history.

  The next seven seasons were a test of patience for Capitals fans. They didn’t make the playoffs until Rod Langway arrived on the blue line in 1982–83. They came close to making the postseason a few times before that, but their many bad breaks did not help. For most of the 1980s and into the 1990s, they made it to the playoffs 14 straight times and finally made it to the Stanley Cup Final in 1997–98. After that, their fortunes were mixed for a few years, but they finally rose back to consistent contention after the lockout with Alexander Ovechkin in the lineup. Since 2007–08, they have earned four Southeast Division titles and even won the President’s Trophy in 2009–10.

  Tommy Williams

  Williams was one of the few American-born players in the NHL ranks in the 1960s. He had many successful seasons with the Boston Bruins before missing out on a Stanley Cup championship in 1969–70 after he was traded to the Minnesota North Stars. He spent some time with the California Golden Seals after that, but was sold back to the Big Bad Bruins in March 1972. Strangely, he did not end up back with the club and chose to play in the WHA for two seasons with the New England Whalers.

  The summer before the 1974–75 campaign, Williams was sold once again to the Capitals and returned to NHL action. He was named one of the club’s alternate captains and led them in goals, assists and points in their first season. His first goal of the season, fittingly, was scored against the Boston Bruins on November 7, 1974, and he followed that up with two-goal efforts against the Flames and North Stars later that month.

  “I played with Tommy in Boston and he was good at handling the puck,” said team captain Doug Mohns. “And he was better than the average player when it came to his skating ability. I think that was what kept him in the league. He took it hard when we lost, like everybody else.”

  On March 26, 1975, Williams became the second member of the Caps to score 20 goals in a season when he slid one past Gary Edwards in a 5–1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. He closed the season from hell with a five-point night against the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 6 when he scored twice, including the game-winner, on Bob Johnson, who was appearing in his final NHL contest.

  Denis Dupere

  Dupere missed more than half of the 1973–74 season because of injury and so, although he was putting up points at the best pace of his career, the Toronto Maple Leafs were prepared to let him go through the expansion draft.

  He surprised everyone with a decent start and had two goals during the Capitals’ first victory — a 4–3 triumph over the Chicago Black Hawks on October 17, 1974. What many of his teammates remember are the “legendary” goals he had against the Boston Bruins in two early-season blowouts. He scored a late power-play goal in the 10–4 loss on November 7, and on December 14, he had their only goal in a horrifying 12–1 defeat.

  Not long after he scored two goals against the Montreal Canadiens on January 12, 1975, Dupere was selected to represent the team at the 1975 NHL All-Star Game. His final goal in a Capitals uniform came in a battle with Los Angeles on January 30, and it was a shock when he was traded to the St. Louis Blues a couple of weeks later. Dupere’s production decreased over the remainder of the season, and Washington got the better end of the deal with Ace Bailey and Stan Gilbertson.

  Mike Marson

  Marson had a great 1973–74 season with the OHA’s Sudbury Wolves, where he scored 94 points and was named to the league’s Second All-Star Team. When the Capitals made him their second pick in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, they made history, as he was the first African-Canadian player ever selected in the annual rite of passage for junior players. He signed a five-year deal with the club.

  “I’m 19, have some money, and it’s up to me now to play it all right,” said Marson at the time. “If I do, I can go through life without having to work at anything but hockey. It’s what I’ve always dreamed of doing.”

  Although he showed up to training camp a whopping 22 pounds overweight, he demonstrated a commitment to making Washington’s roster
and he hit the ice with them on October 9, 1974. No other African-Canadian player had played at the NHL level since Willie O’Ree suited up for Boston during the 1960–61 season.

  On November 19, 1974, as Washington took on the California Golden Seals, he scored his first two NHL goals, and the first was the game-winner. In fact, he was the only Capital to score more than one decision-maker, as he scored another one on February 11, 1975, to upset the New York Rangers.

  In the long run, Marson did not set the world on fire in the National Hockey League and he was out of the pro game by the end of the 1979–80 campaign. Although he is rarely remembered by fans today, he holds a special spot in hockey history.

  Yvon Labre

  Drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1969, Labre spent a lot of time in the minors honing his skills and appeared in 37 games with the club over two seasons. In 1973–74, he saw limited NHL action but had great success in the AHL with the Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears. The Capitals made him the second skater they selected in the expansion draft and he gave them instant hope on the blue line.

  Voted the club’s most popular player in its inaugural season, Labre scored the Caps first goal at home when he bulged the twine at 4:35 of the second period in a clash with the Los Angeles Kings on October 15, 1974. Four days later, he got a goal and an assist against the Detroit Red Wings. He was also given the honour of being one of Washington’s assistant captains and had a couple of three-assist games over the course of the year.

  One of his best performances was recognized by teammate Ron Low after the team shut down the Kansas City Scouts on February 16, 1975.

  “Yvon was always around to help, clearing the puck and getting it down ice. The wings were backchecking, the defencemen never let them get a second chance.”

  Labre eventually became the longest-serving original member of the Capitals, and the team recognized his contributions by retiring his number on November 7, 1981. He is still associated with the team to this day and is a driving force behind its alumni association.