The locker room smelled like stale beer and cheap cigars, but for one night in March 1975, the Washington Capitals felt like kings. They had just beaten the California Golden Seals 5-3. It was their first—and only—road win of the entire season. To celebrate, the players grabbed a literal trash can, scrawled their names on it with a marker, and hoisted it like the Stanley Cup.
That is the reality of the worst team in hockey.
When we talk about bad hockey, we usually mean a team that misses the playoffs or maybe picks first in the draft. But there is a level of "bad" that transcends the standings and enters the realm of the supernatural. We are talking about the 1974-75 Washington Capitals. This wasn't just a struggling expansion squad. It was a 60-minute car crash that lasted for six months.
The Numbers That Should Be Impossible
If you look at the back of a hockey card from that season, the stats look like typos.
The Capitals finished the year with a record of 8-67-5. Read that again. Eight wins. Sixty-seven losses. They earned a grand total of 21 points in an 80-game season. For context, their points percentage was .131. In the modern NHL, even the most "tanking" teams usually hover around .300 or .400. To be this bad, you almost have to try, yet they were trying their hearts out.
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- Goals Against: 446 (An average of 5.58 per game)
- Goal Differential: -265
- Road Record: 1-39-0
- Longest Losing Streak: 17 games
One player, defenseman Bill Mikkelson, finished the season with a +/- rating of -82. That is a record that will likely never be broken as long as the sport exists. To put that in perspective, every time Mikkelson stepped on the ice, the puck basically had a magnet for the Washington net. He wasn't even a bad player; he was just a guy caught in a hurricane without an umbrella.
Why Were They So Bad?
Honestly, it wasn't entirely their fault. The NHL expansion of the 1970s was a mess.
The league was in a bidding war with the WHA (World Hockey Association), so the talent pool was thinner than a sheet of practice ice. When Washington and the Kansas City Scouts entered the league in '74, the "protected lists" for existing teams were massive. This meant the Capitals were essentially picking from a pile of aging veterans whose knees were shot and minor-leaguers who weren't quite fast enough for the big show.
General Manager Milt Schmidt, a legend in Boston, tried to build "Bruins South." He hired Jim Anderson, a coach with zero NHL experience. He brought in former Bruins who were past their prime. It was a disaster from opening night. Anderson actually resigned mid-season because the stress of losing gave him literal stomach ulcers. He famously said he’d rather find out his wife was cheating on him than keep losing like that, because at least he could tell his wife to stop.
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The Competition for the Bottom
While the '74-75 Caps are the gold standard for futility, they have some "impressive" company in the history of the worst team in hockey.
- The 1992-93 San Jose Sharks: They actually lost more games (71) than the Capitals because the season was longer (84 games). They were so bad that they once gave up 13 unanswered goals to the Calgary Flames.
- The 1992-93 Ottawa Senators: They finished with 10 wins and a road record of 1-41-0. They were basically a traveling circus that gave out free points to every city they visited.
- The 1919-20 Quebec Bulldogs: If you want to go prehistoric, these guys won 4 games and lost 20. But in the early days, the league was so small that a bad week could ruin your decade.
What Most People Get Wrong About Bad Teams
People think a team that loses 67 games must be full of guys who don't care. That’s rarely the case.
Watching the film from that Capitals season, you see players blocking shots with their faces and diving into the boards. They cared. They were just outclassed. In 2026, we see teams "tank" for a generational talent like Connor Bedard or whoever the next phenom is. But in 1974, there was no guaranteed payoff. They weren't losing for a draft pick; they were losing because they couldn't stop the puck.
The difference between a "bad" team today and the worst team in hockey back then is the parity. Today’s NHL has a salary floor and advanced scouting. Even the bottom-feeders have elite goaltending on some nights. In 1975, if your goalie had a bad night, you didn't lose 3-2. You lost 12-1.
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The Actionable Takeaway: How to Spot a "True" Bottom-Feeder
If you're a sports bettor or just a die-hard fan trying to figure out if your team has hit rock bottom, don't just look at the wins. Look at the "Indicators of Futility":
- Goal Differential per 60: If a team is losing by an average of 3+ goals every night, they aren't just unlucky. They are fundamentally broken.
- The "White Flag" Stats: Watch the +/- of the top pairing defensemen. When your best players are -40 or lower halfway through a season, the system has collapsed.
- Locker Room Culture: Is there a "trash can trophy" moment? Oddly enough, the teams that find a way to laugh at their own misery often recover faster than the ones that turn on each other.
The 1974-75 Capitals eventually turned it around, winning a Cup decades later. But their first year remains a masterclass in how much the human spirit can endure when you're getting beat 8-2 on a Tuesday night in Bloomington.
Next Steps for Hockey Fans:
Check your team's current goal differential. If it's below -50 at the halfway point, start looking at the 2026 draft prospects—you're officially in the "Worst Team" conversation. You might also want to research the "Expansion Draft" rules of 1974 compared to the Vegas/Seattle rules to see exactly how much the league rigged the game against those early teams.