The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are an ice hockey professional team situated within Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference and is owned by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, headed by Ted Leonsis. The Capitals initially played team’s home matches in the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, before moving to the arena now called Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. in 1997.
The Capitals were formed in 1974 in order to grow the business, alongside the Kansas City Scouts, and suffered through the first eight years in existence. When it was established in 1982 David Poile was hired as general manager, and was able to turn the team’s fortunes around. With a team of stars including Mike Gartner, Rod Langway, Larry Murphy, and Scott Stevens, the Capitals were a regular contender for the playoffs throughout the following 14 seasons. After the team was bought by Leonsis during 1999 Leonsis rejuvenated the organization by drafting stars like Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, and Braden Holtby. The 2009-10 Capitals were the first team to win the franchise’s Presidents’ Trophy for being one of the teams with the most points at the end of the regular season. They were awarded it for the two-time in the 2015-16 season and for a third time the following year in 2016-17. Alongside 12 division championships and three Presidents’ Trophies the Capitals have reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998 and 2018, winning in the second.
The Capitals have ceased using the number of four numbers in honour of the players. Additionally, the team is associated with a number of individuals who were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Capitals currently have affiliations with two minor league based teams, the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League and the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL.
History
The beginning of the year (1974-1982)
The NHL gave its expansion franchise to Washington in June of 1972 and the Capitals joined with NHL for an addition team during the 1974-75 season, along as the Kansas City Scouts. Capitals were owned by Abe Pollin. Capitals are owned by Abe Pollin (also owner of the National Basketball Association’s Washington Wizards and Washington Bullets). Pollin had constructed the Capital Centre in suburban Landover, Maryland, to house both the Bullets (who previously played in Baltimore) as well as the Capitals. His first move as owner was to appoint Hall of Inductee Milt Schmidt to be the general manager.
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With a total of 30 teams in both the NHL as well as the World Hockey Association (WHA) which meant that the talent pool was thin. The Capitals did not have many players with professional experience and were disadvantaged when compared to teams with long histories with a strong roster of veteran players. Like the other three teams that joined the league in the WHA time frame–the Scouts (later later the Colorado Rockies and now the New Jersey Devils), Atlanta Flames (now playing in Calgary), and New York Islanders, the Capitals did not consider in the viability for the opposing league when they planned their teams.
Two hockey players wearing full helmets and pads on the skating ice, both moving along with two more behind .
The Capitals’ first season was dreadful, even by the standards of expansion. They finished with far and away the worst record in the league , with 8-67-5; their 21 points were only half of their counterparts in expansion that are the Scouts. The eight wins were the least for an NHL team playing at least 70 times, and the .131 winning percentage remains the lowest for any team in NHL history. The team also broke records for most Road losses (39 for 40) in addition to the highest number of repeated road wins (37) and also the highest number of repeated losses (17). The head coach Jim Anderson said, “I’d rather find out my wife was cheating on me than keep losing like this. At least I could tell my wife to cut it out.” Schmidt himself was required to take over the reins of coaching late in the season.
The 1975 and 76 seasons, Washington played 25 consecutive games without a victory and gave up 394 goals en way to a record that was even worse 11-59-10 (32 points). After the midseason break, Schmidt became the general manager, replaced by Max McNab and as head coach by Tom McVie. Through the remainder of the 1970s as well as the early 1980s the Capitals alternated between dreadful seasons, and only finishing one or two points outside their Stanley Cup playoffs; in the 1980s and in 1981, for instance, they were in playoff contention through the final day during the entire season. The only bright spot during this period of futility was that several of McNab’s draft selections (e.g., Rick Green, Ryan Walter, Mike Gartner, Bengt Gustafsson, Gaetan Duchesne and Bobby Carpenter) would impact the team for the foreseeable future in a variety of ways, whether as key players of the team or important pieces of the trade.
Pollin persevered through the Capitals for the first decade of their existence even when they only marginally competitive. It was a stark contrast to the Scouts; they were forced to move to Denver after just two years, because their initial owners did not have the capacity or the patience to endure the challenges of an ever-growing team. The summer of 1982, however there was a serious discussion of the team’s relocation out of Denver, the U.S. capital and there was a “Save the Caps” campaign was in the works. Then, two important events took place to revive the franchise.
Gartner-Langway era (1982-1993)
In the beginning, the team was hired David Poile as general manager. Then, in his very first decision, Poile pulled off one of the largest trades of his franchise’s history in the 9th of September, 1982, after he handed long-time franchise members Ryan Walter and Rick Green to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Rod Langway (named captain only one week later), Brian Engblom, Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin. This move helped turn the franchise aroundas Langway’s strong defense allowed the team to dramatically reduce its goals against, while the rapid goal scoring of Dennis Maruk, Mike Gartner and Bobby Carpenter fueled the offensive attack. Another important move was the selection of defenseman Scott Stevens during the 1982 NHL Entry Draft (the pick was made by interim general manager Roger Crozier, prior to Poile’s appointment). The result was a jump of 29 points which led to a third-place finish within the formidable Patrick Division, and the team’s very first playoff appearance in 1983. Though they were eliminated by the three-time defending (and eventually) Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders (three games to one) However, the Caps’ spectacular turnaround put to rest all talk of the club departing Washington.
14 consecutive playoff appearances (1983-1996)
The Capitals would qualify for playoffs for each of the next 14 years in a row, eventually becoming known for starting slow before the team caught fire in January and February. However, the team’s success during the regular season did not translate into playoffs. In spite of an endless parade of players such as Gartner, Carpenter, Langway, Gustafsson, Stevens, Mike Ridley, Dave Christian, Dino Ciccarelli, Larry Murphy, and Kevin Hatcher, Washington was exiled in either second or first round seven years in consecutively. In 1985-86 for instance, the Caps finished with 107 points and scored 50 games for the first time in franchise history making them the third-highest record in the NHL. They defeated their opponents the Islanders at the beginning of the round, but they were knocked out in round two by the New York Rangers.
The 1986-87 seasons brought more heartbreak with losing in the final to the Islanders on the Patrick Division Semifinals. This series was capped off with the iconic Easter Epic game, which was played at 1:56 on Easter Sunday 1987. The Capitals had thoroughly dominated most in the contest, shooting the Islanders 75-52, but lost in overtime , when goalie Bob Mason was beaten on an Pat LaFontaine shot from the blue line. In 1989, for the playoff push, Gartner and Murphy were dealt to the Minnesota North Stars in exchange for Ciccarelli and defenseman Bob Rouse. However, the goalie’s performance again faltered and they were eliminated in their first round by Philadelphia Flyers. The Capitals were able to make their way to the Wales Conference Finals in 1990 however, they fell in four games at the team of the first-place Boston Bruins.
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