Photo: Hockeygods.com Blog

The Washington Capitals celebrate their 50th anniversary.^th Anniversary, NoVa Caps summarizes each of the team’s last 49 seasons, from earliest to most recent.

The 1975-76 season was the second season for the Washington Capitals. They improved slightly from their first season, but were still poor. Their record was 11-59-10 in 80 games with 32 points, which was the worst record in the NHL. They were four points behind the Kansas City Scouts, who also entered the league as an expansion team for the 1974-75 season. The Capitals finished 16th^th of 18 for goals scored and 18^th of 18 for goals conceded.

They never won two games in a row and had several long losing streaks, including a 17-game losing streak late in the season. They had three more losing streaks of 7 or more consecutive games. When the season ended, the Capitals traveled to Japan to play the Kansas City Scouts in a four-game exhibition series. By winning three of the four games, the Capitals won the Coca-Cola Cup.

Notable Capitals draftees in the 1975 NHL Draft

This draft was notable because the Capitals traded the first overall pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for center Bill Clement and the Flyers’ first-round pick (#18). The Capitals used this pick to draft Alex Forsythe, who only played one NHL game. Only one player the Capitals drafted in 1976, Peter Scamurra, played in more than 100 NHL games. However, Scamurra never established himself as a regular in the NHL.

Managing Director:

• Milt Schmidt — until December 29
• Max McNab – since 31 December

Head coach:

• Milt Schmidt – until December 29
• Tom McVie – since 31 December

Captain: Bill Clement, Yvon Labre

management

Photo by Nelson Pyatt: Third Goalkeeper Blog

Goals: Nelson Pyatt (26), Tony White (25)
Assists: Hartland Monahan (29), Nelson Pyatt (23)
Points: Nelson Pyatt (49), Hartland Monahan (46), Denis Dupere (35)
Penalty minutes: Yvon Labre (146), Blair Stewart (113)

Photo by Bill Clement: Third Goalie Blog

Notable trades

• June 3, 1975 – 1975 first-round pick (No. 1 overall) was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Bill Clement, Don McLean and the Flyers’ first-round pick (No. 18 overall).
• December 15, 1975 – The Capitals sign defenseman Bob Sirois for future assignments
• January 22, 1976 – Bill Clement was traded to the Atlanta Flames in exchange for forward Gerry Meehan and defenseman Jean Lemieux.

Previous summaries

Season 1974–75

By Diane Doyle