The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are an American professional ice hockey club with its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The team is a member of the National Hockey League (NHL) as an affiliate of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, and is managed by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, and led by Ted Leonsis. The Capitals initially played their game at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland and then moved to the arena currently known as Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. in 1997.
The Capitals were founded in 1974 in order to grow the business, along with The Kansas City Scouts, and was not successful for the first eight years in existence. When it was established in 1982 David Poile was hired as the team’s general manager. He helped to turn the franchise’s fortunes around. With a core group of players such as Mike Gartner, Rod Langway, Larry Murphy, and Scott Stevens, the Capitals became a regular playoff contender throughout the following 14 seasons. Following the purchase of the team from the 1999 season, Leonsis renewed the brand through the drafting of star players such as Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, and Braden Holtby. The 2009-10 Capitals took home the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy for being the team with the most points at the conclusion each regular season. They won it again a two-time in the 2015-16 season, and for a third time in the 2016-17 season. In addition to 12 division titles and three Presidents’ Awards, the Capitals have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998 and in 2018, winning the latter.
The Capitals have taken off the use of four numbers in recognition the four members. In addition, the team is associated with a number of individuals who were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Capitals are currently associated by two minor league clubs: The Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League and the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL.
History
Early years (1974-1982)
The NHL awarded an expansion franchise to the city of Washington on June 8, 1972, and the Capitals were added to as a team in NHL to form an additional team for the 1974-75 season alongside the Kansas City Scouts. They were owned by Capitals were owned by Abe Pollin (also owner of the National Basketball Association’s Washington Bullets/Wizards). Pollin was the one who built his own Capital Centre in suburban Landover, Maryland, to house both the Bullets (who were previously in Baltimore) and the Capitals. His first step as owner was to hire Hall of Hall of Famer Milt Schmidt as the General Manager.
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With thirty teams within both the NHL and the World Hockey Association (WHA) it was clear that the talent pool was not enough. The Capitals did not have many players with experience in professional sports and were in a disadvantage when compared to teams with long histories that had an abundance of veteran players. Similar to the three other teams that joined the league during the WHA time frame–the Scouts (later they became the Colorado Rockies and now the New Jersey Devils), Atlanta Flames (now playing in Calgary) and the New York Islanders, the Capitals were not able to incorporate into their plans the possibility of survival for the opposing league when they planned their teams.
Two hockey players in complete helmets and pads are on the skates, both in motion along with two more ahead of them.
The Capitals’ inaugural season was terrible, even by standard for expansion. They posted almost the worst score in the league at 8-67-5. Their 21 points were less than that of their rivals from the expansion phase, the Scouts. Their eight wins are the most for an NHL team playing more than 70 games as well as the .131 winning percentage remains the worst for any team in NHL history. In addition, they broke the records in terms of most loss on the road (39 among 40), most successive road defeats (37) and the most consecutive losses (17). 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 had to take over the reins of coaching late in the season.
In 1975-76, Washington played 25 consecutive matches without a win, and gave up 394 goals en way to a record that was even worse 11-59-10 (32 points). In the middle of the season, Schmidt became the general manager, replaced by Max McNab and as head coach by Tom McVie. In the 1970s and the early 1980s the Capitals had a turbulent time, going through terrible seasons that saw them only finish few points away from their Stanley Cup playoffs; in 1980 and 1981, for instance, they were in playoff contention through the final day to play. The one bright spot during these years of futility was that many of McNab’s draft picks (e.g., Rick Green, Ryan Walter, Mike Gartner, Bengt Gustafsson, Gaetan Duchesne and Bobby Carpenter) would impact the team for many years to come for a variety of reasons, such as being key members of the team or crucial pieces in major trades.
Pollin stuck it out through the Capitals in the first decade of their existence, even when they just barely competitive. This was in stark contrast to the Scouts which were forced to move to Denver after only two years as their original owners did not have the financial resources or the endurance to stand the challenges of an expanding team. By the summer of 1982, however there was talk of the team’s move out from their home in the U.S. capital and the “Save the Caps” campaign was in the works. In the following months, two major developments took place to bring back the team.
Gartner-Langway era (1982-1993)
In the beginning, the team was hired David Poile as general manager. In his first decision, Poile pulled off one of the biggest deals in franchise history when he made a deal on 9 September 1982, when he sold long-time team members Ryan Walter and Rick Green to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Rod Langway (named captain only two weeks later) and Brian Engblom, Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin. The move turned the franchise around, and Langway’s solid defense allowed the team significantly reduce its goals-against, and the prolific goal-scoring of Dennis Maruk, Mike Gartner and Bobby Carpenter fueled the offensive attack. Another major move was the selection of defenseman Scott Stevens during the 1982 NHL Entry Draft (the pick was made by the interim chief of staff Roger Crozier, prior to Poile’s selection). The result was a 29-point jump which led to a third-place finish within the competitive Patrick Division, and the team’s first playoff appearance in 1983. Even though they were eliminated by the three-time defending (and final) Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders (three games to one) However, the Caps’ spectacular turnaround put to rest all talk of the club to leave Washington.
Fourteen consecutive appearances in the playoffs (1983-1996)
The Capitals were in the playoffs each of the following 14 seasons in a row, eventually becoming popular for their slow start, before catching fire in January and February. However, their regular-season success didn’t carry over to the playoffs. Despite an ongoing parade of superstars like Gartner, Carpenter, Langway, Gustafsson, Stevens, Mike Ridley, Dave Christian, Dino Ciccarelli, Larry Murphy, and Kevin Hatcher, Washington was lost in either the first or second round seven years in consecutive seasons. In 1985-86, as an example, the Caps had 107 points and scored 50 games for the first time in the history of the team that was good enough for their third-best record in NHL. They beat The Islanders on the initial round, but lost in the 2nd round to New York Rangers. New York Rangers.
The 1986-87 season brought even more heartbreak with defeat in the final to the Islanders to reach the Patrick Division Semifinals. The series was concluded by the classic Easter Epic game, which ended at 1:56 am on Easter Sunday 1987. The Capitals have dominated the majority times, shooting the Islanders 75-52. However, they lost in overtime after goalie Bob Mason was beaten on an Pat LaFontaine shot from the blue line. To make the 1989 playoffs, Gartner and Murphy were swapped with the Minnesota North Stars in exchange for Ciccarelli and defenseman Bob Rouse. But the goalie once failed and the team was eliminated in the opening round by the Philadelphia Flyers. The Capitals reached they made it into the Wales Conference Finals in 1990 but fell in a sweep of four games at defeat of the top-ranked Boston Bruins.
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