Worst NHL Team Ever?

[GretzkytoKurri9917]

I'd say that the three worst teams in history is


1.74-75 Caps
2.92-93 Sens
3.92-93 Sharks

 

[cam0426]

1974-75 Washington Capitals.

Flash back to 1974 and they were another expansion team in its first year in the NHL along with the Kansas City Scouts bring the team complement to 18.

The WHA was also engaged in its expansion with 15 teams.

The total number of teams was 33. This was before the influx of europeans, I think the only non North americans in both leagues were Salming and Hammerstrom of the Leafs.

So the talent was really dilluted.

Don't forget the 1974-75 Winnipeg Jets. In the fall of 74 they brought over Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nillson, Lars Erik Sjoberg, Curt Larrsen, among others. Also the Toronto Toros signed Vaclev Nedomansky and Richard Farda. So the Europeans were coming but mainly in the WHA.

Craig

 

[Peter9]

The 50-51 Blackhawks were an interesting bad team.

They finished last at 13-47-10 and were 36 points out of fifth place!

They allowed 280 goals, which doesn't sound like much by today's standards, but it was 79 goals more than the next highest team. They allowed 4 goals/game in a year in which the top two teams allowed fewer than 2/game!

Now catch this: they actually had a 5-game winning streak and started the season 7-3-2!!!

After a win on February 1st, they went 1-19-1 in their last 21 games, including a 12-game losing streak to close out the season!!

And during that horrendous finale, they had losses where they allowed 10, 11 and 12 goals!!!!


WOW!!

No, in 1950-51, the Chicago Black Hawks, as they were then called, were 25 points out of fifth place, not 36. The last-place Hawks (13-47-10, as you say) had 36 points, and the fifth-place New York Rangers (20-29-21) had 61 points.

But three years later, in 1953-54, the Black Hawks (12-51-7) had only 31 points, which was 37 points behind the fifth-place Rangers (29-31-10), who had 68 points, just two less than the break-even mark in the 70-game season then played. The other four teams were comfortably above the break-even mark with 74, 78, 81 and 88 points. The 1953-54 Hawks had 38 fewer goals against than the 1950-51 Hawks, 242 to 280, but also 38 fewer goals scored, 133 to 171.

That 1953-54 Hawks team is my nominee for the worst NHL team ever. Allowances, I feel, ought to be made for new or expansion teams. But that Hawks team had been in existence for about a quarter of a century. The Norris family may have treated the Hawks as a feeder team for the Red Wings, but there were also stories that a large number of players on the Hawks simply gave up and did not give full effort.

This was the season when I began following NHL hockey after arriving in Canada from England; I was 10 years old. The Hawks were at the bottom through most of the 1950s, so lowly that the other clubs banded together in a Help the Hawks campaign. That's how the Hawks got Eddie Litzenberger from the Canadiens. He had three successive 30-goal seasons for the Hawks and became a second-team all-star center.

It was this club with this terrible record to which Glen Hall, Pierre Pilote, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita came beginning in the late 1950s, and by 1960, I, a Canadiens fan, was already worried the Hawks might have a new dynasty team in the making. I remember being horrified on learning in the early 1960s that the Hawks were on the verge of getting Frank Mahovlich from the Leafs for a million dollars--a figure undreamed of in those days. The thought of the Hawks having Mahovlich as well as Hull was almost too much to bear. Fortunately (for me and my Canadiens), the deal fell through, and the Big M stayed with the Leafs.

 

[Buck Aki Berg]

The best comment I heard by a former player on the 1992-93 Senators team, is

"We're actually a good team, we just play in a really good league".

There was another good line from Peter Sidorkiewicz that season - in an interview after being destroyed by Pittsburgh at home, he was talking about a bad pass he made while playing the puck behind the net. His pass was intercepted by Kevin Stevens, who passed over to Jagr, who popped it in the still-empty net. When one of the reporters asked him about the play, he said defensively "Look, if I knew Jagr was open, I never would have passed it to Stevens!"

 

[gifted88]

Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the Blackhawks so terrible the NHL actually took players from the other teams and put them on the Hawks?

 

[ColdSteel2]

92-93 Sharks, no doubt about it. Hackett went 2-30-1 with that team. I remember looking at the back of his hockey cards as a kid and thinking "We're his teammates trying to get him traded or something?"

 

[SealsFan]

No, in 1950-51, the Chicago Black Hawks, as they were then called, were 25 points out of fifth place, not 36. The last-place Hawks (13-47-10, as you say) had 36 points, and the fifth-place New York Rangers (20-29-21) had 61 points.

Good catch Peter, got my numbers mixed up there; 36 was their total points and not how many points they were behind fifth place...

 

[NewtJorden]

Either the 74-75 Capitals or the 92-93 Sharks

 

[john g]

also non-NHL, but very very difficult to top this:

1986-87 Omaha Lancers in the USHL

The 1986-87 Lancer team was 0-46-2, winless for the entire season and making it into Sports Illustrated for this feat of futility. Their last two game away series was against the Des Moines Buccaneers during the 1986-87 season. The last game of that year, Sunday, March 4th 1987, almost ended in victory. The teams were tied after regulation. The Lancers almost pulled it out in overtime, only to lose eventually, 3-2, during this cliffhanging battle. The only known Pro player from the 1986-87 Lancer team, Antti Autere, was from Helsinki, Finland. He later played in the ECHL. The Lancers franchise owes a debt of gratitude to the many players from that season, as they were on the brink of throwing in the towel and folding many times. This group of misfit players and coaches stuck it out, under staffed and out played, so that within only 4 seasons, the Lancers won both the Anderson Cup, for best regular season record, and the Clark Cup for winning the season playoff title as well. Since their inception the Lancers have gone on to produce perhaps the most Division I and Pro players in all of the USHL.

 

[MS]

The truly incredible thing about the 1974-75 and 1975-76 Capitals and Scouts is that the league was actually attempting to 'fix' games in their favour to make the franchises look more respectable.

NHL President Clarence Campbell had instructed the NHL referees to 'equal the playing field' in games involving those two teams (and the California Seals) and in both seasons they received absolutely massive PP advantages in their favour - averaging about an extra 2 man advantages/game and 150 or so over the course of the seasons.

It boggles the mind to think of how badly those teams would have been if the games had been refereed fairly.

 

[WingsFan95]

One can look at it two ways when comparing bead teams across eras.

In the 70s, teams, especially in hockey, were rather cheap to own. I don't know what the Scouts or Barons cost, but considering current NHL ownership adjusted for both inflation and popularity of the league.

I wouldn't be surprised if some low-end teams of the 70s were worth less than a million. You had teams owned by several just above average income individuals who couldn't run a team, players worked 2nd jobs and weren't all that well scouted.


Then again, you can also look at the modern era in parity and teams that did horrendous in the 90s or 00s was because of completely lack of passion or sensible coaching, etc.


I'd bring up the 01-02 Thrashers for the later example.

Here you have a team that on paper did do better than the inaugural season, but I digress:

Started 1-5-1 ( won first game of the season )
Then proceeded to go 3-14-2

Their 19 wins were as follows by margin:

13 one goal wins
2 two goal wins
4 three or more goal wins


They also finished the season on a 9 game winless streak.

In this era, that's disgusting.


But the 92-93 Sens are up, up there.

 

[Blades of Glory]

The 1992-93 Sharks had three players that were -50. And fourteen players that were a -25 or worse.

 

[gifted88]

Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the Blackhawks so terrible the NHL actually took players from the other teams and put them on the Hawks?

Can someone confirm or deny this? I think it was in between the '20's and the 40's

 

[SealsFan]

The truly incredible thing about the 1974-75 and 1975-76 Capitals and Scouts is that the league was actually attempting to 'fix' games in their favour to make the franchises look more respectable.

NHL President Clarence Campbell had instructed the NHL referees to 'equal the playing field' in games involving those two teams (and the California Seals) and in both seasons they received absolutely massive PP advantages in their favour - averaging about an extra 2 man advantages/game and 150 or so over the course of the seasons.

It boggles the mind to think of how badly those teams would have been if the games had been refereed fairly.

Wow, this is the first I'm hearing of this. What is your source for this info?

 

[MS]

Wow, this is the first I'm hearing of this. What is your source for this info?

Bah - I can't find one right now but it has been talked about here in the past.

One look at the penalty stats from those seasons will tell you immediately that something very fishy was happening:

http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1976.html

Note that all the top teams in the league have negative PP differentials and all the bottom teams (save Detroit) have massive positive PP differentials.

Washington and California are 1-2 both in most PPs received and fewest PPs conceded.

 

[pappyline]

Can someone confirm or deny this? I think it was in between the '20's and the 40's

Nope, Chicago was a reasonably competitive team from 1926-1940. Won a couple of cups,

However as Peter9 mentioned there was a help the Hawks campaign in the 50's. Got harry Watson from toronto and most notably Ed Ltzenberger from the Habs. Litz was there for the turnaround & captained the 61 cup winner.

 

[nutbar]

Speaking of Victoria, 1989-90 Cougars went 5-65-2. Worst team in WHL history.

Victoria never won more than 20 games in a season from 1990 to 1994. The Cougars became a terrible franchise in their last few years in the WHL. I believe their number of season ticket holders was numbered in the double digits.

 

[Taoiseach]

Nope, Chicago was a reasonably competitive team from 1926-1940. Won a couple of cups,

However as Peter9 mentioned there was a help the Hawks campaign in the 50's. Got harry Watson from toronto and most notably Ed Ltzenberger from the Habs. Litz was there for the turnaround & captained the 61 cup winner.

No in 28-29 they were 7-29-8, and were 7-34-3 the year before that.

28-29 was fun, because the team leader in points was Vic Ripley with 13! They also got shut out 8 games in a row, from 7 February to 28 February. The only scored three goals in the entire month of February - a 3-2 loss to NYR on the second, and a 1-0 win over Detroit. They went 0-6-2 for the rest of the month, as usual that season Charlie Gardiner was the only player worth mentioning. He somehow got five shutouts, including two in that infamous eight game stretch.

I'm aware of a number of trades in that era with the two Montreal Teams, but I can't say as though I know of any being assigned to Chicago. The NHL did make the other teams in the NHL send players to Hamilton in 1920 though, after the Tigers were proving to be entirely non-competitive.

 

[andreydali19]

Is it too late to set up a poll between the obvious few?

 

[WingsFan95]

Is it too late to set up a poll between the obvious few?

Do it.

 

[SealsFan]

Interesting...

Bah - I can't find one right now but it has been talked about here in the past.

One look at the penalty stats from those seasons will tell you immediately that something very fishy was happening:

http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1976.html

Note that all the top teams in the league have negative PP differentials and all the bottom teams (save Detroit) have massive positive PP differentials.

Washington and California are 1-2 both in most PPs received and fewest PPs conceded.

 

[Iain Fyffe]

1917-18 Montreal Wanderers. 1-5 record. Outscored by opponents 35-17, gave up almost 6 goals a game. Folded in January 1918 when their arena was destroyed by fire.

Three-year-old correction:

The Wanderers were really 1-3, since their last two losses were defaults. This means they actually gave up almost nine goals per game, not six.

 

[Iain Fyffe]

Wow look at that 28-29 blackhawks team that only scored 33 goals all season

Another three-year-old comment:

Bear in mind that the average NHL team scored 64 goals that year, or 1.46 per game. It wasn't just the Blackhawks, though they were by far the worst that year, it was a very low-scoring time.

 

[EpochLink]

The 80-81 Winnipeg Jets, beyond bad.

Thankfully, it got us Hawerchuk and we had a successful decade the rest of the way.

 

[NHL Dude 120]

Flordia Panthers hands down