1974–75 NHL season
| 1974–75 NHL season | |
|---|---|
| League | National Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | October 9, 1974 – May 27, 1975 |
| Number of games | 80 |
| Number of teams | 18 |
| Regular season | |
| Season champions | Philadelphia Flyers |
| Season MVP | Bobby Clarke, (Philadelphia Flyers) |
| Top scorer | Bobby Orr, (Boston Bruins) |
| Playoffs | |
| Playoffs Playoffs MVP | Bernie Parent, (Philadelphia Flyers) |
| Stanley Cup | |
| Champions | Philadelphia Flyers |
| Runners-up | Buffalo Sabres |
The 1974–75 NHL season was the 58th season of the National Hockey League. Two new teams, the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts were added, increasing the number of teams to 18. To accommodate the new teams, the NHL re-organized its divisional structure and playoff format. The Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive year.
With the addition of two new teams, the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts, the NHL bumped up the number of games from 78 to 80 and split the previously two-division league into four divisions and two conferences. Because the new conferences and divisions had little to do with North American geography, geographical references were also removed until 1993. The East Division became the Prince of Wales Conference and consisted of the Adams Division and Norris Division. The West Division became the Clarence Campbell Conference and consisted of the Patrick Division and Smythe Division. The Capitals had the worst season ever recorded in the history of major professional hockey, and the third worst in the postwar era the following season, while the Scouts the following season would have the fifth worst record of the postwar era.
In early 1975, newspapers reported that the California Golden Seals and Pittsburgh Penguins were to be relocated to Denver and Seattle respectively, in an arrangement that would have seen the two teams sold to groups in those cities that had already been awarded "conditional" franchises for the 1976-77 season. After staunchly rejecting previous franchise relocation attempts, league president Clarence Campbell saw this as a method by which the NHL might extricate itself from two problem markets, while honoring the expansion commitments it had made. The Penguins ended up staying in Pittsburgh (and ultimately, over time, made Pittsburgh one of the NHL's stronger markets), while the Golden Seals would move to Cleveland in 1976 to become the Cleveland Barons before merging with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978. While Seattle has yet to have an NHL team, the Scouts gave up on Kansas City after two seasons and moved to Denver to become the Colorado Rockies in 1976 before moving east to East Rutherford, New Jersey in 1982 and becoming the New Jersey Devils; Denver would return to the NHL in 1995 when the Quebec Nordiques moved there and became the Colorado Avalanche, where they remain to this day.
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