1974-75 NHL SEASON

The '1974-75 NHL season' was the 58th season of the National Hockey League. Eighteen teams each played 80 games. 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. The East Division became the ''Prince of Wales Conference'' and consisted of the ''Adams Division'' and ''Norris Division'' and the West Division became the ''Clarence Campbell Conference'' and consisted of the ''Patrick Division'' and ''Smythe Division''. This further expansion was considered by many ill-fated, and with the World Hockey Association continuing to drain talent away, 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.

Regular season

For the first time ever in the National Hockey League, there was a three-way tie for first place overall. The respective divisional leaders of the Norris, Patrick, and Adams all had 113 points. The Vancouver Canucks, which had been playing in the original East Division since they debuted in the league were moved over to the Campbell Conference and lead the way in the Smythe Division with a comparatively meager 86 points.

Final standings

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes''

''Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold''

Prince of Wales Conference

Adams Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
'Buffalo Sabres'	80	49	16	15	113	354	240	1229
'Boston Bruins'	80	40	26	14	94	345	245	1153
'Toronto Maple Leafs'	80	31	33	16	78	280	309	1079
California Golden Seals	80	19	48	13	51	212	316	1101

Norris Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
'Montreal Canadiens'	80	47	14	19	113	374	225	1155
'Los Angeles Kings'	80	42	17	21	105	269	185	1185
'Pittsburgh Penguins'	80	37	28	15	89	326	289	1119
Detroit Red Wings	80	23	45	12	58	259	335	1078
Washington Capitals	80	8	67	5	21	181	446	1085

Clarence Campbell Conference

Patrick Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
'Philadelphia Flyers'	80	51	18	11	113	293	181	1969
'New York Rangers'	80	37	29	14	88	319	276	1053
'New York Islanders'	80	33	25	22	88	264	221	1118
Atlanta Flames	80	34	31	15	83	243	233	915

Smythe Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
'Vancouver Canucks'	80	38	32	10	86	271	254	965
'St. Louis Blues'	80	35	31	14	84	269	267	1275
'Chicago Black Hawks'	80	37	35	8	82	268	241	1112
Minnesota North Stars	80	23	50	7	53	221	341	1106
Kansas City Scouts	80	15	54	11	41	184	328	744

Scoring leaders

''Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points''

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Bobby Orr	Boston Bruins	80	46	89	135	101
Phil Esposito	Boston Bruins	79	61	66	127	62
Marcel Dionne	Detroit Red Wings	80	47	74	121	14
Guy Lafleur	Montreal Canadiens	70	53	66	119	37
Pete Mahovlich	Montreal Canadiens	80	35	82	117	64
Bobby Clarke	Philadelphia Flyers	80	27	89	116	125
Rene Robert	Buffalo Sabres	74	40	60	100	75
Rod Gilbert	New York Rangers	76	36	61	97	22
Gilbert Perreault	Buffalo Sabres	68	39	57	96	36
Rick Martin	Buffalo Sabres	68	52	43	95	72

Leading goaltenders

Stanley Cup playoffs

''All dates in 1975''
The playoffs were expanded from 8 to 12 teams with the top 3 teams in each division qualifying for the playoffs. The first place teams in each division earned a first round bye, while the 2nd and 3rd place teams were seeded 1-8 based on their regular season record and played a best 2 out of 3 "mini-series." The four division winners then joined the 4 mini series winners in the quarter finals, and they were again re-seeded 1-8 based on regular season record. This re-seeding would take place again in the semi finals, and continues to this day in the current playoff format. Proponents of this re-seeding state that it makes the regular season more important by rewarding teams with better records with potentially easier matchups. In addition, it avoids the potential issue of two lower seeded teams (who may have pulled early round upsets)playing each other in the next round while two higher seeeded teams are playing each other (as is possible in a "bracketed" playoff format like in the NBA).
With the new conference and division structure, the 1975 Stanley Cup playoffs used a new format. Twelve teams qualified for the post-season. The four division winners from the regular season received byes to the quarterfinal round. The next two teams in each division (eight teams total) were ranked according to their regular season point totals, with the highest ranked team playing against the lowest ranked team, and so on, in a best-of-three preliminary round. The four preliminary round winners and four division winners were re-ranked for the subsequent round. The biggest beneficiary of this format was the Vancouver Canucks, who were 9th in the regular season but received a first-round bye for winning the relatively weak Smythe Division.
The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres four games to two for their second consecutive Stanley Cup.

Playoff bracket

NHL awards

Prince of Wales Trophy:	Buffalo Sabres
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:	Philadelphia Flyers
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:	Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:	Don Luce, Buffalo Sabres
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Eric Vail, Atlanta Flames
Conn Smythe Trophy:	Bernie Parent, Philadelphia Flyers
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers
Jack Adams Award:	Bob Pulford, Los Angeles Kings
James Norris Memorial Trophy:	Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Marcel Dionne, Detroit Red Wings
Lester B. Pearson Award:	Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins
NHL Plus/Minus Award:	Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins
Vezina Trophy:	Bernie Parent, Philadelphia Flyers
Lester Patrick Trophy:	Donald M. Clark, William L. Chadwick, Thomas N. Ivan

All-Star teams

First Team	Position	Second Team
Bernie Parent, Philadelphia Flyers	G	Rogie Vachon, Los Angeles Kings
Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins	D	Guy Lapointe, Montreal Canadiens
Denis Potvin, New York Islanders	D	Borje Salming, Toronto Maple Leafs
Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers	C	Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins
Guy Lafleur, Montreal Canadiens	RW	Rene Robert, Buffalo Sabres
Rick Martin, Buffalo Sabres	LW	Steve Vickers, New York Rangers

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1974-75 (listed with their first team, asterisk(
★ ) marks debut in playoffs):

★ Guy Chouinard, Atlanta Flames

★ Danny Gare, Buffalo Sabres

★ Charlie Simmer, California Golden Seals

★ Wilf Paiement, Kansas City Scouts

★ Clark Gillies, New York Islanders

★ Bob Bourne, New York Islanders

★ Rick Middleton, New York Rangers

★ Ron Greschner, New York Rangers

★ Bob MacMillan, New York Rangers

★ Pierre Larouche, Pittsburgh Penguins

★ Tiger Williams, Toronto Maple Leafs

★ Harold Snepsts, Vancouver Canucks

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1974-75 (listed with their last team):

★ Murray Oliver, Minnesota North Stars

★ Henri Richard, Montreal Canadiens

★ Bobby Rousseau, New York Rangers

★ Ted Harris, Philadelphia Flyers

★ Eddie Shack, Toronto Maple Leafs

★ Norm Ullman, Toronto Maple Leafs

★ Doug Mohns, Washington Capitals

References

★ Hockey Database

★ NHL.com

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