Entering the 1974-75 season the Los Angeles Kings had never posted a winning record since their founding in 1967 as part of the NHL’s Great Expansion. Despite having a rich and passionate owner, Jack Kent Cooke, the Kings never were able to develop a team that could seriously contend, nor ignite much interest in a market that was saturated with the MLB Dodgers, NBA Lakers, NFL Rams, USC football, and UCLA basketball. The Kings had a loyal core of about 9,000 fans and were a niche franchise. But the 1974-75 season did much to change the perception and expectation of the franchise.
Pully Builds Structure of Success
The Kings entered the 1974-75 season after having their first ever non-losing campaign the previous year with a mark of 33-33-12 under head coach Bob Pulford, who took over in 1972, and gave the Kings a much needed sense of direction and structure. Pulford may have actually been a man ahead of his time, as the Kings played the type of defense oriented style that is a mainstay of today’s game.
Rogie Finds a Home
A big part of Pulford’s structure and defense first tactics was goaltender Rogatien Vachon, who was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens, where he won two Stanley Cups. At Montreal Vachon was a number two netminder behind Gump Worsley, and later a young Ken Dryden, who became an instant superstar after backstopping the Habs 1971 Stanley Cup as a rookie.
Dryden took over a massive workload in 1972 making Vachon available to the Kings. As it turned out, Vachon would become a legend in LA’s gaudy purple and gold uniforms.
The Kings were not favored to do much in 1974-75 but that previous .500 season did end with just the third playoff berth in team history and set the table for bigger things to come.
Key Components
Although the Kings did not have a pure finishing scorer such as Boston’s Phil Esposito or Montreal’s Guy LaFleur, they did have solid scoring depth led by Bob Nevin’s 30 goals followed by Mike Murphy with 30, Dan Maloney with 27, Butch Goring with 27, Juha Widing with 26, Bob Berry with 25, and Tom Williams with 24.
Goring in particular was showing great potential as a goal scorer and he would later go on to be a key member of the New York Islanders four-year Stanley Cup run of 1980-1983.
On defense, the Kings did not have a great playmaking threat such as Bobby Orr of Boston or Brad Park of the New York Rangers. Outside of Bob Murdoch, who had 13 goals and 29 assists; the Kings boasted a blue line corps that focused on the shutdown with such players as Terry Harper, Sheldon Kannegiesser, Neil Komadoski, Larry Brown, and Dave Hutchison.
Vachon finished with a sparking 2.24 goals against average which was outstanding in an era of much higher scoring games than what is the case today.
Breakout
The 1974-75 Kings were the first really good team in franchise history and finished 42-17-21 with a win percentage of .656 and attendance that boomed to over 12,500 per game. The Kings were drawing nearly as well as the Lakers and games against such teams as Montreal would command hundreds of dollars from scalpers.
Vachon and the Kings made the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1975 in recognition of a showdown game with Montreal that was sold out at the Fabulous Forum in LA. It was all part of a breakout season that had a big time feel and gave the Kings a much needed shot of credibility.
Cooked in the Playoffs
The season ended with a disappointing 2-1 Preliminary Series loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. A big reason for the playoff failure was Cooke, who would not pay for a more favorable flight time from Toronto back to LA for the pivotal game three. The Kings were fatigued as a result and eliminated by the well-rested and fresher Leafs. Cook could be cantankerous and the move proved to be penny wise and pound foolish, likely costing the Kings a shot at a deep playoff run.
But that upset loss in the playoffs cannot take away from what was a turning point for the Kings and one of the most important seasons in franchise history.
