The Capitals were bleeding red ink by the Summer of 1982. Owner Abe Pollin said if financial relief wasn't provided, the team would be folded, merged or moved.
Return now to the Summer of (Hockey) Love that "Saved The Caps".

On many home dates in their first eight seasons, the Capitals played before more empty seats than paying customers. Such indifference had already doomed the Caps' 1974 expansion twins from Kansas City.

When K.C.'s Scouts relocated to Denver after just two years, the misery went with them. Financial losses matched the on-ice variety for the new Colorado Rockies, who went through 3 ownership groups in 6 years.

With bills piling up a Mile High, "The Rockies are exploring a merger with the Washington Capitals." So reported The New York Times on New Year's Day in 1982.

However, nomadic Rockies never reached Landover. The team was sold once again and moved to New Jersey.

Amazingly, this didn't end the mating dance between the two franchises. Just months after the Rockies offered to dissolve into the Capitals, Washington owner Abe Pollin announced his own team had suffered a $3.5 million loss the prior season.

As the Times speculated on August 21, 1982, "If the Capitals fail to win tax relief, the alternative would likely be a merger in which they would be absorbed by the New Jersey Devils. Negotiations for such a merger, principals from both teams said, have been under way for several weeks."

Instead, Pollin got his tax break, while businesses & individuals shelled out for season tickets, as part of that summer's successful "Save The Caps" campaign. Though it would be fair to say that from then on, Abe had an especially Rocky relationship with Capitals fans.

Facts & Figures Behind "Save The Caps"

Compiled by Dave McKenna of the Washington City Paper:

• Channel 4 aired a ticket-selling telethon. That's tuxedo-clad WRC sports anchor George Michael at left, asking fans to make those phones jingle!

• The local Special Olympics chapter used contributions to buy tickets.

• The Washington Post bought all unsold tickets for one of the Caps’ first 12 home games

(11 other businesses did the same).

• That was despite Pollin's full page ad blasting skeptical Post columnists for “inaccuracies,” “half-truths,” and “slanted journalism."

• Organizer Steve Mehlman and "a volunteer posse worked phone banks at the Capital Centre from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day to sell season tickets."

• Pollin was willing to sell the team for $7.5 million.

• If sold, they could have remained the "Washington" Capitals, because
one interested buyer was the Tacoma Dome.

• Three of Pollin's demands for staying -
10 sellouts, tax breaks, lower rent - were met.

• The 4th threshold, a season-ticket base of 7,500, fell short by 1,900.

No Guarantees

In previous seasons, Pollin had tried almost anything to goose ticket sales, including "Guaranteed Win Nights." And before the 1978-79 season, he generated the original "Cash for Clunkers" promotion.

From AP: "Abe Pollin offered to rebate 20 percent of the purchase price of any season ticket holder who was dissatisfied with the team's peformance."

The Capitals proceeded to create chaos by changing coaches two days before the season started, stumbled through a 24-41-15 campaign, and missed the playoffs.

So maybe it's surprising that only about half of the 4,200 season ticket holders requested those refunds. With an average rebate of $56, Pollin had to return more than $100,000.

The gimmick also failed to spur sales - the number of season tickets sold actually dropped by 500 from the previous year.

Montreal Seasoning

Of course, the only reliable method to move tickets is winning. The summer 1982 trade that brought Rod Langway and three Montreal teammates to Washington made the team a perennial playoff contender - and in the long run, that's what really Saved The Caps.

Just as important as their talents, Langway & Co. brought with them a badly-needed injection of Winning Attitude - turning Hab-nots into Habs.

General Manager David Poile, who engineered the trade, told Sports Illustrated, "It was the Montreal influence that ultimately pulled us through."

"After one early loss," wrote E.M. Swift, "the ordinarily quiet (Doug) Jarvis stood at his locker screaming about the value of team play. Says Langway, 'We'd lose 4-1, and the guy who scored the goal would be happy. Those of us who had come from Montreal had never seen that before and it ticked us off. You play not to be scored on. It took a while to turn that attitude around.'"

Welcome To Washington

The first attitude that had to be turned around, was Langway's. Remember, he and his teammates had started their careers in the hockey hotbed of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with its rich tradition, fanatical following, and championship pedigree. So it was quite the culture shock to find out both the facilities and fanbase in D.C. weren't in the same league. Reminiscing in an interview with WTEM Radio 980 (audio at right), Langway is justifiably proud of his part in the upgrades - on and off the ice - that quickly followed his arrival.

Unwatchable to Unbeatable

It's hard to fathom the Capitals turnaround in 1982-83. Even NHL royalty couldn't believe it was the same franchise that had floundered for eight years.

Take the 3-time defending Champion N.Y. Islanders. They would go on to win a fourth consecutive title, but that didn't stop the Caps from dismantling them, 5-1 in Uniondale on Dec. 23, 1982.

The victory increased a Capitals unbeaten streak to 14 games (9-0-5).

Al Arbour, coach of the powerful Islanders, made some rare admissions. "They outplayed us, outworked us, beat us to the puck, beat us in every department. They made us look like a last place hockey team." (AP game story)

The Best Trades The Caps Never Made

Everyone knows about the major trade between the Capitals and Canadiens in 1982. Forgotten is that the two teams discussed a different big deal just months earlier.

Roger Crozier was the Caps’ acting General Manager at the time, early in the ’81-’82 season. According to the Montreal Gazette, Crozier dangled his 1st round draft choice.

In return, Crozier wanted two of Montreal’s front-line players. Gazette sources named forward Doug Wickenheiser as one of those players.

A former top draft pick himself, Wickenheiser suffered a tough rookie season under the glare of the Montreal media and fans. Crozier confirmed he was also interested in re-acquiring former Caps defenseman Robert Picard.

Of course, the trade never happened. Wickenheiser finally arrived in Washington in 1989, where he scored the final three goals of his decade-long career. Keeping that 1982 1st round pick turned out to be a wise move, as Crozier selected future Hall-of-Famer Scott Stevens – two months before Crozier was fired.

His replacement, David Poile, traded for the Montreal Four just two weeks later. Then came one more surprising Gazette headline: “Bruins Eyeing Langway.”

Rod Langway grew up a half-hour ride from the Boston Garden. The Bruins had been trying to pry the big defenseman away from Montreal for years. General Manager Harry Sinden never succeeded with his archrival, but thought he might be able to sweet-talk the still wet behind the ears Capitals GM.

Fortunately, Poile stood firm, and that’s how Rod Langway and Scott Stevens ended up as the Caps’ bruising backline throughout the 1980’s.

Marooned Maruk

According to the City Paper, the fan-inspired "Save The Caps" campaign was hatched inside "Maruk's", an Alexandria, Va. restaurant owned by high-scoring Caps center Dennis Maruk.

That the Capitals ultimately stayed put had to be a relief to Maruk.

See, Dennis began his NHL career with the California Seals in 1975. A year later, the franchise left Oakland and Maruk became a Cleveland Baron. Two years after that, the Barons folded. Maruk was dispersed to the Minnesota North Stars, then traded to the Caps.

Four years into his D.C. term, the Caps almost went belly up. Dennis must have wondered how he'd offended the hockey gods.

Just one season later, Maruk was on the move again, traded back to Minnesota. Fortunately, he was four years into retirement when the Stars franchise relocated to Dallas... meaning 3 of the 4 NHL teams Maruk played for no longer exist!

Oh, and "Maruk's" restaurant? Yep, out of business within a year.