EDIT 11/30/2023, 1:48 p.m.: One star player's first name wasn't included on first reference. It's fixed now.
This retrospective mainly covers what happened in the '74 calendar year.
After leaving Canada with a win, a loss, and two ties, the Soviet national team defeats the WHA All-Stars in three out of four games in Moscow; the other game is a tie. The team representing Canada, which includes all three Howes, Winnipeg Jets player-coach Bobby Hull, and '72 Summit Series hero Paul Henderson, defeats Finland in Helsinki and Sweden in Gothenburg on the way to Moscow, and they lose to Czechoslovakia in Prague on the way home. Hull scores nine points against the Soviets and Gordie Howe gets seven.
In the NHL, this season is the debut of the Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals. With this expansion, the league is realigned into the Wales Conference and the Campbell Conference, each of which has two divisions.
Northlands Coliseum (now Rexall Place) opens, and it will be the home of the WHA's Edmonton Oilers for at least 40 years.
The New England Whalers play games in West Springfield, Massachusetts – where they had played their '74 playoff games – for the season up to and including Jan. 4, 1975. On Jan. 11, they play their first game at the Hartford Civic Center. Except for some time in the late '70s, the Whalers will keep calling Hartford home until 1997.
Ken Dryden is back on the Canadiens. After a year of absence, he has the third-best GAA in the NHL (2.69). He led the league in '72-73 with 2.26.
Speaking of the Canadiens, they begin a streak of 23 road games without a loss Nov. 27.
In the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, the Buffalo Sabres use their eleventh-round pick on made-up Japanese player Taro Tsujimoto. Among the real players drafted are future Hall of Famers Clark Gillies of the Regina Pats and Bryan Trottier of the Swift Current (now Lethbridge) Broncos, both Islanders selections.
The Toronto Maple Leafs draft the Broncos' Dave "Tiger" Williams, who had 854 penalty minutes in 204 games with Swift Current, but also 108 goals and 133 assists. In '74-75, he has 202 penalty minutes in 39 games with the Oklahoma City Blazers and 187 in 42 games with the Maple Leafs.
With the first pick, the Capitals select Greg Joly of the Pats. The second pick belongs to the Scouts, and they choose Wilf Paiement of the St. Catharines Black Hawks.
The WHA's third season is the first for which plus-minus figures are available.
Guy Lafleur of the Montreal Canadiens has his breakout season with 53 goals and 66 assists.
Phil Esposito scores his 500th career goal Dec. 22 at the Boston Garden against the Detroit Red Wings. This is his 803rd career game, and he is the sixth to reach 500.
Esposito and Bobby Orr play what turns out to be their last season together and Orr's last season before his premature decline.
In the opening game of the season for the WHA's Phoenix Roadrunners, rookie Robbie Ftorek scores a hat trick.
Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson both join the Winnipeg Jets after playing in Sweden.
Defenseman Vyacheslav Fetisov plays a single game this season that begins a distinguished 15-year run with CSKA Moscow. He and fellow future Hall of Famer Peter Stastny play for their respective countries for the first time (Stastny's is Czechoslovakia) at the European Junior Championship.
Gordie Howe's 99 points bring him to 2,008 combined for NHL and WHA games.
The Minnesota Fighting Saints acquire the players who will be made famous in the 1977 movie Slap Shot. They select Dave Hanson and two of the Carlson brothers (Jack and Steve) in the '74 draft and sign the third Carlson brother, Jeff.
The 1974 Summit Series, as told by a site specializing on it
A narrative of the '74 Summit Series from a '72 Summit Series fan site
The short history of the Scouts from Sports E-Cyclopedia
The official story on Taro Tsujimoto from the Sabres' site
Ulf Nilsson's bio on the Hockey Hall of Fame Web site
COMING SHORTLY: Bill Walton as #1 pick, David Thompson as a college star, and more from the world of basketball in 1974.
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