Kansas City Scouts

Kansas City Scouts
Played	1974-1976
Home ice	Kemper Arena
Based in	Kansas City, Missouri USA
Colors	Blue, Red & Yellow
League	National Hockey League

The Kansas City Scouts was an ice hockey franchise that played in the National Hockey League from 1974-1976 out of Kansas City, Missouri. In 1976 the franchise relocated to Denver, Colorado and became the Colorado Rockies.

Arena: Kemper Arena

Uniform colours: Blue, Red & Yellow

Logo design: A blue American Indian figure with a single feather on his head riding a horse, resembling a famous statue in Kansas City, also known as "The Scout". Beside the horse is a stylized "KC" in yellow.

Franchise history

Kansas City was awarded an NHL franchise on June 8, 1972. The first choice for a nickname was MO-Hawks, an attempt to appeal to both Kansas and Missouri residents (the Kansas City metropolitan area spills across both states) and incorporating Missouri's postal abbreviation, but the name was vetoed by the Chicago Blackhawks. The second choice, the Scouts, was then chosen.

Along with the Washington Capitals, the Scouts joined the NHL as an expansion team for the 1974-75 season. With a combined 30 teams between the NHL and the rival World Hockey Association, the talent pool available to stock the new teams was extremely thin. In their first season, the Capitals would set an NHL record for futility, losing 67 of 80 games, and only winning one on the road. The Scouts fared only marginally better, and the expansion was widely seen as having been a mistake.

They played their home games at Kemper Arena. The team was not a particular success either at the gate or on the ice. Rising oil prices and a falling commodity market made for hard going in the Midwest during the 1970s. Scout Steve Durbano led the league in penalty minutes during the 1975-76 season. For a time in late 1975, the team looked like it could actually make the playoffs -- after a 3-1 win over California on December 28 they stood just one point behind St. Louis in the weak Smythe Division -- but hopes were dashed when the Scouts could win only one of their remaining 44 games (1-35-8). Efforts by management to save the franchise by selling 8,000 season tickets failed, and the club only sold 2,000.

After two seasons, with its owners $900,000 in debt, the franchise was relocated to Denver where it became the Colorado Rockies, who in turn became the New Jersey Devils after 1982. The Scouts (along with the California Golden Seals who moved to Cleveland and became the Cleveland Barons the same year) were the first NHL teams since the 1934-35 NHL season to relocate. Denver, along with Seattle, were to have been granted franchises in an aborted 1976 NHL expansion, and the Seals were also reported to have been considering relocating to Denver.

Wilf Paiement was the last active player in the NHL to have played for the Scouts. He retired in 1988, ending his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Season-by-season

1974-75 - 15 wins, 54 losses, 11 ties (41 pts., 5th Place Smythe Division)
1975-76 - 12 wins, 56 losses, 12 ties (36 pts., 5th Place Smythe Division)

Team captains

Simon Nolet 1974-76

First round draft picks

1974: Wilf Paiement (2nd overall)
1975: Barry Dean (2nd overall)

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Franchise history

Season-by-season

Team captains

First round draft picks

See also