Worst record for a junior or above team? Saskatoon Jr Quakers 1956-57

[Bentleyguy]

Max Bentley was a Hall of Famer and one of the all time greats. However, his first year of coaching was not successful to say the least. Under his guidance, the Saskatoon Jr Quakers has a full season record of 1 win, 50 losses, 0 ties, with 103 goals for, and 332 goas against in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

And if I recall correctly, the Jr Quakers didn't win their first game until game 48 or so.

There may be junior teams or above with worse records but I haven't found them.

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[Michael Farkas]

Not sure if it counts, but the short-lived Plattsburgh Pioneers lost all 17 of their games in the QMJHL in 1985. They were outscored 185-56 in those 17 games. Meaning, their average loss was about 11-3.

For a full season, in the MHL (Russia's junior league), the Chinese team went 1-61-2 in 2019-20. They were outscored 84:451. The one win was when the Chinese players were away for national team duty and they played with like 10 Russians haha

 

[The Panther]

It's gonna be tough to beat a record of 1 and 50.

But, inevitably, we have to mention the 1974-75 NHL(!) Washington Capitals, probably the single worst club of all time.

In particular, let's look at their record in 40 games on the road.

They went 1-39-0 on the road. (The only game they won was a 1-goal [plus EN goal] win over California, themselves the third-worst team in the League that year). On the road, the Capitals were outscored 254 to 83.

How bad were the 1974-75 Caps overall at even strength? 13 different skaters went -40 or worse, and seven of those 13 played only 75% or less of the games. 9 different skaters went -54 or worse. 5 different skaters went -60 or worse. (The incredible Jack Lynch achieved the mind-numbing "feat" of going -54 in only 20 games played with Washington.)

 

[Doctor No]

Not sure if it counts, but the short-lived Plattsburgh Pioneers lost all 17 of their games in the QMJHL in 1985. They were outscored 185-56 in those 17 games. Meaning, their average loss was about 11-3.

For a full season, in the MHL (Russia's junior league), the Chinese team went 1-61-2 in 2019-20. They were outscored 84:451. The one win was when the Chinese players were away for national team duty and they played with like 10 Russians haha

Plattsburgh was who I initially thought of - here's a good Brian Costello summary of their existence:

https://thehockeynews.com/news/plattsburgh-pioneers-the-worst-hockey-team-ever

The purging of the records was aggravating - and the effort to build Kiers' and Currie's goaltender statistics was frustrating (especially on a league known for its great historical archives online).

 

[overpass]

Max Bentley was a Hall of Famer and one of the all time greats. However, his first year of coaching was not successful to say the least. Under his guidance, the Saskatoon Jr Quakers has a full season record of 1 win, 50 losses, 0 ties, with 103 goals for, and 332 goas against in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

And if I recall correctly, the Jr Quakers didn't win their first game until game 48 or so.

There may be junior teams or above with worse records but I haven't found them.

Max's brother Doug was the manager for this team, and Max and Doug were co-owners. The Chicago Black Hawks were the NHL sponsors for the club.

It was the team's first year of operation and the Quakers were not expected to be competitive. There was no expansion draft or entry draft, so a first year club had to sign players away from other clubs, or bring in young talent from lower leagues. Rather than importing a few 19 year olds to ice a competitive team, Max and Doug decided to build for the future with the best available young Saskatoon players, and they filled out the roster from Saskatoon juvenile and midget clubs. As a result the Quakers were easily the youngest team in the league. Most of their players were under 18, and John Goodwin was their only 19 year old regular.

The next year, with largely the same roster and another year older, the Quakers were much more competitive and won 20 games.

 

[Crosby2010]

I'm still going to say the 1975 Captials, simply because this is the NHL and professional hockey. 1-50 in the SJHL league but it still isn't pros playing pros. 8-67-5, 59(!) games below .500. Ron Low, bless his heart, was the only goalie to win a game that season and even he went 8-36-2. Michael Belhumeur went 0-24-3. Outside of this being the worst team in NHL history I guess you can say Michael Marson was the 2nd black player in NHL history this season. But he was -69 and that still wasn't the worst on the team. Lost 17 games in a row! 10 another time. 9 another time.