Kansas City Scouts

The Kansas City Scouts were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1974 to 1976. In 1976, the franchise relocated to Denver and became the Colorado Rockies. In 1982, the Rockies relocated to New Jersey where they have since been known as the New Jersey Devils.

History

In 1974, the NHL ended its first significant expansion period, that had started in 1967, by adding teams in Kansas City, Missouri, and Washington, D.C. Kansas City Hockey Associates, led by managing general partner Edwin G. Thompson, originally consisted of 22 investors. It was awarded a franchise on June 8, 1972. Kansas City Hockey Associates was one of four groups that applied for the franchise. Missouri Lt. Governor William Morris (former owner of the Central Hockey League's Kansas City Blues), Stan Glazer and Arthur Rhoades headed up the other three potential ownership groups.

Kemper Arena was constructed to host the team's home games. Kansas City had been the home of several minor league ice hockey teams through the years. The Scouts shared Kemper Arena with the Kansas City Kings (the Kings were officially the Kansas City–Omaha Kings from 1972 to 1975) of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The arrival of the Scouts and Washington Capitals resulted in the NHL creating four divisions and renaming the conferences, and the Scouts were placed in the Smythe Division of the Campbell Conference with Missouri's other NHL franchise, the St. Louis Blues. originally wanted to call their team the "Kansas City Mohawks", since the Kansas City metropolitan area includes portions of Missouri and Kansas. The name would have combined Missouri's postal abbreviation (MO) and the Kansas nickname of "Jayhawkers". However, the Chicago Black Hawks objected because of the similarity of "Mohawks" to their own name.

The team then held a contest for people to name the new team. The name "Scouts" was chosen, named after The Scout which is located in Penn Valley Park and overlooks downtown. The iconic statue was featured on the team's logo. The club's logo was designed by lettering artist Gary Sartain of Kansas City-based Hallmark Cards in 1973 on a free-lance basis. Sartain's daughter, Sheila Snyder, told author Troy Treasure in 2018 her mother indicated Sartain was paid $2,000.

On October 9, 1974, the Scouts took the ice for the first time, at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, and lost 6–2 to the Maple Leafs.

The 1975–76 season started out with some promise. Near the midway point of the season, the team was competing for a playoff spot, with a 3–1 win over the California Golden Seals on December 28, 1975 placing them just one point behind the St. Louis Blues and a playoff position in the weak Smythe Division. Additionally, that same season, the Devils celebrated their 40th anniversary. Unlike with prior anniversaries (10th, 20th, 30th), the Devils treated it as "40 years in Jersey", acknowledging the franchise existed prior to 1982.

Season-by-season record

The Scouts had a 27–110–23 regular season record and did not qualify for the playoffs.

Players and personnel

Team captains

Simon Nolet, 1974–1976
Guy Charron, 1976

Head coaches

Bep Guidolin, 1974–1976
Sid Abel, 1976
Eddie Bush, 1976

General managers

Sid Abel, 1974–1976
Baz Bastien, 1976

First-round draft picks

1974: Wilf Paiement (2nd overall)
1975: Barry Dean (2nd overall)
1976: Paul Gardner (11th overall)

Broadcasters

Dick Carlson was the radio play-by-play announcer in 1974–75 on WDAF (AM) with simulcasts on KBMA-TV (now KSHB-TV) beginning in 1975–76. Following the Scouts departure, Carlson called Major League Baseball games for the Kansas City Royals and Cincinnati Reds. He died in 2004, age 60.

In 1974–75, Gene Osborn was the sole television play-by-play announcer, also on KBMA, with analysis provided by Bill Grigsby. KBMA was an independent station distributed in the Midwest via cable television, including the cities of Des Moines, Iowa and Wichita, Kansas.