1974-75 Kansas City Scouts SImon Nolet Jersey

Born on this date in 1941, Simon Nolet played his junior hockey with the Quebec Citadelles of the QJHL. In 1961-62 he scored 52 points in 39 games and another 8 in 10 playoff games as the Citadelles qualified for the 1962 Memorial Cup, where Nolet added another 6 points in 9 games.

From there he moved to the Windsor Maple Leafs of the Nova Scotia Senior Hockey League for two seasons where he was a dominant force, averaging 120 points a year at a two point per game average including scoring 68 goals in 68 games in 1963-64. He sat out the following regular season, but joined the Sherbrooke Beavers for the playoffs and scored 21 goals and 35 points in 15 games to lead Sherbrooke to the 1965 Allan Cup championship.

He turned professional with the Quebec Aces of the American Hockey League the following season. After two seasons with the Aces, he made his NHL debut with the expansion Philadelphia Flyers for four games in the 1967-68 season, but played the majority of his games with the Aces for a third year.

Simon Nolet as a member of the Quebec Aces

Nolet spilt time with the Flyers and Aces in 1968-69, which included scoring his first NHL points with 4 goals and 10 assists in 35 games for the Flyers. He increased his games played the following season to 56 and topped the 20 goal mark for the first time with 22. He also played his final 22 games with the Aces, the fifth season as an Aces regular.

Starting with the 1970-71 season, Nolet played exclusively in the NHL, suiting up for 74 games, a career high. The next season Nolet pushed his high in goals up one to 23 and appeared in his first NHL All-Star Game. After two more seasons with the Flyers, which included winning a Stanley Cup in 1974.

1973-74 Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers

With the NHL expanding for the 1974-75 season, Nolet was left unprotected in the 1974 NHL Expansion Draft, and was claimed by the Kansas City Scouts. The change from Stanley Cup champions to expansion doormats was a mixed blessing for Nolet. While another championship was out of the question, the seven-year NHL veteran was named as the first ever team captain for the Scouts and was heavily relied upon by Kansas City. He did not disappoint, setting a career high in goals with 26, which included the first goal in Scouts history, assists with 32 and points with 58 to lead the team in scoring as well as being the Scouts representative at the NHL All-Star Game.

The first captain of the Scouts, Simon Nolet

He played the first half of the 1975-76 season with the Scouts prior to being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he would play the second half of the season. He was then transferred to the Colorado Rockies for the 1976-77 season as compensation for the Penguins signing goaltender Denis Herron. In actuality, the Rockies were the same Scouts franchise he had previously played for, only freshly relocated to Denver. Nolet was again named as team captain and retired at the conclusion of the season with 150 goals and 332 points in 10 seasons.

Today's featured jersey is a 1974-75 Kansas City Scouts Simon Nolet jersey as worn during the season in which Nolet made his second NHL All-Star Game appearance after being named the first captain in franchise history.

While the club retained the same color pattern after moving to Denver, the jerseys were thankfully simplified, as the Scouts striping pattern was far busier than needed thanks to the red pinstripes running inside the yellow stripes, making for a pattern which included nine different stripes, making for a quite busy pattern which was not easy on the eyes.

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1975 NHL All-Star Game Simon Nolet jersey as worn in the second NHL All-Star Game of Nolet's career which was held in Montreal. This style of All-Star jersey was first used in 1973 and lasted until 1981, a very long run by today's standards.

In this video clip, the Flyers and Nolet win the 1974 Stanley Cup and hold one heck of a parade.

1976-77 Colorado Rockies Michel Plasse Jersey

On this date in 1976, the Colorado Rockies played their first ever game, which was also the first NHL regular season game to ever by played in Denver, Colorado.

The Rockies began life as the expansion Kansas City Scouts in 1974 and had a very poor 15-54-11 record their first season. Things were going better in year two, with a 11-21-4 mark near the end of 1975, but the club managed to win only a single game the rest of the season! The last 44 games saw the Scouts set the benchmark for futility with a 1-35-8 record, which included being outscored 105-214, an average of being outscored by 2.5 goals per game.

One of the main issues facing the Scouts was the arrival of the World Hockey Association in 1972, which resulted in a dramatic rise in player salaries as well as a suddenly very thin talent pool as the number of professional teams went from 14 teams to 32 between the two leagues combined.

With the Scouts averaging 8,218 fans per game in their 17,ooo seat arena, roughly 5,000 below the league average at the time, and an ownership group that was in debt, and a mid-season ticket drive was staged that resulted in only 2,000 sales, the owners decided to get out of the hockey business and sold the club to a group headed by Jack Vickers, who moved the team to Denver for the 1976-77 season, renaming his new club the Rockies.

As a side note, Denver as actually scheduled to receive an expansion franchise that season and the Scouts relocation to Denver scuttled that plan, which cost Seattle, Washington it's opportunity to receive the other franchise, which it still has never obtained 34 years later.

The Rockies opened their first season in Denver with a 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on this day in 1976, and eventually finished with a 20-46-14 record, which relegated them to a 5th place finish in the five team Smythe Division.

While the Rockies actually won one less game in 1977-78, they improved by five points in the standings by virtue of 21 tie games, which reduced their loss total from the year prior by six games, all of which resulted in the club qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in their four year history to date. Unfortunately, their stay was brief, as the "preliminary round" contested at the time was a quick best-of-three and the Rockies were ousted by the powerful Philadelphia Flyers in two straight.

The team took a step backwards the following season, dropping to 15 wins and just 42 points in the standings, which was the worst in the NHL. Despite rising to 19 wins and 51 points in 1979-80, the Rockies were still last overall in the league yet again.

The Rockies were spared last place in 1979-80 thanks to the arrival of the four refugee clubs from the now-defunct World Hockey Association, as the Winnipeg Jets, who had their roster decimated by the terms of their arrival in the NHL trailed the pack home that season by a country mile.

It was more of the same in 1980-81, but the Rockies nudged up from 51 points to 57, which did allow them to not only stay ahead of the Jets, but pass the moribund Detroit Red Wings by a point as well.

Once more, it all went wrong for the Rockies during their final season in Denver, when they came home trailing the pack, having dropped back to 49 points, five behind Detroit. To make matters worse, the Jets improved by 48 points that season!

One would expect all the last place finishes to eventually lead to some improvement, but a look at the Scouts and Rockies early draft picks reveals a list of names that include Barry Dean (#2 overall in 1975 - 81 career NHL points), Don Cairns (#20 overall in 1975 - 105 points), Doug Berry (#38 overall in 1977 - 43 points), Randy Pierce (#47 overall in 1977 - 138 points), Mike Gillis (#5 overall in 1978 - 76 points), Merlin Malinowski (#27 overall in 1978 - 165 points), Paul Gagne (#19 overall in 1980 - 212 points), Joe Ward (#22 overall in 1980 - 0 points), Rich Chernomaz (#26 overall in 1981 - 16 points) and Uli Hiemer (#48 overall in 1981 - 73 points).

The Rockies drew fairly well at the gate, but the dismal finishes, seven coaches in six seasons and three different owners while in Colorado made for a very unstable franchise, which was eventually sold to John McMullen, who relocated the franchise to New Jersey for the 1982-83 season and renamed them the "Devils". Of note, the Devils would also play their very first game on this date in 1982, a 3-3 tie against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In New Jersey, the club would find it's long awaited stability and success, as McMullen would own the club for 18 years, have one general manager for the last 23 years and would win three Stanley Cups.

Today's featured jersey is a 1976-77 Colorado Rockies Michel Plasse jersey worn in the Rockies first-ever game played on this date in 1976. Plasse was a goaltender who had actually spent some time with the franchise while they were in Kansas City, was backing up starting goaltender Doug Favell for the majority of the game, but did see action for a few minutes early in the third period when he relieved Favell who came out of the game while suffering from a cramp.

This jersey survived in such remarkable condition as both goalies would change numbers after a few games, with Plasse taking the #31, leaving this one relatively unused.

Here is an interview with Rockies captain Lanny McDonald on the occasion of his return to Toronto.

Our next video is some old time hockey featuring the Colorado Rockies.