The 1973–74 Los Angeles Sharks season was the

Los Angeles Sharks The Los Angeles Sharks were an ice hockey team that played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 to 1974. Their primary home arena was the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena but they sometimes played at the Long Beach Sports Arena when ...

' second and final season in Los Angeles in the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

. The club finished last in the WHA Western Division and missed the playoffs. They moved to Detroit, MI after the season and became the

Michigan Stags The Michigan Stags were a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit that played a portion of the 1974–75 season in the World Hockey Association. On January 18, 1975, the team folded, but the league immediately took over operation and moved ...

Offseason

The Sharks lured promising left wing

Marc Tardif Joseph Gérard Marquis Tardif (born June 12, 1949) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played in both the National Hockey League (NHL) and the World Hockey Association (WHA), principally for the Quebec Nordiques, and is ...

from the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

to jump to the Sharks.

Regular season

The Sharks attempted to build on their first season by signing their first bonafide NHL star in the

. And while the offense featured five 20 goal scorers (Tardif with 40,

Gary Veneruzzo Gary Raymond Veneruzzo (born June 28, 1943) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played seven games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the St. Louis Blues during the 1967–68 and 1971–72 seasons, and 348 games in th ...

with 39, Brian McDonald with 22, and J.P. LeBlanc and Steve Sutherland with 20 apiece), they still ranked last in the league in scoring. The defense was equally porous, falling from 3rd in the league to 11th (next to last). Last year's #1 goalie George Gardner played only 2 games due to injuries, and

Russ Gillow Russell Howard Gillow (born September 2, 1939 in Hespeler, Ontario) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played 109 games in the World Hockey Association with the Los Angeles Sharks and San Diego Mariners. As a 32-year-old rookie in t ...

suffered from injuries and the "sophomore jinx" as his GAA went from 2.91 in 1972–73 to 3.98 in 1973–74. The other goalies that were brought in didn't fare much better, with Ian Wilkie sporting an unimpressive 3.91 GAA, Jim McLeod at 4.27, and

Paul Hoganson Paul Edward Hoganson (born November 12, 1949) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played two games in the National Hockey League and 143 games in the World Hockey Association. Hoganson played with the Pittsburgh Penguins, ...

even worse with a 4.68 GAA. The special teams, which were solid the season before, also fell on hard times as the power play ranked 9th and the penalty killing went from 3rd in the league to last. The Sharks ended up with the worst record in the league, and endured losing streaks of 9 and 6 games. The only noteworthy item was that they became the first team ever to have no ties (the WHA 10-minute overtime rule helped, but WHA teams still averaged 4 ties per season).

Final standings

Game log

Player stats

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Awards and records

Transactions

The Sharks' decline in the standings and quality of play was poorly timed in that the NHL's

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

across town were beginning a resurgence that would see them make the playoffs for the next decade. The novelty of the WHA wore off, and attendance dropped measurably. After the 1973-74 season, the Sharks moved to Detroit, MI and became the

. After 43 games in Detroit MI, the Stags moved to Baltimore and finished out the season as the Baltimore Blades. Tom Gilmore traded to Edmonton Oilers for Ron Walters, October, 1973. George Gardner & Ralph MacSweyn traded to Vancouver Blazers for Ron Ward, October, 1973. Ian Wilkie purchased from Edmonton Oilers, November, 1973. Mike Hyndman sold to Phoenix Roadrunners(WHL), December, 1973. Peter Slater sold to Denver Spurs (WHL), December, 1973. Russ Gillow & Earl Heiskala traded to Jersey Knights for Jim McLeod, January, 1974. Don Gordon & Jim Watson traded to Chicago Cougars for Bobby Whitlock, February, 1974. Ron Ward traded to Cleveland Crusaders for Ted Hodgson & Bill Young, February, 1974. Ian Wilkie traded to Edmonton Oilers for Wayne Zuk, March, 1974.

Draft picks

Los Angeles's draft picks at the

1973 WHA Amateur Draft The 1973 WHA Amateur Draft was the first draft for the World Hockey Association. __NOTOC__ Selections by round Below are listed the selections in the 1973 WHA Amateur Draft. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 R ...

Farm teams

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:1973-74 Los Angeles Sharks season Los Angeles Sharks seasons

Los LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significance ...