Greg Joly was taken by the Washington Capitals first overall at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft prior to Washington’s inaugural 1974-75 season in the National Hockey League. Mike Marson was selected in the second round, 19th overall and Tony White was picked in the tenth round, 161st overall. Wilf Paiement was the second overall pick, going to the Kansas City Scouts, Washington’s expansion cousins.
After a great junior career with the Regina Pats, Joly was touted as “The Next Bobby Orr”. It didn’t pan out that way. In his rookie 1974-75 season, Greg scored just a single goal while playing only 44 games for the Capitals. It didn’t get much better.
Between 1974-75 and 1982-83, Greg Joly played 365 regular season and five playoff games in the NHL with the Capitals and Detroit Red Wings. Over that time, he scored 21 goals. His lone goal in his rookie campaign was scored on November 3, 1974 in a 5-4 home loss to the Kansas City Scouts. He opened the scoring at 4:47 of the first period, assisted by Yvon Labre and Jim Hrycuik. He also got in a third period fight with Rich Lemieux.
How The 2nd Overall Pick Did
Kansas City did much better with their first pick. Wilf Paiement played for the franchise in their only two years in Missouri before moving with the team to Denver, playing 3 1/2 years with the Colorado Rockies. He scored at least 21 goals in each of his five full seasons, topping out with 41 in 1976-77. Over his career, he played 946 regular season and 69 playoff games with the Scouts, Rockies, Toronto Maple Leafs, Quebec Nordiques, Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins.