The team qualified for the playoffs for the third time in franchise history, losing to the New York Islanders after gaining a 3–0 lead (in a best-of-seven series) in the quarter-final round.
In early 1975, newspapers reported that the California Golden Seals and Penguins were to be relocated to Denver and Seattle respectively, in an arrangement that would have seen the two teams sold to groups in those cities that had already been awarded "conditional" franchises for the 1976–77 season.
After staunchly rejecting previous franchise relocation attempts, league president Clarence Campbell saw this as a method by which the NHL might extricate itself from two problem markets, while honoring the expansion commitments it had made.
However Seattle Totems owner Vince Abbey missed an opportunity to acquire the Penguins when they were sold in a bankruptcy auction for $4.4 million in June 1975.
The Penguins were involved in the following transactions during the 1974–75 season: Ab DeMarco Jr. Barry Wilkins Blaine Stoughton1977 1st round pick (Trevor Johansen) Rick Kehoe Ab DeMarco Jr. Barry Wilkins Ron Lalonde Lew Morrison Denis HerronJean-Guy Lagace Michel Plasse Bernie Lukowich Bob Stumpf Ron Jones Pete Laframboise Pittsburgh Penguins' picks at the 1974 NHL amateur draft.