Quebec Nordiques
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| Quebec Nordiques (Nordiques de Québec) |
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| Founded | 1979 |
| History | Quebec Nordiques 1972 - 1995 Colorado Avalanche 1995 - Present |
| Arenas | Colisée de Québec |
| City | Quebec City, Quebec |
| Team Colors | Red, White, and Blue |
| Stanley Cups | none |
| Conference Championships | none |
| Division Championships | 1986 |
The Quebec Nordiques (pronounced [nɔʀ.dzɪk]; translated into English as "Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association (1972-1979) and the National Hockey League (1979-1995). The franchise was relocated to Denver in 1995 and renamed the Colorado Avalanche.
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[edit] Beginnings in the WHA
The Quebec Nordiques formed as one of the original World Hockey Association teams in 1972. The franchise was originally awarded to a group in San Francisco but hastily moved to Quebec City after the deal with the California group fell through. The team was named the Nordiques because of Quebec City's northern locale.
The Nordiques' first head coach was the legendary Maurice "Rocket" Richard but he only lasted one game, a 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Crusaders. The "Rocket" decided coaching wasn't his forte and stepped down.
The Nordiques' first star was two-way defenceman J.C. Tremblay, who led the WHA in assists in the league's first season and would be named a league All-Star for his first four years in Quebec. The next season Serge Bernier and Rejean Houle joined the Nordiques. In 1974-75, they finally made the playoffs with the help of the high-scoring Marc Tardif. They beat the Phoenix Roadrunners and the Minnesota Fighting Saints to reach the finals, where they were swept in four games by the Gordie Howe-led Houston Aeros.
Because they won the 1977 Avco Cup, in December of that year they were Canada's representative at the IZVESTIA hockey tournamnet held in Moscow. They finished last with a 0-4-1 record.
The next season saw playoff disappointment as the Nordiques lost to the Calgary Cowboys after losing Marc Tardif to injury after a controversial hit by the Cowboys' Rick Jodzio. The Nordiques finally captured the Avco World Trophy in 1976-77 as they took out the New England Whalers and the Indianapolis Racers in five games before beating the Winnipeg Jets in seven.
By 1978 the WHA was on shaky ground. The Nordiques were unable to defend their title and fell in the playoffs to the New England Whalers. The 1978-79 season would be the final one for the WHA and for J.C. Tremblay, who retired at the end of the season and had his number 3 jersey retired before the Nordiques merged into the National Hockey League together with three other WHA teams, the Winnipeg Jets, New England Whalers, and the Edmonton Oilers.
In 1979, Real Cloutier became the first NHL player ever to score a hat trick in his debut NHL game.
[edit] The 1980s
Forced to let all but three players go in a dispersal draft, the Nordiques were now an expansion team and sunk to the bottom of the standings. They finished the 1979-80 NHL season in last place despite the play of promising rookie left winger Michel Goulet. In 1980 the Nordiques signed Peter Stastny, a member of the Czechoslovak national team who defected earlier that year. His brothers, Anton and Marian, would soon follow and also sign with Quebec. The following season, led by Stastny's 109-points Calder Trophy-winning performance, the Nordiques made the NHL playoffs for the first time, but fell in five games to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Led by Goulet and Peter Stastny, the Nordiques remained strong contenders for several seasons. Quebec again made the playoffs in 1981-82, defeating the arch-rival Montreal Canadiens and then the Boston Bruins, but were swept by the New York Islanders in the conference finals.
The rivalry with the Montreal Canadiens intensified during the 1983-84 NHL season culminating in the infamous "Vendredi Saint" brawl during the 1984 playoffs, after which the Habs eliminated the Nordiques from the postseason. In the 1986-87 season, when Quebec hosted Rendez-Vous '87, an alteration of the All-Star Game to include the Soviet national team, the Nordiques became the first NHL team to employ a costumed mascot when Badaboum - a fuzzy, roly-poly blue creature - began entertaining fans at the Colisée with his bizarre dance routines.
The following season Montreal and Quebec battled for the Adams Division championship. The Habs won by three points, but the Nordiques would exact revenge in the playoffs with a seven-game victory, which was clinched by Peter Stastny's overtime goal. They won their first NHL division title in 1985-86, but a defensive collapse in the playoffs allowed the Hartford Whalers to advance.
The next season saw more of the Nords-Habs rivalry as the playoff series went to seven games, with the Canadiens coming out on top. But this was the end of the Nordiques relatively successful period, as decline began the following season. The Nordiques finished last in their division and missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years. In 1988-89 they had the league's worst record. The arrival of Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur in 1989 came with much fanfare, but it soon became clear Lafleur's best years were far behind him. "The Flower" managed only 24 goals in 98 games with Quebec. Both Michel Goulet and Peter Stastny were traded in 1990, winding up with the Chicago Blackhawks and New Jersey Devils respectively. Despite the stellar play of young forward Joe Sakic, the Nordiques struggled throughout the late '80s and early '90s.
[edit] The 1990s
By the 1989 off-season the Nordiques had sunk to the league's cellar. That year they drafted Swedish prospect Mats Sundin, making him the first European to be selected first overall in the NHL draft. The following year Quebec chose first again, taking Owen Nolan.
In 1991 the Nordiques once again had the first overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft. The best player in that year's draft, Eric Lindros, repeatedly said he would never play for Quebec but the team selected him anyway. As a result, Lindros refused to wear the team jersey on Draft Day, and only held it for press photographs. Lindros, on advice of his mother Bonnie, refused to sign with the team and began a holdout that would last over a year. Meanwhile, the Nordiques finished out of playoff contention again in 1991-92. Finally on June 30, 1992, after confusion over whether Quebec had traded Lindros' rights to the Philadelphia Flyers or New York Rangers was settled, the Nordiques sent Lindros to the Flyers in exchange for forward Mike Ricci, goaltender Ron Hextall, defencemen Steve Duchesne and Kerry Huffman, "future considerations" (eventually became enforcer Chris Simon), two first-round picks and US$15 million. One of the draft picks was used by the Nordiques to select goaltender Jocelyn Thibault, the other was traded twice and ultimately used by the Washington Capitals to select Nolan Baumgartner. Also in the trade were the rights to a Swedish teenage prospect named Peter Forsberg. The deal - probably the single most significant NHL transaction of the entire decade - quickly transformed the Nordiques from league doormats to a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.
During the 1992-93 NHL season, these new players, along with Sakic - now a bona fide NHL All-Star -and the rapidly developing Sundin and Nolan, led Quebec to the biggest single-season team improvement in NHL history. The Nordiques made the playoffs for the first time in six seasons, but fell to their old nemesis the Montreal Canadiens in the first round. They would miss the playoffs the next season as they struggled with injuries.
The Lindros deal proved a strong contender for one of the most one-sided trades not merely in hockey history, but professional sports history. Despite Lindros' fine career, no General Manager would now -- in retrospect -- trade him even up for Forsberg. Forsberg won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 1995, his first season with the Nordiques, and would become the star of the franchise for a decade, and is a likely future Hall of Famer[dubious — see talk page]. Ricci would give three useful seasons to the franchise before being traded, while Hextall's was moved after a single season to the New York Islanders. In return, the franchise got two draft picks, which they used to select Adam Deadmarsh and Alex Tanguay, who would both be key members of the Avalanche Cup-winning teams. Thibault would, after the franchise shift to Denver, be traded for Montreal goalie Patrick Roy, one of the all-time greats, and the foundation for two Stanley Cups.
[edit] Season-by-season record
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
| Season | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM | Finish | Playoffs |
| 1979-80 | 80 | 25 | 44 | 11 | 61 | 248 | 313 | 1062 | 5th in Adams | Out of Playoffs |
| 1980-81 | 80 | 30 | 32 | 18 | 78 | 314 | 318 | 1524 | 4th in Adams | Lost Preliminary (Philadelphia) |
| 1981-82 | 80 | 33 | 31 | 16 | 82 | 356 | 345 | 1757 | 4th in Adams | Lost Conference Final (New York Islanders) |
| 1982-83 | 80 | 34 | 34 | 12 | 80 | 343 | 336 | 1648 | 4th in Adams | Lost Division Semifinal (Boston) |
| 1983-84 | 80 | 42 | 28 | 10 | 94 | 360 | 278 | 1600 | 3rd in Adams | Lost Division Final (Montreal) |
| 1984-85 | 80 | 41 | 30 | 9 | 91 | 323 | 275 | 1643 | 2nd in Adams | Lost Conference Final (Philadelphia) |
| 1985-86 | 80 | 43 | 31 | 6 | 92 | 330 | 289 | 1847 | 1st in Adams | Lost Division Semifinal (Hartford) |
| 1986-87 | 80 | 31 | 39 | 10 | 72 | 267 | 276 | 1741 | 4th in Adams | Lost Division Final (Montreal) |
| 1987-88 | 80 | 32 | 43 | 5 | 69 | 271 | 306 | 2042 | 5th in Adams | Out of Playoffs |
| 1988-89 | 80 | 27 | 46 | 7 | 61 | 269 | 342 | 2004 | 5th in Adams | Out of Playoffs |
| 1989-90 | 80 | 12 | 61 | 7 | 31 | 240 | 407 | 2104 | 5th in Adams | Out of Playoffs |
| 1990-91 | 80 | 16 | 50 | 14 | 46 | 236 | 354 | 1741 | 5th in Adams | Out of Playoffs |
| 1991-92 | 80 | 20 | 48 | 12 | 52 | 255 | 318 | 2044 | 5th in Adams | Out of Playoffs |
| 1992-93 | 84 | 47 | 27 | 10 | 104 | 351 | 300 | 1846 | 2nd in Adams | Lost Division Semifinal (Montreal) |
| 1993-94 | 84 | 34 | 42 | 8 | 76 | 277 | 292 | 1625 | 5th in Northeast | Out of Playoffs |
| 1994-951 | 48 | 30 | 13 | 5 | 65 | 185 | 134 | 770 | 1st in Northeast | Lost Conference Quarterfinal (New York Rangers) |
| Season | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM | ||
| Grand Totals | 1256 | 497 | 599 | 160 | 1,154 | 4,625 | 4,883 | 26,998 |
- 1 Season was shortened due to the 1994-95 NHL lockout.
[edit] The Move to Denver
For the 1994-95 season, Marc Crawford was hired as the new head coach, and Forsberg was deemed ready to finally join the team, but first there was the problem of a lockout. In the shortened season of 48 games, the Nordiques played well and finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference. However, the team faltered in the postseason and was eliminated in the first round by the defending Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers.
The playoff loss proved to be Quebec's swan song in the NHL as the team's financial troubles increasingly took center stage. Team owner Marcel Aubut asked for a bailout from Quebec's provincial government. The bailout fell through and in May 1995, shortly after the Nordiques were eliminated from the playoffs, Aubut sold the team to a group of investors in Denver, Colorado. The franchise was moved to Denver where it was renamed the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche would win the Stanley Cup in their first season after the move.
The Nordiques had planned to change their logo, colors, and uniforms for the 1996-97 season, and the new design had already appeared in the Canadian press.
A committee of local citizens and businesses has been formed in an attempt to bring an NHL franchise back to Quebec City.[1]
A number of Nordiques are still active in professional hockey, including Mats Sundin, Peter Forsberg, Owen Nolan, Jocelyn Thibault, Mike Ricci, Chris Simon, Martin Rucinsky, Martin Gélinas, Aaron Miller and Adam Foote. Joe Sakic is the only Nordique still with the Quebec/Colorado franchise, although Milan Hejduk was selected #87 overall by the Nordiques at the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. Chris Drury, currently playing for the Buffalo Sabres, was also drafted by the Nordiques in 1994, but didn't play for the franchise until the 1998-1999 season, after the team had already moved to Colorado.
[edit] Notable players
[edit] Team Captains
Includes WHA captains
- Jean-Guy Gendron, 1972-74
- Michel Parizeau, 1974-76
- Marc Tardif, 1976-81
- Robbie Ftorek, 1981
- Andre Dupont, 1981-82
- Mario Marois, 1982-85
- Peter Stastny, 1985-90
- Steven Finn & Joe Sakic 1990-91
(co-captains) - Mike Hough 1991-92
- Joe Sakic 1992-95
[edit] Hall of Famers
- Michel Goulet, LW, 1979-1990, inducted 1998
- Guy Lafleur, RW, 1989-91, inducted 1988
- Peter Stastny, C, 1980-1990, inducted 1998
[edit] Retired numbers
- 3 - J.C. Tremblay, D, 1972-79
- 8 - Marc Tardif, LW, 1974-83
- 16 - Michel Goulet, C, 1979-90
- 26 - Peter Stastny, C, 1980-90
[edit] First round draft picks
Note: This list does not include selections from the WHA.
- 1979: Michel Goulet (20th overall)
- 1980: none
- 1981: Randy Moller (11th overall)
- 1982: David Shaw (13th overall)
- 1983: none
- 1984: Trevor Steinburg (15th overall)
- 1985: David Latta (15th overall)
- 1986: Ken McRae (18th overall)
- 1987: Bryan Fogarty (9th overall) and Joe Sakic (15th overall)
- 1988: Curtis Leschyshyn (3rd overall) and Daniel Dore (5th overall)
- 1989: Mats Sundin (1st overall)
- 1990: Owen Nolan (1st overall)
- 1991: Eric Lindros (1st overall)
- 1992: Todd Warriner (4th overall)
- 1993: Jocelyn Thibault (10th overall) and Adam Deadmarsh (14th overall)
- 1994: Wade Belak (12th overall) and Jeff Kealty (22nd overall)
[edit] See also
- List of Quebec Nordiques players
- Head Coaches of the Quebec Nordiques
- List of defunct NHL teams
- Colorado Avalanche
- Quebec Bulldogs
- World Hockey Association
- List of NHL seasons
- List of WHA seasons
[edit] External links
- Quebec Nordiques Preservation Society
- WHAhockey.com - Quebec Nordiques
- RetourDesNordiques.com Group
- QuebecLNH.com Group
