The
Quebec Nordiques formed part of the World Hockey Association
in 1972, coached by 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.
Merger into the NHL
Forced to let all but three players go in a dispersal draft,
the Nordiques were now an expansion team and sunk to the bottom.
They finished the 1979-80 season in last place. But with the
top draft pick, the Nordiques got Peter Stastny in the close
season, who put in a Calder Trophy-winning performance with
109 points and led the Nordiques to the playoffs, where they
fell in five games to the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Nordiques
again made the playoffs in 1981-82, making it to the conference
finals where they were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup winners,
the New York Islanders, but not before disposing of the vaunted
Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins.
The rivalry
with the Montreal Canadiens was most visible in the 1984-85
season where both sides battled for the 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 were met with a defensive
collapse in the playoffs, allowing the Hartford Whalers to
advance.
The next
season saw more of the Nords-Habs rivalry as the playoff series
went to a seven-game battle royale, with the Canadiens finally
coming out tops. But this was the end of their relatively
successful period as decline began the following season. They
finished last in their division and missed the playoffs for
the first time in 8 years. In 1988-89 they had the league's
worst record, and the arrival of legend Guy Lafleur couldn't
help as the Nordiques now had to transition.
Controversy came in the 1991-92 season as their first-round
draft pick, Eric Lindros, refused to sign a contract with
the Nordiques. It is thought that he was afraid of not being
able to adjust to the language differences. The struggles
continued as the Nordiques finished last for the 5th season
in a row. The Nordiques then traded Lindros to the Philadelphia
Flyers for seven players (including Peter Forsberg, Chris
Simon, Mike Ricci, and Jocelyn Thibault), a first round draft
pick, and cash.
The new
players helped inspire the biggest single-season improvement
in NHL history. The Nordiques finished second and made the
playoffs, but fell to their old nemesis the Montreal Canadiens
in the first round. They would miss the playoffs again the
next season as they struggled with injuries, but there were
off-ice happenings too.
Marc Crawford was appointed the new head coach for the 1994-95
season, but first there was the problem of a lockout. When
the shortened season began, the Nordiques played well to finish
top of the Eastern Conference. But on-ice success didn't translate
into success in other areas. In financial trouble, the team
owner Marcel Aubut asked for a bailout from Quebec's provincial
government. The bailout fell through and Aubut was forced
to sell the team to a group of investors in Denver.
The
franchise was packed up and shipped to Colorado and renamed
the Colorado Avalanche. Fans in Quebec still felt the team
was theirs though, and cheered the Avalanche to Stanley Cup
success in their first season in Denver.
Founded:
1972 in World Hockey Association Joined NHL in 1979
Formerly Known As: Québec Nordiques
(1972-1995)
Arena: Pepsi Center
Uniform colors: Crimson and blue
Logo design: A crimson letter "A",
with a white swoosh extending from the left side ending from
a hockey puck, simulating an avalanche.
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