The Quebec Nordiques (, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association (1972–1979) and the National Hockey League (1979–1995). The franchise was relocated to Denver in May 1995 and renamed the Colorado Avalanche. They played their home games at the Colisée de Québec from 1972 to 1995.
The Nordiques were the only major professional sports team based in Quebec City in the modern era, and one of two ever; the other, the Quebec Bulldogs, played in the National Hockey Association (NHA) from 1910 to 1917 and one season in the NHL in 1919–20.
History Beginnings in the WHA
The Nordiques formed as one of the original World Hockey Association (WHA) teams in 1972–73. The franchise was originally awarded to a group in San Francisco and sold to a consortium of Quebec City-based businessmen who owned the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). They bought the team after the Quebec Aces of the American Hockey League (AHL), relocated to Richmond, Virginia.
On March 29, 1972, the name of the team was announced, and the team name "Les Nordiques" would be used in English. The team was named the Quebec Nordiques because they were one of the northernmost teams in professional sports in North America. Quebec City is located at 47 degrees north latitude; Nordiques translated from French to English means "Northerners" or "Northmen". The only WHA teams located farther north were the Alberta Oilers, who changed their name to the Edmonton Oilers after one season, Calgary Cowboys, Vancouver Blazers, and Winnipeg Jets. They picked a color scheme of powder blue and red for the logo (as designed by Roger Gingras), rejecting a previous rendition in powder and dark blue.
The Nordiques' first head coach was the legendary Maurice "Rocket" Richard but he only lasted two games – a 2–0 loss to the Cleveland Crusaders and a 6–0 win against the Alberta Oilers. Richard decided coaching was not 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 was named a league All-Star for his first four years in Quebec. The next season team was joined by Serge Bernier and Rejean Houle. In 1974–75 season, the Nordiques finally made the playoffs with the help of the high-scoring Marc Tardif (acquired in a trade in December 1975). The year also saw the debut of Réal Cloutier, who would rocket to WHA stardom at a young age. 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.
The 1975–76 season saw the squad become a high-flying offensive juggernaut, becoming the only team in major professional history to have five players break 100 points (Tardif, Cloutier, Chris Bordeleau, Bernier and Houle). The season ended in disappointment as the Nordiques lost to the Calgary Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs, after losing Marc Tardif to injury after a controversial hit by the Cowboys' Rick Jodzio.
Despite injuries to Tardif and an aging Tremblay, 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 games, behind Bernier's record 36 points in 17 playoff games. They represented Canada at the 1977 Izvestia Trophy in Moscow, finishing last with a 0–3–1 record.
By 1978, the WHA was in crisis, and Marcel Aubut, by then the team's president under ownership of the Carling O'Keefe brewer, began checking on interest in the NHL. The Nordiques were unable to defend their title and fell in the 1978 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 no. 3 jersey retired.
In January 1979, it was reported that Premier René Lévesque and Parti Québécois would provide $5 million toward the cost of expansion for the Nordiques to get admitted into the NHL, with Lévesque describing the team as "the only truly French team".
1980s
As early as 1977, the WHA and NHL had discussions of an NHL–WHA merger that would include all of its surviving Canadian teams, including the Nordiques. When it finally occurred at the end of the 1978-79 season, the Nordiques entered the NHL along with the Whalers, Oilers, and Jets. The Nordiques were placed in the Adams Division of the Prince of Wales Conference, albeit at a high price.
Forced to let all but three players go in a 1979 dispersal draft, the Nordiques sank to the bottom of the standings. They finished the 1979–80 NHL season with the second-worst record in the league despite the play of promising rookie left winger Michel Goulet. An early highlight to the otherwise dreary season came when Réal Cloutier became the second NHL player, following Alex Smart, ever to score a hat trick in his first NHL game.
On August 26, 1980, newly-defected brothers Peter and Anton Stastny, members of the Czechoslovak national team, were signed by the Nordiques as part of a lengthy process, which required the work of the Austrian and Canadian governments. Previously, the team drafted Anton in the 1979 entry draft. Their brother, Marian, would follow and sign with Quebec in the summer of 1981. The following season, led by Peter Stastny's 109-point Calder Memorial Trophy-winning performance, the Nordiques made the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time, but fell in the best-of-five preliminary round in five games to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Led by Goulet and Peter Stastny, the Nordiques made the playoffs seven years in a row. However, due to the playoff structure during most of the 1980s, the Nordiques faced the near-certainty of having to get past either the Montreal Canadiens or Boston Bruins – or both – to make it to the conference finals. In 1981–82, despite notching only 82 points in the regular season, they defeated the Canadiens and Bruins, both in winner-take-all games on the road. Their Cinderella run ended when they were swept by the defending champion New York Islanders in the conference finals.
The intraprovincial rivalry with the Canadiens intensified during the 1983–84 NHL season culminating in the infamous Good Friday Massacre () during the 1984 playoffs. The Canadiens scored five unanswered goals in the third period of game 6 at Montreal Forum to eliminate the Nordiques. It is best known for a massive brawl at the tail end of the second period, followed by another brawl as the teams were warning up for the third period. The Habs' scoring outburst came after Peter Stastny and Dale Hunter were ejected in the brawl.
In 1984–85, Montreal and Quebec battled for the Adams Division title. The Nordiques finished with 91 points, at the time their highest point total as an NHL team. However, the Canadiens won the division by three points, including a 7–1 Canadiens' win in Montreal Forum in the final week of the regular season. This was still enough, however, for the Nordiques to garner home-ice advantage for the first time ever as an NHL team. After being pushed to five games by the Buffalo Sabres, they exacted revenge on the Canadiens in the division finals by ousting them in seven games. Peter Stastny clinched the series with an overtime goal in game 7 at the Forum. They then took the powerful Philadelphia Flyers, who had the league's best record, to six games. It would be the franchise's deepest NHL playoff run in Quebec.
The Nordiques won their first NHL division title in 1985–86, but a defensive collapse in the 1986 playoffs allowed the Hartford Whalers to sweep the Nordiques in three games.
The next season the Nordiques met the Whalers in the division semifinals of the 1987 playoffs for the second straight season, this time Quebec got their revenge beating Hartford in six games. The next round saw more of the Nordiques–Canadiens rivalry as the playoff series went to seven games, with the Canadiens coming out on top. In that same season, when Quebec hosted Rendez-vous '87, an alteration of the NHL All-Star Game to include the Soviet national team, a costumed mascot, Badaboum – a fuzzy, roly-poly blue creature – began entertaining fans at the Colisée de Québec with his bizarre dance routines. Badaboum was created just for Rendez-vous '87, but generated such a following that the Nordiques made him a permanent fixture at home games.
Decline began the following season when the Nordiques finished last in their division – the first of five straight years of finishing at the bottom of the Adams Division – and missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years. In 1988–89 the Nordiques had league-worst 27–46–7 record.
The 1989–90 season saw the return of head coach Michel Bergeron, who had coached the team from 1980 to 1987. The season was also highlighted by the arrival of Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur, who turned down a lucrative offer from the Los Angeles Kings and chose instead to finish his career in his home province. It soon became clear Lafleur's best years were far behind him as he managed only 24 goals in 98 games with Quebec over two seasons. The Nordiques once again finished the season in last place with abysmal 12–61–7 record.
In March 1990, the Nordiques traded Goulet to the Chicago Blackhawks, while Peter Stastny was sent to the New Jersey Devils respectively. Despite the stellar play of young forward Joe Sakic, the Nordiques struggled throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, in the 1989 NHL entry draft they drafted Swedish prospect Mats Sundin, making him the first European to be selected first overall in an NHL entry draft. In the following draft Quebec chose first again, this time taking Owen Nolan.
1990s
Lindros draft and trade
In the 1991 draft, the Nordiques once again had the first overall pick. They picked junior star Eric Lindros, even though he had let it be known well in advance that he would never play for Quebec. Among the reasons, Lindros cited distance, lack of marketing potential, and having to speak French. After the Nordiques selected him anyway, Lindros then 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 lasted over a year. The Nordiques president publicly announced that they would make Lindros the centrepiece of their franchise turnaround, and refused to trade Lindros, saying that he would not have a career in the NHL as long as he held out. Some of the Nordiques wanted to move on without Lindros, as Joe Sakic commented, "We only want players here who have the passion to play the game. I'm tired of hearing that name. He's not here and there are a lot of others in this locker room who really care about the game." Meanwhile, the Nordiques finished with another dreadful season in 1991–92, missing the 70-point barrier for the fifth year in a row. For the first time since 1988, the Nordiques did not finish with the NHL's worst record, as they finished ahead of the expansion San Jose Sharks in the overall standings.
On June 30, 1992, after confusion over whether Quebec had traded Lindros' rights to the Philadelphia Flyers or New York Rangers was settled by an arbitrator, the Nordiques sent Lindros to the Flyers in exchange for forwards Peter Forsberg and Mike Ricci, goaltender Ron Hextall, defenseman Steve Duchesne and Kerry Huffman, and future considerations, which 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.