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1994–95 Quebec Nordiques season

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1994–95 Quebec Nordiques
Northeast Division champions
Division1st Northeast
Conference1st Eastern
1994–95 record30–13–5
Home record19–1–4
Road record11–12–1
Goals for185
Goals against134
Team information
General managerPierre Lacroix
CoachMarc Crawford
CaptainJoe Sakic
Alternate captainsWendel Clark
Mike Ricci
ArenaColisée Pepsi
Team leaders
GoalsOwen Nolan (30)
AssistsJoe Sakic (43)
PointsJoe Sakic (62)
Penalty minutesChris Simon (106)
Plus/minusCurtis Leschyshyn (+29)
WinsStephane Fiset (17)
Goals against averageJocelyn Thibault (2.34)

The 1994–95 Quebec Nordiques season was the twenty-third season of operation of the Nordiques and the last season that the team played in Quebec. The Nordiques would finish first over-all in the Eastern Conference, but lost in the first round to the New York Rangers. After the season, the club would be sold and relocated to Denver, Colorado.

Offseason

Regular season

The Nordiques exploded out of the gate, winning 5 games in a row and 12 of their first 13. Although they were an average team on the road, going just 11–12–1, the Nordiques had the best home record in the league: 19–1–4. Quebec's only defeat at home came on February 27 in a 7-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Captain Joe Sakic finished fourth in the league in points (62), Owen Nolan tied for third in the league in goals (30) and finished first in the league in game-winning goals (8), while Peter Forsberg led all rookies in points (50). Forsberg would go on to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie of the 1994–95 season. The team finished first in scoring in the league with 185 goals and was one of only two Eastern Conference teams to score at least one goal in all of their 48 regular-season games (the Buffalo Sabres were the other team). Quebec went on to finish first in the Eastern Conference with 65 points. The Nordiques tied the Flyers for most hat tricks scored during the regular season, with 6. Owen Nolan had 3, and Wendel Clark, Uwe Krupp and Scott Young each had 1.

Season standings

Northeast Division
No. CR GP W L T GF GA Pts
1 1 Quebec Nordiques 48 30 13 5 185 134 65
2 3 Pittsburgh Penguins 48 29 16 3 181 158 61
3 4 Boston Bruins 48 27 18 3 150 127 57
4 7 Buffalo Sabres 48 22 19 7 130 119 51
5 10 Hartford Whalers 48 19 24 5 127 141 43
6 11 Montreal Canadiens 48 18 23 7 125 148 43
7 14 Ottawa Senators 48 9 34 5 117 174 23

[1]

Schedule and results

No. R Date Score Opponent Record Attendance
1 W January 21, 1995 3–1 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95) 1–0–0 17,380
2 W January 24, 1995 5–1 Washington Capitals (1994–95) 2–0–0 14,277
3 W January 27, 1995 7–3 @ Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 3–0–0 16,232
4 W January 28, 1995 2–0 New York Rangers (1994–95) 4–0–0 14,382
5 W January 31, 1995 5–2 Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95) 5–0–0 14,141
6 L February 2, 1995 4–5 @ New Jersey Devils (1994–95) 5–1–0 12,096
7 W February 4, 1995 2–0 New Jersey Devils (1994–95) 6–1–0 13,220
8 W February 5, 1995 3–1 Hartford Whalers (1994–95) 7–1–0 13,207
9 W February 8, 1995 3–2 @ Hartford Whalers (1994–95) 8–1–0 8,032
10 W February 9, 1995 4–3 @ Boston Bruins (1994–95) 9–1–0 14,448
11 W February 11, 1995 5–2 Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 10–1–0 14,231
12 W February 14, 1995 3–2 @ New York Islanders (1994–95) 11–1–0 10,225
13 W February 16, 1995 4–2 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95) 12–1–0 17,065
14 L February 18, 1995 2–4 @ Washington Capitals (1994–95) 12–2–0 13,410
15 W February 19, 1995 4–1 @ Florida Panthers (1994–95) 13–2–0 14,703
16 L February 21, 1995 4–5 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 13–3–0 17,181
17 T February 23, 1995 6–6 OT Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95) 13–3–1 13,301
18 T February 25, 1995 1–1 OT Boston Bruins (1994–95) 13–3–2 14,389
19 L February 27, 1995 5–7 Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 13–4–2 15,399
20 W March 1, 1995 8–2 Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95) 14–4–2 13,131
21 T March 4, 1995 1–1 OT Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 14–4–3 13,517
22 W March 6, 1995 6–3 New Jersey Devils (1994–95) 15–4–3 13,178
23 W March 7, 1995 5–4 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 16–4–3 17,181
24 L March 9, 1995 1–2 @ Hartford Whalers (1994–95) 16–5–3 8,886
25 W March 11, 1995 2–1 New York Islanders (1994–95) 17–5–3 14,525
26 W March 16, 1995 3–2 Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 18–5–3 15,399
27 L March 18, 1995 4–5 @ Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 18–6–3 17,959
28 W March 20, 1995 5–4 OT Florida Panthers (1994–95) 19–6–3 13,013
29 W March 22, 1995 6–2 Boston Bruins (1994–95) 20–6–3 14,096
30 W March 25, 1995 2–1 New York Rangers (1994–95) 21–6–3 15,399
31 W March 26, 1995 11–4 @ Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 22–6–3 10,171
32 L March 28, 1995 3–5 @ Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 22–7–3 14,899
33 W March 30, 1995 5–4 @ New York Rangers (1994–95) 23–7–3 18,200
34 L March 31, 1995 4–6 @ Washington Capitals (1994–95) 23–8–3 13,629
35 W April 2, 1995 7–5 Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 24–8–3 14,335
36 L April 5, 1995 5–6 @ Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 24–9–3 17,469
37 W April 6, 1995 3–2 Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 25–9–3 15,399
38 T April 8, 1995 2–2 OT @ Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 25–9–4 10,575
39 W April 12, 1995 4–0 @ Boston Bruins (1994–95) 26–9–4 14,448
40 W April 14, 1995 5–2 Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 27–9–4 15,399
41 W April 16, 1995 4–2 Washington Capitals (1994–95) 28–9–4 15,325
42 L April 18, 1995 2–5 @ New York Islanders (1994–95) 28–10–4 13,758
43 L April 20, 1995 2–5 @ Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95) 28–11–4 17,705
44 L April 22, 1995 2–4 @ Florida Panthers (1994–95) 28–12–4 14,703
45 T April 26, 1995 1–1 OT Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 28–12–5 15,399
46 W April 29, 1995 4–1 Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95) 29–12–5 15,399
47 L April 30, 1995 2–4 @ New Jersey Devils (1994–95) 29–13–5 16,129
48 W May 3, 1995 4–1 Hartford Whalers (1994–95) 30–13–5 15,399

Playoffs

The Nordiques faced the New York Rangers in the first round of the 1995 NHL Playoffs. On paper, the Nordiques were the clear favorite, since they had a much better record and had won the season series against the Rangers. However, New York's players had more playoff experience, since most of them had been members of the 1994 Stanley Cup champion team. This fact, combined with the Nordiques players' playoff inexperience and inability to maintain their effective power play, proved to be the ultimate factors in the series, as New York defeated Quebec 4 games to 2. Although each team had allowed only 134 goals during the regular season (tied for 9th in the league), it was an offensive series, as 44 goals were scored (25 by New York, 19 by Quebec) over the 6 games. To make things even worse, the following year, they would win the Stanley Cup in their first year in Colorado.

Quebec vs. NY Rangers
Date Away Home
May 6 NY Rangers 4 5 Quebec
May 8 NY Rangers 8 3 Quebec
May 10 Quebec 3 4 NY Rangers
May 12 Quebec 2 3 NY Rangers OT
May 14 NY Rangers 2 4 Quebec
May 16 Quebec 2 4 NY Rangers
NY Rangers wins series 4–2

Relocation to Colorado

Had the Nordiques stayed in Quebec instead of heading for Denver, this would have been the franchise's new logo starting in 1996.

In the 1994–95 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, even in the face of renewed fan support over the previous three years. Quebec City was by far the smallest market in the NHL, and the second-smallest market in North America to host a big-league team (behind only Green Bay, Wisconsin). The league's Canadian teams (with the exception of Montreal, Toronto, and to a lesser extent, Vancouver) found it difficult to compete in a new age of rising player salaries. This made many of the players concerned about their marketability, especially since the Nords always played in the long shadow of the Canadiens. In addition, most players were skittish about playing in what was virtually a unilingual Francophone city. Then as now, there were no privately owned English-language radio stations in the city, and only one privately owned English-language television station. The only English-language newspaper is a weekly. Unlike in Montreal, public address announcements were given only in French.

Aubut asked for a bailout from Quebec's provincial government. It didn't go through, and in May 1995, shortly after the Nordiques were eliminated from the playoffs, Aubut was forced to sell 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, and add another in 2001.

The Nordiques had planned to change their logo, colours, and uniforms for the 1995–96 season, and the new design had already appeared in the Canadian press.

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Joe Sakic C 47 19 43 62 30 7 3 2 5
Peter Forsberg C 47 15 35 50 16 17 3 0 3
Owen Nolan RW 46 30 19 49 46 21 13 2 8
Scott Young RW 48 18 21 39 14 9 3 3 0
Mike Ricci C 48 15 21 36 40 5 9 0 1
Wendel Clark LW/D 37 12 18 30 45 -1 5 0 0
Valeri Kamensky LW 40 10 20 30 22 3 5 1 5
Bob Bassen C 47 12 15 27 33 14 0 1 1
Andrei Kovalenko RW 45 14 10 24 31 -4 1 0 3
Uwe Krupp D 44 6 17 23 20 14 3 0 1
Adam Deadmarsh RW 48 9 8 17 56 16 0 0 0
Curtis Leschyshyn D 44 2 13 15 20 29 0 0 0
Sylvain Lefebvre D 48 2 11 13 17 13 0 0 0
Claude Lapointe LW/C 29 4 8 12 41 5 0 0 0
Chris Simon LW 29 3 9 12 106 14 0 0 0
Martin Rucinsky LW 20 3 6 9 14 5 0 0 0
Craig Wolanin D 40 3 6 9 40 12 0 0 0
Adam Foote D 35 0 7 7 52 17 0 0 0
Paul MacDermid RW 14 3 1 4 22 3 0 0 1
Bill Huard LW 7 2 2 4 13 2 0 0 0
Alexei Gusarov D 14 1 2 3 6 -1 0 0 1
Dwayne Norris RW 13 1 2 3 2 1 0 0 1
Rene Corbet LW 8 0 3 3 2 3 0 0 0
Steven Finn D 40 0 3 3 64 1 0 0 0
Stephane Fiset G 32 0 3 3 2 0 0 0 0
Janne Laukkanen D 11 0 3 3 4 3 0 0 0
Aaron Miller D 9 0 3 3 6 2 0 0 0
Jon Klemm D 4 1 0 1 2 3 0 0 0
Dave Karpa D 2 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0
Garth Snow G 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jocelyn Thibault G 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO SA SV SV%
Stephane Fiset 1879 32 17 10 3 87 2.78 2 968 881 .910
Jocelyn Thibault 898 18 12 2 2 35 2.34 1 423 388 .917
Garth Snow 119 2 1 1 0 11 5.55 0 63 52 .825
Team: 2896 48 30 13 5 133 2.76 3 1454 1321 .909
Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Scott Young RW 6 3 3 6 2 3 0 1 0
Bob Bassen C 5 2 4 6 0 2 0 0 0
Peter Forsberg C 6 2 4 6 4 2 1 0 0
Joe Sakic C 6 4 1 5 0 -4 1 1 1
Owen Nolan RW 6 2 3 5 6 2 0 0 0
Mike Ricci C 6 1 3 4 8 4 0 0 0
Wendel Clark LW/D 6 1 2 3 6 -6 0 0 0
Chris Simon LW 6 1 1 2 19 -1 0 0 1
Craig Wolanin D 6 1 1 2 4 5 0 0 0
Uwe Krupp D 5 0 2 2 2 -2 0 0 0
Sylvain Lefebvre D 6 0 2 2 2 5 0 0 0
Valeri Kamensky LW 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Janne Laukkanen D 6 1 0 1 2 -2 0 0 0
Rene Corbet LW 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
Adam Deadmarsh RW 6 0 1 1 0 -3 0 0 0
Steven Finn D 4 0 1 1 2 -4 0 0 0
Adam Foote D 6 0 1 1 14 -3 0 0 0
Andrei Kovalenko RW 6 0 1 1 2 -3 0 0 0
Curtis Leschyshyn D 3 0 1 1 4 -1 0 0 0
Stephane Fiset G 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bill Huard LW 1 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0
Claude Lapointe LW/C 5 0 0 0 8 -1 0 0 0
Paul MacDermid RW 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Garth Snow G 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jocelyn Thibault G 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO SA SV SV%
Stephane Fiset 209 4 1 2 16 4.59 0 115 99 .861
Jocelyn Thibault 148 3 1 2 8 3.24 0 76 68 .895
Garth Snow 9 1 0 0 1 6.67 0 3 2 .667
Team: 366 6 2 4 25 4.10 0 194 169 .871

[2]

Note:
Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Transactions

The Nordiques were involved in the following transactions during the 1994-95 season.

Trades

March 23, 1995 To Calgary Flames
Ed Ward 		To Quebec Nordiques
Francois Groleau
April 7, 1995 To Ottawa Senators
Mika Stromberg
4th round pick in 1995 - Kevin Boyd 		To Quebec Nordiques
Bill Huard

Free agents

Player New Team
Niklas Andersson New York Islanders
Len Esau Calgary Flames

Roster

1994-95 Quebec Nordiques
Goaltenders

Defensemen

Wingers

Centres

Awards and records

  • Peter Forsberg, Calder Trophy
  • Peter Forsberg, NHL All-Rookie Team

Draft picks

NHL draft

= NHL All-Star [3] = Hall of Famers
Round Pick Player Nationality College/junior/club team
1 12 Wade Belak (D)  Canada Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
1 22 Jeff Kealty (D)  United States Catholic Memorial High School (USA)
3 35 Josef Marha (Centre)  Czech Republic Dukla Jihlava (Czech Republic)
3 72 Chris Drury (Centre)  United States Fairfield College Preparatory School (Conn.)
4 87 Milan Hejduk (Right wing)  Czech Republic HC Pardubice (Czech)
9 217 Tim Thomas (Goaltender)  United States

[4]

References

  1. ^ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
  2. ^ "1994-95 Quebec Nordiques Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  3. ^ Players are identified as an All-Star if they were selected for the All-Star game at any time in their career.
  4. ^ http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl1994e.html
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