# 1994–95 Quebec Nordiques season

The 1994–95 Quebec Nordiques season was the 23rd season of operation of the Nordiques and the last season that the team played in Quebec. The Nordiques finished first in the Eastern Conference, but lost in the first round to the New York Rangers. After the season, the club was sold and relocated to Denver, Colorado.

## Regular season

The Nordiques exploded out of the gate, winning five-straight games and 12 of their first 13. Although they were terrible 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 went on to win the Calder Memorial 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 six. Owen Nolan had three, while Wendel Clark, Uwe Krupp and Scott Young each had one.

### 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 |
Eastern Conference :
| R | | Div | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | Quebec Nordiques | NE | 48 | 30 | 13 | 5 | 185 | 134 | 65 |
| 2 | Philadelphia Flyers | AT | 48 | 28 | 16 | 4 | 150 | 132 | 60 |
| 3 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NE | 48 | 29 | 16 | 3 | 181 | 158 | 61 |
| 4 | Boston Bruins | NE | 48 | 27 | 18 | 3 | 150 | 127 | 57 |
| 5 | New Jersey Devils | AT | 48 | 22 | 18 | 8 | 136 | 121 | 52 |
| 6 | Washington Capitals | AT | 48 | 22 | 18 | 8 | 136 | 120 | 52 |
| 7 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 48 | 22 | 19 | 7 | 130 | 119 | 51 |
| 8 | New York Rangers | AT | 48 | 22 | 23 | 3 | 139 | 134 | 47 |
| 9 | Florida Panthers | AT | 48 | 20 | 22 | 6 | 115 | 127 | 46 |
| 10 | Hartford Whalers | NE | 48 | 19 | 24 | 5 | 127 | 141 | 43 |
| 11 | Montreal Canadiens | NE | 48 | 18 | 23 | 7 | 125 | 148 | 43 |
| 12 | Tampa Bay Lightning | AT | 48 | 17 | 28 | 3 | 120 | 144 | 37 |
| 13 | New York Islanders | AT | 48 | 15 | 28 | 5 | 126 | 158 | 35 |
| 14 | Ottawa Senators | NE | 48 | 9 | 34 | 5 | 117 | 174 | 23 |
Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast
bold – Qualified for playoffs

## 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 in six games. 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 six games.

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

1994–95 regular season :
January: 5–0–0 (home: 3–0–0; road: 2–0–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordAttendanceRecap
1WJanuary 21, 19953–1@ Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95)1–0–017,380Recap
2WJanuary 24, 19955–1Washington Capitals (1994–95)2–0–014,277Recap
3WJanuary 27, 19957–3@ Buffalo Sabres (1994–95)3–0–016,232Recap
4WJanuary 28, 19952–0New York Rangers (1994–95)4–0–014,382Recap
5WJanuary 31, 19955–2Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95)5–0–014,141Recap :
February: 8–4–2 (home: 3–1–2; road: 5–3–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordAttendanceRecap
6LFebruary 2, 19954–5@ New Jersey Devils (1994–95)5–1–012,096Recap
7WFebruary 4, 19952–0New Jersey Devils (1994–95)6–1–013,220Recap
8WFebruary 5, 19953–1Hartford Whalers (1994–95)7–1–013,207Recap
9WFebruary 8, 19953–2@ Hartford Whalers (1994–95)8–1–08,032Recap
10WFebruary 9, 19954–3@ Boston Bruins (1994–95)9–1–014,448Recap
11WFebruary 11, 19955–2Ottawa Senators (1994–95)10–1–014,231Recap
12WFebruary 14, 19953–2@ New York Islanders (1994–95)11–1–010,225Recap
13WFebruary 16, 19954–2@ Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95)12–1–017,065Recap
14LFebruary 18, 19952–4@ Washington Capitals (1994–95)12–2–013,410Recap
15WFebruary 19, 19954–1@ Florida Panthers (1994–95)13–2–014,703Recap
16LFebruary 21, 19954–5@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95)13–3–017,181Recap
17TFebruary 23, 19956–6 OTPhiladelphia Flyers (1994–95)13–3–113,301Recap
18TFebruary 25, 19951–1 OTBoston Bruins (1994–95)13–3–214,389Recap
19LFebruary 27, 19955–7Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95)13–4–215,399Recap :
March: 10–4–1 (home: 7–0–1; road: 3–4–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordAttendanceRecap
20WMarch 1, 19958–2Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95)14–4–213,131Recap
21TMarch 4, 19951–1 OTBuffalo Sabres (1994–95)14–4–313,517Recap
22WMarch 6, 19956–3New Jersey Devils (1994–95)15–4–313,178Recap
23WMarch 7, 19955–4@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95)16–4–317,181Recap
24LMarch 9, 19951–2@ Hartford Whalers (1994–95)16–5–38,886Recap
25WMarch 11, 19952–1New York Islanders (1994–95)17–5–314,525Recap
26WMarch 16, 19953–2Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95)18–5–315,399Recap
27LMarch 18, 19954–5@ Montreal Canadiens (1994–95)18–6–317,959Recap
28WMarch 20, 19955–4 OTFlorida Panthers (1994–95)19–6–313,013Recap
29WMarch 22, 19956–2Boston Bruins (1994–95)20–6–314,096Recap
30WMarch 25, 19952–1New York Rangers (1994–95)21–6–315,399Recap
31WMarch 26, 199511–4@ Ottawa Senators (1994–95)22–6–310,171Recap
32LMarch 28, 19953–5@ Buffalo Sabres (1994–95)22–7–314,899Recap
33WMarch 30, 19955–4@ New York Rangers (1994–95)23–7–318,200Recap
34LMarch 31, 19954–6@ Washington Capitals (1994–95)23–8–313,629Recap :
April: 6–5–2 (home: 5–0–1; road: 1–5–1)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordAttendanceRecap
35WApril 2, 19957–5Ottawa Senators (1994–95)24–8–314,335Recap
36LApril 5, 19955–6@ Montreal Canadiens (1994–95)24–9–317,469Recap
37WApril 6, 19953–2Montreal Canadiens (1994–95)25–9–315,399Recap
38TApril 8, 19952–2 OT@ Ottawa Senators (1994–95)25–9–410,575Recap
39WApril 12, 19954–0@ Boston Bruins (1994–95)26–9–414,448Recap
40WApril 14, 19955–2Buffalo Sabres (1994–95)27–9–415,399Recap
41WApril 16, 19954–2Washington Capitals (1994–95)28–9–415,325Recap
42LApril 18, 19952–5@ New York Islanders (1994–95)28–10–413,758Recap
43LApril 20, 19952–5@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95)28–11–417,705Recap
44LApril 22, 19952–4@ Florida Panthers (1994–95)28–12–414,703Recap
45TApril 26, 19951–1 OTMontreal Canadiens (1994–95)28–12–515,399Recap
46WApril 29, 19954–1Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95)29–12–515,399Recap
47LApril 30, 19952–4@ New Jersey Devils (1994–95)29–13–516,129Recap :
May: 1–0–0 (home: 1–0–0; road: 0–0–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordAttendanceRecap
48WMay 3, 19954–1Hartford Whalers (1994–95)30–13–515,399Recap :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Tie (1 point) :

### Playoffs

1995 Stanley Cup playoffs :
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals vs. (8) New York Rangers – Rangers win 4–2
GameResultDateScoreOpponentSeriesRecap
1WMay 6, 19955–4New York RangersNordiques lead 1–0Recap
2LMay 8, 19953–8New York RangersSeries tied 1–1Recap
3LMay 10, 19953–4@ New York RangersRangers lead 2–1Recap
4LMay 12, 19952–3 OT@ New York RangersRangers lead 3–1Recap
5WMay 14, 19954–2New York RangersRangers lead 3–2Recap
6LMay 16, 19952–4@ New York RangersRangers win 4–2Recap :
Legend:
  Win
  Loss :

## Player statistics
### Scoring

* Position abbreviations: C = Centre; D = Defence; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
* † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Nordiques only.
* ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Nordiques only.
| No. | Player | Pos | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs |
| No. | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
| 19 | Joe Sakic | C | 47 | 19 | 43 | 62 | 7 | 30 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 |
| 21 | Peter Forsberg | C | 47 | 15 | 35 | 50 | 17 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 11 | Owen Nolan | RW | 46 | 30 | 19 | 49 | 21 | 46 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 6 |
| 48 | Scott Young | RW | 48 | 18 | 21 | 39 | 9 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| 9 | Mike Ricci | C | 48 | 15 | 21 | 36 | 5 | 40 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| 17 | Wendel Clark | LW | 37 | 12 | 18 | 30 | −1 | 45 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −6 | 6 |
| 13 | Valeri Kamensky | LW | 40 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 3 | 22 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Bob Bassen | C | 47 | 12 | 15 | 27 | 14 | 33 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| 51 | Andrei Kovalenko | RW | 45 | 14 | 10 | 24 | −4 | 31 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 2 |
| 4 | Uwe Krupp | D | 44 | 6 | 17 | 23 | 14 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −2 | 2 |
| 18 | Adam Deadmarsh | RW | 48 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 16 | 56 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 0 |
| 7 | Curtis Leschyshyn | D | 44 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 29 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 4 |
| 2 | Sylvain Lefebvre | D | 48 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 17 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| 47 | Claude Lapointe | C | 29 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 5 | 41 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 8 |
| 12 | Chris Simon | LW | 29 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 106 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 19 |
| 25 | Martin Rucinsky | LW | 20 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 6 | Craig Wolanin | D | 40 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 40 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| 52 | Adam Foote | D | 35 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 17 | 52 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 14 |
| 23 | Paul MacDermid | RW | 14 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | Bill Huard† | LW | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| 5 | Alexei Gusarov | D | 14 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 14 | Dwayne Norris | RW | 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 20 | Rene Corbet | LW | 8 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 | Steven Finn | D | 40 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 64 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −4 | 2 |
| 35 | Stephane Fiset | G | 32 | 0 | 3 | 3 | | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
| 22 | Janne Laukkanen | D | 11 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 2 |
| 31 | Aaron Miller | D | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 24 | Jon Klemm | D | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 59 | Dave Karpa‡ | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1 | Garth Snow | G | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
| 41 | Jocelyn Thibault | G | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |

### Goaltending

| No. | Player | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs |
| No. | Player | GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI | GP | W | L | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
| 35 | Stephane Fiset | 32 | 17 | 10 | 3 | 968 | 87 | 2.78 | .910 | 2 | 1879 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 115 | 16 | 4.60 | .861 | 0 | 209 |
| 41 | Jocelyn Thibault | 18 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 423 | 35 | 2.34 | .917 | 1 | 898 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 76 | 8 | 3.24 | .895 | 0 | 148 |
| 1 | Garth Snow | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 63 | 11 | 5.54 | .825 | 0 | 119 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6.78 | .667 | 0 | 9 |

## Awards and records
### Awards

| Type | Award/honour | Recipient |
| League (annual) | Calder Memorial Trophy | Peter Forsberg |
| League (annual) | Jack Adams Award | Marc Crawford |
| League (annual) | NHL All-Rookie Team | Peter Forsberg (Forward) |
| League (in-season) | NHL Rookie of the Month | Peter Forsberg (April) |
| Team | O'Keefe Cup | Joe Sakic |

### Milestones

| Milestone | Player | Date |
| First game | Adam Deadmarsh | January 21, 1995 |
| First game | Peter Forsberg | January 21, 1995 |
| First game | Janne Laukkanen | January 24, 1995 |

## Transactions

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

### Trades

| March 8, 1995 | To Anaheim Mighty DucksDave Karpa | To Quebec NordiquesConditional draft pick in 1997 |
| March 23, 1995 | To Calgary FlamesEd Ward | To Quebec NordiquesFrancois Groleau |
| April 7, 1995 | To Ottawa SenatorsMika Stromberg 4th round pick in 1995 (Kevin Boyd) | To Quebec NordiquesBill Huard |

### Free agents

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

## Draft picks

Quebec's draft picks at the 1994 NHL Entry Draft in Hartford, Connecticut.
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | College/junior/club team |
| 1 | 12 | Wade Belak (RW) | Canada | Saskatoon Blades (WHL) |
| 1 | 22 | Jeff Kealty (D) | United States | Catholic Memorial High School (USHS-MA) |
| 2 | 35 | Josef Marha (C) | Czech Republic | Dukla Jihlava (Czech Republic) |
| 3 | 61 | Sebastien Bety (D) | Canada | Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL) |
| 3 | 72 | Chris Drury (C) | United States | Fairfield College Preparatory School (USHS-CT) |
| 4 | 87 | Milan Hejduk (RW) | Czech Republic | HC Pardubice (Czech Republic) |
| 5 | 113 | Tony Tuzzolino (RW) | United States | Michigan State University (CCHA) |
| 6 | 139 | Nicholas Windsor (D) | Canada | Cornwall Colts (COJHL) |
| 7 | 165 | Calvin Elfring (D) | Canada | Powell River Paper Kings (BCHL) |
| 8 | 191 | Jay Bertsch (RW) | Canada | Spokane Chiefs (WHL) |
| 9 | 217 | Tim Thomas (G) | United States | University of Vermont (Hockey East) |
| 10 | 243 | Chris Pittman (C) | Canada | Kitchener Rangers (OHL) |
| 11 | 285 | Steve Low (D) | Canada | Sherbrooke Faucons (QMJHL) |
| S | 9 | Reid Simonton (D) | Canada | Union College (ECAC Hockey) |

## Relocation to Denver, Colorado

In the 1994–95 shortened season of 48 games, the Nordiques played well and finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference. 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 unsuccessfully petitioned for a bailout from Quebec's provincial government. 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 won the Stanley Cup in their first season after the move, and added another in 2001, and a third in 2022.
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.