Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques 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 . 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 , as the San Francisco Sharks . However , the San Francisco group ' s funding collapsed prior to the start of the first season , and the WHA hastily sold the organization to a Quebec City - based group headed by Paul Racine and Marcel Aubut . They were named the Nordiques because they were one of the northernmost teams in professional sports in North America . 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 . 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 . They represented Canada at the Izvestia Hockey Tournament in Moscow , finishing last with an 0 - 3 - 1 record . By 1978 , the WHA was on shaky ground , and Aubut , by then the team ' s President under ownership of the Carling - O ' Keefe Brewery , began putting out feelers to the NHL . 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 . The 1980s . The WHA insisted on including all of its surviving Canadian teams , including the Nordiques , among the teams taken into the NHL at the end of the 1978 - 79 season . As a result , the Nordiques entered the NHL along with the Whalers , Oilers and Jets . Forced to let all but three players go in a dispersal draft , the Nordiques sunk to the bottom of the standings . They finished the 1979 - 80 NHL season last in their division despite the play of promising rookie left winger Michel Goulet . An early highlight to the otherwise dreary season came when Real Cloutier became the second ( following Alex Smart ) NHL player ever to score a hat trick in his first NHL game . In 1980 the Nordiques signed Anton Stastny , a member of the Czechoslovak national team , and a Nordiques ' draft choice , who defected earlier that year . His brothers , Peter and Marian , would soon follow and also sign with Quebec . The following season , led by Peter Stastny ' s 109 - point Calder Trophy - winning performance , the Nordiques made the NHL playoffs for the first time , but fell in the best - of - five opening round in five games to the Philadelphia Flyers . Led by Goulet and Peter Stastny , the Nordiques made the playoffs eight years in a row . In 1981 - 82 , despite notching only 82 points in the regular season , they defeated the Montreal Canadiens and then the Boston Bruins , both in winner - take - all games on the road . Their Cinderella run ended when they 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 . The Habs scored five unanswered goals in the third period of Game 6 at the Montreal Forum to eliminate the Nordiques . The goals all came after Peter Stastny and Dale Hunter were ejected in the brawl . In 1984 - 85 , Montreal and Quebec battled for the Adams Division championship . The Nordiques finished with 91 points , at the time their highest point total as an NHL team . However , the Habs won the division by three points - solidified by a 7 - 1 Canadiens trashing of the Nordiques at The Forum in the final week of the regular season . The Nordiques would exact revenge in the Adams finals with a seven - game victory , which was clinched by Peter Stastny ' s overtime goal at the Forum . They then took the powerful Philadelphia Flyers , who had the league ' s best record , to six games . They won their first NHL division title in 1985 - 86 , but a defensive collapse in the playoffs allowed the Hartford Whalers to sweep the Nordiques in three games . 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 . In that same 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 . Badaboum was created for Rendez - Vous , but created such a following that the Nordiques made it a permanent fixture at home games . 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 over two seasons , but the 38 - year - old was still among the team ' s best players while receiving diminished ice time . The Nords finished with only 12 wins and 31 points . 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 . They hit rock bottom in 1989 - 90 , finishing with a hideous record of 12 - 61 - 7 - - the worst in franchise history , and the second of three straight seasons with the worst record in the league . However , in that year ' s draft 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 . The 1990s . 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 Nords picked 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 with another dreadful season in 1991 - 92 , missing the 70 - point barrier for the fifth year in a row . 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 - transformed the Nordiques from league doormats to a legitimate Stanley Cup contender almost overnight . 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 improvement in NHL history . The Nordiques jumped from 52 points in the previous year to 104 - - in the process , going from the second - worst record in the league to the fourth - best . They made the playoffs for the first time in six seasons , but fell to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Canadiens in the first round . They would miss the playoffs the next season as they struggled with injuries . The Lindros deal is a strong contender for one of the most one - sided trades not merely in NHL history , but professional sports history . Forsberg won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 1995 , his first season with the Nordiques , and would be one of the cornerstones of the Nordiques / Avalanche franchise for almost a decade . Ricci would give three useful seasons to the franchise before being traded , while Hextall 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 . 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 " 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 , 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 . A committee of local citizens and businesses has been formed in an attempt to bring an NHL franchise back to Quebec City . A number of former Nordiques are still active in professional hockey , including Mats Sundin , Peter Forsberg , Owen Nolan , Jocelyn Thibault , Chris Simon , Martin Rucinsky , Martin Gelinas , 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 New York Rangers , 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 . Notable players . Team Captains . " Includes WHA captains " < br clear = " all " > First round draft picks . " Note : This list does not include selections from the WHA . "