1994–95 Quebec Nordiques season

**The 1994-95 Quebec Nordiques season** was the Quebec Nordiques' 23rd season and last season in the NHL. After the season, the club would be sold and relocated to Denver, Colorado.

The Nordiques finished first in the Northeast Division (becoming the Northeast Division champions) and first in the Eastern Conference with a record of 30-13-5; their home record was 30-13-5 and their road record was 11-12-1.

## Regular Season

The Quebec Nordiques exploded out of the gate, winning five-straight games 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, 1995 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 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. They 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.

## Relocation to Colorado

In the 1994–95 shortened season of 48 games, the Quebec 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 which 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 of 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, Colorado where it was renamed the Colorado Avalanche.

The Colorado 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.

## Team Leaders

* Goals: Owen Nolan (30)
* Assists: Joe Sakic (43)
* Points: Joe Sakic (62)
* Penalty minutes: Chris Simon (106)
* Plus/minus: Curtis Leschyshyn (+29)
* Wins: Stephane Fiset (17)
* Goals against average: Jocelyn Thibault (2.34)

## 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 them 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.

## Transactions

**June 3, 1994**

* The Nordiques acquired Stephane Yelle and an 11th-round pick in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft (#285: Steven Low) from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for an 11th-round pick in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft (#269: Mike Hanson)

**June 28, 1994**

* The Nordiques acquired Uwe Krupp and a first-round pick in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft (#12: Wade Belak) from the New York Islanders in exchange for Ron Sutter and a 1st-round pick in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft (#9: Brett Lindros); they acquired Wendel Clark, Sylvain Lefebvre, Landon Wilson and a first-round pick in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft (#22: Jeff Kealty) from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Garth Butcher, Mats Sudin, Todd Warriner and a first-round pick in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft (#10: Nolan Baumgarten)

**March 23, 1995**

* The Nordiques acquired Francois Groleau from the Calgary Flames in exchange for Ed Ward

**April 7, 1995**

* The Nordiques acquired Bill Huard from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for the rights to Mika Stromberg and a 4th-round pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft (#103: Kevin Boyd)