1994–95 Quebec Nordiques season

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 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.

1994–95 Quebec Nordiques
Northeast Division champions
Division	1st Northeast
Conference	1st Eastern
1994–95 record	30–13–5
Home record	19–1–4
Road record	11–12–1
Goals for	185
Goals against	134
Team information
General manager	Pierre Lacroix
Coach	Marc Crawford
Captain	Joe Sakic
Alternate captains	Wendel Clark Mike Ricci
Arena	Colisée de Québec
Average attendance	14,397 (93.4%) [1]
Minor league affiliate(s)	Cornwall Aces (AHL)
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)

Regular season

The 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 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

[2]

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.

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 1995–96.

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.

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

[3]

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 1 – Garth Snow  35 – Stephane Fiset  41 – Jocelyn Thibault		Defensemen 2 – Sylvain Lefebvre  4 – Uwe Krupp  5 – Alexei Gusarov  6 – Craig Wolanin  7 – Curtis Leschyshyn  22 – Janne Laukkanen  24 – Jon Klemm  29 – Steven Finn  31 – Aaron Miller  52 – Adam Foote  59 – Dave Karpa		Wingers 11 – Owen Nolan  12 – Chris Simon  13 – Valeri Kamensky  14 – Dwayne Norris  15 – Bill Huard  17 – Wendel Clark  18 – Adam Deadmarsh  20 – Rene Corbet  23 – Paul MacDermid  25 – Martin Rucinsky  48 – Scott Young  51 – Andrei Kovalenko		Centres 9 – Mike Ricci  19 – Joe Sakic  - C 21 – Peter Forsberg  28 – Bob Bassen  47 – Claude Lapointe  Coach: Marc Crawford

Awards and records

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

Draft picks

NHL draft

= NHL All-Star [4]

= Hall of Famers

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)

[5]

References

• Nordiques on Hockey Database

1. https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph_season.php?lid=NHL1927&sid=1995
2. 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.
3. "1994-95 Quebec Nordiques Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
4. Players are identified as an All-Star if they were selected for the All-Star game at any time in their career.
5. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl1994e.html