1994–95 Quebec Nordiques season

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 Pepsi
Team leaders
Goals Owen Nolan (30)
Assists Joe Sakic (43)
Points Joe Sakic (62)
Penalties in minutes Chris Simon (106)
Plus/minus Curtis Leschyshyn (+29)
Wins Stephane Fiset (17)
Goals against average Jocelyn Thibault (2.34)
<1993–94

1995–96 >

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.


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
11 Quebec Nordiques 48 30 13 5 185 134 65
23 Pittsburgh Penguins 48 29 16 3 181 158 61
34 Boston Bruins 48 27 18 3 150 127 57
47 Buffalo Sabres 48 22 19 7 130 119 51
510 Hartford Whalers 48 19 24 5 127 141 43
611 Montreal Canadiens 48 18 23 7 125 148 43
714 Ottawa Senators 48 9 34 5 117 174 23

[1]

Schedule and results

No. R Date Score Opponent Record Attendance
1WJanuary 21, 19953–1 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95) 1–0–017,380
2WJanuary 24, 19955–1 Washington Capitals (1994–95) 2–0–014,277
3WJanuary 27, 19957–3 @ Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 3–0–016,232
4WJanuary 28, 19952–0 New York Rangers (1994–95) 4–0–014,382
5WJanuary 31, 19955–2 Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95) 5–0–014,141
6LFebruary 2, 19954–5 @ New Jersey Devils (1994–95) 5–1–012,096
7WFebruary 4, 19952–0 New Jersey Devils (1994–95) 6–1–013,220
8WFebruary 5, 19953–1 Hartford Whalers (1994–95) 7–1–013,207
9WFebruary 8, 19953–2 @ Hartford Whalers (1994–95) 8–1–08,032
10WFebruary 9, 19954–3 @ Boston Bruins (1994–95) 9–1–014,448
11WFebruary 11, 19955–2 Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 10–1–014,231
12WFebruary 14, 19953–2 @ New York Islanders (1994–95) 11–1–010,225
13WFebruary 16, 19954–2 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95) 12–1–017,065
14LFebruary 18, 19952–4 @ Washington Capitals (1994–95) 12–2–013,410
15WFebruary 19, 19954–1 @ Florida Panthers (1994–95) 13–2–014,703
16LFebruary 21, 19954–5 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 13–3–017,181
17TFebruary 23, 19956–6 OT Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95) 13–3–113,301
18TFebruary 25, 19951–1 OT Boston Bruins (1994–95) 13–3–214,389
19LFebruary 27, 19955–7 Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 13–4–215,399
20WMarch 1, 19958–2 Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95) 14–4–213,131
21TMarch 4, 19951–1 OT Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 14–4–313,517
22WMarch 6, 19956–3 New Jersey Devils (1994–95) 15–4–313,178
23WMarch 7, 19955–4 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 16–4–317,181
24LMarch 9, 19951–2 @ Hartford Whalers (1994–95) 16–5–38,886
25WMarch 11, 19952–1 New York Islanders (1994–95) 17–5–314,525
26WMarch 16, 19953–2 Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 18–5–315,399
27LMarch 18, 19954–5 @ Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 18–6–317,959
28WMarch 20, 19955–4 OT Florida Panthers (1994–95) 19–6–313,013
29WMarch 22, 19956–2 Boston Bruins (1994–95) 20–6–314,096
30WMarch 25, 19952–1 New York Rangers (1994–95) 21–6–315,399
31WMarch 26, 199511–4 @ Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 22–6–310,171
32LMarch 28, 19953–5 @ Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 22–7–314,899
33WMarch 30, 19955–4 @ New York Rangers (1994–95) 23–7–318,200
34LMarch 31, 19954–6 @ Washington Capitals (1994–95) 23–8–313,629
35WApril 2, 19957–5 Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 24–8–314,335
36LApril 5, 19955–6 @ Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 24–9–317,469
37WApril 6, 19953–2 Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 25–9–315,399
38TApril 8, 19952–2 OT @ Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 25–9–410,575
39WApril 12, 19954–0 @ Boston Bruins (1994–95) 26–9–414,448
40WApril 14, 19955–2 Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 27–9–415,399
41WApril 16, 19954–2 Washington Capitals (1994–95) 28–9–415,325
42LApril 18, 19952–5 @ New York Islanders (1994–95) 28–10–413,758
43LApril 20, 19952–5 @ Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95) 28–11–417,705
44LApril 22, 19952–4 @ Florida Panthers (1994–95) 28–12–414,703
45TApril 26, 19951–1 OT Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 28–12–515,399
46WApril 29, 19954–1 Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95) 29–12–515,399
47LApril 30, 19952–4 @ New Jersey Devils (1994–95) 29–13–516,129
48WMay 3, 19954–1 Hartford Whalers (1994–95) 30–13–515,399

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
Sakic, JoeJoe Sakic C 47 19 43 62 307325
Forsberg, PeterPeter Forsberg C 47 15 35 50 1617303
Nolan, OwenOwen Nolan RW 46 30 19 49 46211328
Young, ScottScott Young RW 48 18 21 39 149330
Ricci, MikeMike Ricci C 48 15 21 36 405901
Clark, WendelWendel Clark LW/D 37 12 18 30 45-1500
Kamensky, ValeriValeri Kamensky LW 40 10 20 30 223515
Bassen, BobBob Bassen C 47 12 15 27 3314011
Kovalenko, AndreiAndrei Kovalenko RW 45 14 10 24 31-4103
Krupp, UweUwe Krupp D 44 6 17 23 2014301
Deadmarsh, AdamAdam Deadmarsh RW 48 9 8 17 5616000
Leschyshyn, CurtisCurtis Leschyshyn D 44 2 13 15 2029000
Lefebvre, SylvainSylvain Lefebvre D 48 2 11 13 1713000
Lapointe, ClaudeClaude Lapointe LW/C 29 4 8 12 415000
Simon, ChrisChris Simon LW 29 3 9 12 10614000
Rucinsky, MartinMartin Rucinsky LW 20 3 6 9 145000
Wolanin, CraigCraig Wolanin D 40 3 6 9 4012000
Foote, AdamAdam Foote D 35 0 7 7 5217000
MacDermid, PaulPaul MacDermid RW 14 3 1 4 223001
Huard, BillBill Huard LW 7 2 2 4 132000
Gusarov, AlexeiAlexei Gusarov D 14 1 2 3 6-1001
Norris, DwayneDwayne Norris RW 13 1 2 3 21001
Corbet, ReneRene Corbet LW 8 0 3 3 23000
Finn, StevenSteven Finn D 40 0 3 3 641000
Fiset, StephaneStephane Fiset G 32 0 3 3 20000
Laukkanen, JanneJanne Laukkanen D 11 0 3 3 43000
Miller, AaronAaron Miller D 9 0 3 3 62000
Klemm, JonJon Klemm D 4 1 0 1 23000
Karpa, DaveDave Karpa D 2 0 0 0 0-1000
Snow, GarthGarth Snow G 2 0 0 0 00000
Thibault, JocelynJocelyn Thibault G 18 0 0 0 00000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO SA SV SV%
Fiset, StephaneStephane Fiset 1879 32 17 10 3 87 2.78 2968881.910
Thibault, JocelynJocelyn Thibault 898 18 12 2 2 35 2.34 1423388.917
Snow, GarthGarth Snow 119 2 1 1 0 11 5.55 06352.825
Team: 2896 48 30 13 5 133 2.76 314541321.909
Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Young, ScottScott Young RW 6 3 3 6 23010
Bassen, BobBob Bassen C 5 2 4 6 02000
Forsberg, PeterPeter Forsberg C 6 2 4 6 42100
Sakic, JoeJoe Sakic C 6 4 1 5 0-4111
Nolan, OwenOwen Nolan RW 6 2 3 5 62000
Ricci, MikeMike Ricci C 6 1 3 4 84000
Clark, WendelWendel Clark LW/D 6 1 2 3 6-6000
Simon, ChrisChris Simon LW 6 1 1 2 19-1001
Wolanin, CraigCraig Wolanin D 6 1 1 2 45000
Krupp, UweUwe Krupp D 5 0 2 2 2-2000
Lefebvre, SylvainSylvain Lefebvre D 6 0 2 2 25000
Kamensky, ValeriValeri Kamensky LW 2 1 0 1 00000
Laukkanen, JanneJanne Laukkanen D 6 1 0 1 2-2000
Corbet, ReneRene Corbet LW 2 0 1 1 01000
Deadmarsh, AdamAdam Deadmarsh RW 6 0 1 1 0-3000
Finn, StevenSteven Finn D 4 0 1 1 2-4000
Foote, AdamAdam Foote D 6 0 1 1 14-3000
Kovalenko, AndreiAndrei Kovalenko RW 6 0 1 1 2-3000
Leschyshyn, CurtisCurtis Leschyshyn D 3 0 1 1 4-1000
Fiset, StephaneStephane Fiset G 4 0 0 0 00000
Huard, BillBill Huard LW 1 0 0 0 0-1000
Lapointe, ClaudeClaude Lapointe LW/C 5 0 0 0 8-1000
MacDermid, PaulPaul MacDermid RW 3 0 0 0 20000
Snow, GarthGarth Snow G 1 0 0 0 00000
Thibault, JocelynJocelyn Thibault G 3 0 0 0 00000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO SA SV SV%
Fiset, StephaneStephane Fiset 209 4 1 2 16 4.59 011599.861
Thibault, JocelynJocelyn Thibault 148 3 1 2 8 3.24 07668.895
Snow, GarthGarth Snow 9 1 0 0 1 6.67 032.667
Team: 366 6 2 4 25 4.10 0194169.871

[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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