Former Teams

[RTWAP]

Sticky thread for the discussion of teams that have moved elsewhere or been contracted.

[Mr Bugg]

Oh Nashville Predators, how I miss them so.

[iwishihadacup]

RIP COYOTES

[dempsey_k]

The Ottawa Senators were an amazing team, though I've never seen them play.

[ArtSexDesign]

Outside of the Penguins and during that time, the Canucks...I didn't mind the Winnipeg Jets. I liked the jerseys, the logo, even bought a Selanne #13 jersey their final year.

I hope Winnipeg gets an NHL team again some day, when Bettman is fired that might happen sooner.

[Sawyer]

Winnipeg Jets

Classic (WHA) Logo


Logo used when they entered the NHL




WHA 1972–1979

The WHA brought major professional hockey to Ottawa, Quebec City, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and later Calgary. On December 27, 1971, Winnipeg was granted one of the founding franchises in the WHA, to Ben Hatskin, a local figure who made his wealth in cardboard shipping containers. The team took their name from the Winnipeg Jets of the Western Canada Hockey League.

The Jets' first signing was Norm Beaudin ("the Original Jet") and the teams first major signing was Bobby Hull. Hull's acquisition, partially financed by the rest of the WHA's teams, was widely seen as giving legitimacy to the WHA as a serious rival major league to the NHL.

The Jets were further noteworthy in hockey history for being the first North American club seriously to explore Europe as a source of hockey talent. Winnipeg's fortunes were bolstered by acquisitions such as Swedish forwards Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson, who starred with Hull on the WHA's most famous and successful forward line (nicknamed "the Hot Line"), and defenceman Lars-Erik Sjoberg, who would serve as the team's captain and win accolades as the WHA's best defenceman. Behind these players and other European stars such as Willy Lindstrom, Kent Nilsson, Veli-Pekka Ketola, leavened by players such as Peter Sullivan, Norm Beaudin and goaltender Joe Daley, the Jets were the most successful team in the short-lived WHA. The team won the Avco World Trophy three times, including in the league's final season against Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers. The Jets made the finals five of the WHA's seven seasons and were widely considered one of the best teams in hockey, NHL or WHA, of the era.

Another notable accomplishment was the Jets' 5–3 victory over the Soviet National team on January 5, 1978, making the Jets the first club team ever to defeat the Soviet elite squad.

In the last season in the WHA, Kent Nilsson had 107 points, while Morris Lukowich had 65 goals, and Peter Sullivan had 46 goals and 86 points. The Jets made it to the Avco Cup and Gary Smith gave up the last goal in WHA history to Dave Semenko in a 7–3 Jets win.


NHL 1979–1996

By 1979, the vast majority of the WHA's teams had folded, but the Jets were still going strong and they were absorbed into the NHL. In doing so, they had to give up three of their top six scorers – the core of the last WHA champion – in a reclamation draft. They were also forced to draft 18th out of 21 teams. In the draft, they sellected low-scoring defenseman Scott Campbell when such future standouts as Kent Nilsson, Terry Ruskowski and Rich Preston were still available. Campbell was out of the league within two years.

With a decimated roster, the Jets finished dead last in the league in the next two seasons, including a horrendous nine-win season in 1980–81 that still ranks as the worst in franchise history. This stands in marked contrast to the other 1979 Avco Cup finalist, the Oilers, who became one of the most powerful teams the game has ever seen during the 1980s.

The Jets' first two wretched NHL seasons did net them high draft picks, and in 1981, they drafted future Hall of Fame member Dale Hawerchuk. The team developed a solid core of players by the mid-1980s, with Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen, Paul MacLean, Dave Babych, Randy Carlyle, Laurie Boschman, Doug Smail, and David Ellett providing a strong nucleus.

The Jets were very competitive for most of the 1980s and early 1990s, and had a very loyal following. However, regular-season success did not transfer over into the playoffs. This was because Winnipeg played in the same division as the Oilers and Calgary Flames – by some accounts, the two best teams in the league during the second half of the 1980s. Because of the way the playoffs were structured at the time, the Jets were all but assured of having to beat either the Oilers or the Flames (or both) to get to the Campbell Conference Finals. For example, in 1984–85, they finished with the fourth-best record in the entire league, with 96 points – both their best finishes as an NHL team. While they managed to dispatch the Flames in four games in the best-of-five division semi-final, they were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Oilers in the division final. In fact, Winnipeg and Edmonton played each other in the playoffs six times between 1983 and 1990. The Oilers not only won every series, but held the Jets to only four total victories. Five of those times (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, and 1990), the Oilers went on to win the Stanley Cup. 1987 was the last time that the Jets won a playoff series (defeating Calgary in the division semi-final before losing to Edmonton in the division final).

As the NHL expanded in the United States, operating costs and salaries grew rapidly; this development hit the league's Canadian teams particularly hard. As Winnipeg was the league's fourth-smallest market (eventually becoming the third-smallest market after the Québec Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995), the Jets were unable to retain their best players. Various schemes were devised to save the team through a tremendous grassroots effort and government funds, but in the end the efforts were not enough. The Winnipeg Jets played their last-ever game on April 28, 1996, a home playoff loss to the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 4–1. Norm Maciver scored the last goal in Jets history.

Originators in the "White Out" during the playoffs


Retired Numbers:
Bobby Hull's #9
Thomas Steen's #25.

Both numbers hang in Jobing.com Arena with the new Phoenix Coyotes franchise, in the Jets' old blue-red-white colour scheme.

Coyotes retired Hawerchuk's 10 in Coyote colours although Hawerchuk played for Winipeg and not one game for Phoenix.

HHOF Players:
Dale Hawerchuk, C, 1981–90, inducted 2001
Bobby Hull, RW, 1972–80, inducted 1983
Serge Savard, D, 1981–83, inducted 1986

Point Leaders in franchise history:
Dale Hawerchuk C 713GP 379G 550A 929P
Thomas Steen RW 950GP 264G 553A 817P
Keith Tkachuk LW 640GP 323G 300A 623P
Shane Doan* RW 883GP 227G 323A 550P
Teppo Numminen D 1098GP 108G 426A 534P
Paul MacLean RW 527GP 248G 270A 518P
Doug Smail LW 691GP 189G 208A 397P
Laurie Boschman LW 526GP 152G 227A 379P
Jeremy Roenick C 384GP 141G 210A 351P
Morris Lukowich LW 431GP 168G 177A 345P

[Hasbro]

RIP the Rockies and the Whale.

[edgar_box]

YouTube Video

[Sawyer]

Hartford Whalers







WHA 1972–1979 (New England Whalers)

The Whalers franchise was born in November 1971 when the World Hockey Association awarded a franchise to New England businessmen Howard Baldwin, John Coburn, Godfrey Wood and William E. Barnes, to begin play in Boston.

The team began signing NHLers quickly. Such as;Tom Webster,Ted Green (the team's inaugural captain), Rick Ley, Jim Dorey, Brad Selwood, and former Al Smith. New England also signed an unusually large number of American players including Massachusetts natives and former US Olympic hockey team members Larry Pleau, Kevin Ahearn, John Cunniff and Paul Hurley. The Whalers would have the WHA's best regular-season record in the 1972–73 WHA season, with Webster leading the team in scoring and rampaging through the playoffs, and behind legendary ex-Boston University coach Jack Kelley, would win the inaugural Avco World Trophy, the WHA championship.

For the first 2½ years of their existence, the Whalers played home games at the Boston Arena, Boston Garden, and The Big E Coliseum in West Springfield. With sagging attendance related to the ebbing of the early 1970s hockey boom in the Boston area, however, the franchise's owners decided to move it to Connecticut, an area that, except for various minor league teams in New Haven, had been largely bereft of pro hockey. The Whalers' ownership group was attracted to the city of Hartford. With many large corporations and an area rich in hockey tradition, Hartford was seen as a natural choice.

On January 11, 1975, the team played its first game in front of a sellout crowd at the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum. With the exception of a period in the late 1970s when the Whalers played at the Springfield Civic Center while the Hartford Civic Center was being renovated (due to the collapse of a portion of its roof after a blizzard), the franchise was located in Hartford until it relocated to North Carolina for the 1997-98 season.

Though they never again won the league championship, the New England Whalers were a successful team, never missing the playoffs in the WHA's history, and finishing first in its division three times. They had a more stable roster than most WHA teams—Ley, Webster, Selwood, Pleau, and Tommy Earl would all play over 350 games with the club—and scored a major coup when they signed legend Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty from the Houston Aeros (WHA) in 1977.

While the first two full seasons in Hartford were not glittering (the Whalers recorded losing records both years), the final two WHA seasons saw more success. They went to the finals again in 1978, with a veteran team spearheaded by the Howes—50-year-old Gordie led the team in scoring—future NHL stars Gordie Roberts and Mike Rogers, All-Star defenseman Ron Plumb, and forwards John McKenzie, Dave Keon and Mike Antonovich, and possessed of the league's best defense. The next season was not so fine, but while age finally caught up with Gordie Howe, the slack was picked up by Andre Lacroix, the WHA's all time leading scorer, acquired from the folded Aeros.

As it was one of the most stable of the WHA teams, it was one of the four franchises admitted to the National Hockey League when the rival leagues merged in 1979. Following lobbying from the Boston Bruins, one of the conditions of the merger stipulated that the Whalers were to drop "New England" from their name. The Howes, Rogers, Ley, Keon, Smith, Roberts and Lacroix would go on to wear the uniform of the Hartford Whalers. Most of the members of the 1978–79 Whalers were available as only Selwood, George Lyle and Warren Miller were reclaimed by their former NHL teams. Legendary goal scorer Bobby Hull would be acquired late that season in a trade with another former WHA team, the Winnipeg Jets, and play the last games of his career not only as a Whaler, but also as a member of the same team as his childhood idol, Gordie Howe (who also retired following the Whalers' first NHL season).


NHL 1979–1996

The Whalers were never as successful in the NHL as they had been in the WHA, yet they attracted a passionate fan base over the years. They only recorded three winning seasons in their eighteen years in the NHL, missed the playoffs ten times, and only once won a playoff series, earning the derisive nickname "Forever .500s" along the way. The team developed heated rivalries with the nearby Boston Bruins and New York Rangers — for home games against the Bruins especially, the Civic Center would have as many as a quarter of the fans in the seats from Boston, a two-hour drive away — achieving all-time records of 37–69–12 and 23–26–6 respectively against those clubs.

The Whalers' NHL history was plagued by disastrous trades, as the team repeatedly dealt away stars for several mediocre players in an attempt to gain "depth." For instance, they traded star defenseman Mark Howe and their first NHL scoring leader, Mike Rogers, in separate deals for players and draft picks which never panned out, and also swapped hardrock defenseman Gordie Roberts for the remaining half-season of Mike Fidler's NHL career. While some trades proved beneficial, such as Chris Pronger for Brendan Shanahan in 1995, all too often the players acquired left Hartford as soon as possible.

The team had a brief moment in the sun in the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons. The Whalers finished fourth in the Adams Division in the 1985–86 regular season, and eliminated the first-place Quebec Nordiques in three straight games in the first round, winning their sole playoff series in Hartford. The Whalers then pushed the division finals to seven games, losing the final game 2–1 in overtime to the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Montreal Canadiens. The following season, the Whalers won their lone division championship, led by centers Ron Francis and Ray Ferraro, emerging hardcore winger Kevin Dineen, superstar goalie Mike Liut, and troubled scorer Sylvain Turgeon. The 93 points earned that season were the most they would earn as an NHL team in Hartford. However, they were quickly eliminated in the first round by the Nordiques. While the team would make the playoffs for the next five seasons in a row, they never came close to duplicating their previous success.

The Whalers went to the playoffs for the final time in 1992, but lost in a double overtime Game 7 in the Adams Division Semifinal to the Montreal Canadiens, as Russ Courtnall scored on a turn-around shot. Roberts was fired thereafter, and while the Whalers had some stars in their remaining five seasons in Hartford — including forwards Geoff Sanderson, Pat Verbeek, and Andrew Cassels and goalie Sean Burke — they never again made the playoffs.

In 1994, Compuware founder Peter Karmanos purchased the Whalers and pledged to keep them in Hartford for four years. However, two years later, frustrated with low attendance and little corporate support, he announced that if the Whalers were unable to sell at least 11,000 season tickets for the 1996–97 season, he would likely move the team. Furthermore, ownership only made season tickets available in full-season (41-game) packages, eliminating the popular five- and ten-game "mini plans," in a strategy largely designed to spur purchases from wealthier corporations and individuals. Sales were underwhelming at the beginning of the campaign, and at the end of the 1995–96 season it was still unknown whether the Whalers would stay in Connecticut or move. However, thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign, and the creative efforts of many fans (who pooled together resources to purchase some of the full-season packages collectively) the Whalers announced that they would stay in Connecticut through at least 1997.

The team that became popular with outside fanbases to become one of the most annoying teams ever:

In early 1996, negotiations between the Whalers and Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland to build a new $147.5 million arena seemed to be going well. However, talks fell apart when Rowland and the state refused Karmanos' demand to reimburse the Whalers for up to $45 million in losses during the three years the new arena was to be built. The Whalers ownership ultimately gave up on the new arena, and on March 26, 1997, the team announced that it would be leaving Hartford after the season, one of the few times that a team announced it would leave its current city without having already selected a new city. Many suspect that Rowland never had any intention of building a new arena for the Whalers, as he harbored hopes of instead luring the New England Patriots to Connecticut. Those talks also fell apart after the state and the Patriots ownership failed to reach an agreement on a new stadium.

On April 13, 1997, the Whalers played their last game in Hartford, defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2–1. Team captain Kevin Dineen, who had returned to Hartford midway through the 1994-95 season after a brief stint in Philadelphia, scored the final goal in Whaler history. In July, Karmanos announced the team would move to Raleigh, North Carolina as the Carolina Hurricanes. After some difficult early years, the Hurricanes made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2002, and won it in 2006.

The primary factors in the Whalers' departure from Hartford were market size and the lack of a modern playing facility. At the time, Hartford was the smallest market in the league. Additionally, the Whalers' marketability was severely limited by geography, as Hartford is located on the dividing line between the traditional home territories for New York City and Boston teams. For most of their NHL history, the Whalers attracted their biggest crowds when either the Rangers or Bruins came to town and brought thousands of their fans with them. In addition, the Hartford Civic Center had a capacity of 15,635--the smallest in the league. It also had no luxury suites, and was attached to a shopping mall. As salaries throughout the league escalated and teams began moving into larger, corporate-sponsored stadiums with luxury suites and other amenities, it became apparent that a small-market team playing in an aging municipal arena with limited revenue streams could not compete in the NHL.


Since the Whalers' departure, the city and local businessmen have made several efforts to return a team to Hartford. In 2006, developer Lawrence Gottesdiener began lobbying to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins and move them to a new Hartford arena, but the NHL discouraged both his bid and that of Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie in favor of keeping the team in Pittsburgh; in March 2007, the team announced plans to construct a new arena and a 30-year lease contract with the city of Pittsburgh. After the Pittsburgh bid fell through, Gottesdiener made another bid for the Nashville Predators franchise with the hope of bringing them to Hartford. That bid was lost in August 2007, as the Predators ownership ultimately decided to sell to a local holding company that would keep the team in Nashville. Most recently, Hartford mayor Eddie Perez met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in January 2009 to discuss plans for a new arena in Hartford and the city's interest in bringing back an NHL franchise. Bettman commented that it would take significant interest and sponsorship to get a franchise back. With the current economic recession and new arena talks fading, an NHL franchise in Hartford looks unlikely for the forseeable future.



Retired Numbers:
2 Rick Ley, D, 1972–81
9 Gordie Howe, RW, 1977–80
19 John McKenzie, RW, 1977–79

HHOF Players:
Paul Coffey, D, 1996–1997, inducted 2004
Dave Keon, C, 1976–1982, inducted 1986
Gordie Howe, RW, 1977–1980, inducted 1972
Bobby Hull, LW, 1980, inducted 1983
Ron Francis, C, 1981–1991, inducted 2007
Emile Francis, General Manager, 1983–1989, inducted 1982 (Builder)

Point Leaders in franchise history:
Ron Francis C 714GP 264G 557A 821P
Kevin Dineen RW 587GP 235G 268A 503P
Pat Verbeek RW 433GP 192G 211A 403P
Blaine Stoughton RW 357GP 219G 158A 377P
Geoff Sanderson LW 439GP 189G 163A 352P

[Beigne]

the Hartford Whalers' uniform was awesome, but not as nice as the Nords...

judge, could you do one for the nords?

[Beigne]

which of these cities will have a team back first?

Quebec and Winnipeg seems to have the advantage up to now...

or and I fucking hate that bubblehead Buttman

[Sawyer]

Quebec Nordiques







WHA 1972–1979 (New England Whalers)

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 Quebec Lighthouse Maurice Richard, but he lasted two games, a 3–2 loss to the Cleveland Crusaders, and a 3-0 win against the Alberta Oilers. The Rocket decided coaching wasn't his forte and stepped down.

You may remember that the Nordiques offered, specifically former Habs great netminder, Jacques Plante offered Jean Beliveau a large multi year contract that would have been the biggest in his career. Beliveau turned it down stating that it wouldn't be fair to himself, his teammates and the fans that he could not play as a high end player as he has been for years.

The sophomore season saw the squad become a high-flying offensive juggernaut, becoming the only team in major professional history to have five players break 100 points (Tardif, Cloutier, Chris Bordeleau, Bernier and Houle). The season ended in disappointment as the Nordiques lost to the Calgary Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs, after losing Marc Tardif to injury after a controversial hit by the Cowboys' Rick Jodzio.

Ladies and gentlmen, your 76/77 Avco Cup champs! Despite injuries to Tardif and an aging Tremblay, the Nordiques finally captured the Avco World Trophy, as they took out the New England Whalers and the Indianapolis Racers in five games before beating the Winnipeg Jets in seven, behind Bernier's record 36 points in 17 playoff games. They represented Canada at the Izvestia Hockey Tournament in Moscow, finishing last with an 0–3–1 record.

The 78/79 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.

NHL 1979–1995

As part of its merger with the NHL, 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 sank 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 August 1980 the Nordiques announced that they signed newly defected brothers Peter and Anton Stastny, members of the Czechoslovak national team, since they drafted Anton in the 1979 amateur draft. Their brother, Marian, would follow and also sign with Quebec in the summer of 1981. 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" (which can be found on the 10 greatest Canadiens games of all time on DVD, buy the box set and watch this game first. This was as intense a game as you can ever watch) 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 (the Hunter brothers fight, SUSF) 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 (and as it turned out, one of their two in Quebec,the other 1994-1995), 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 just for Rendez-Vous, but generated such a following that the Nordiques made it a permanent fixture at home games.

1987: Rendez-vous '87 a triumph

While the NHL All-Star Game always brings together some of the planet's top players, the game itself isn't necessarily known for blazing speed or intensity. That changed in 1987. At the prompting of Nordiques owner Marcel Aubut, the league shelved its traditional Campbell-versus-Wales-Conference clash in favor of a different East-West confrontation: the NHL All-Stars versus the Soviet National Team. A cultural festival accompanied Quebec City's Winter Carnival that year, with musical guests ranging from Glass Tiger and Gordon Lightfoot to the Red Army Choir, plus gourmet dinners and parades.

But what happened on the ice was the most memorable. Viewed retrospectively, the hockey was nearly as fast-paced and exciting as the games that would be played during the classic Canada Cup that fall. In the first game, Dave Poulin's goal set up by Mario Lemieux with 1:15 remaining gave the NHLers a 4-3 victory. But the Soviets rallied for a 5-3 win in Game Two, keyed by a three-point performance by an emerging star named Valeri Kamensky. He received a new stereo for his Soviet MVP performance, while Wayne Gretzky took home a shiny Chrysler as NHL MVP. Also on the quirky side, USSR captain Slava Fetisov breached protocol by giving Canadian Governor-General Jeanne Sauve a kiss on the cheek while accepting a team trophy from her afterwards. (Sauve didn't seem to mind, so nobody else did either.)

Decline began the following season. The Nordiques finished last in their division—the first of five straight years of finishing at the bottom of the Adams Division—and missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years. The slide continued: in 1988–89 they had the league's worst record.

Michel Bergeron, who had coached the team from 1980 to 1987, returned for 1989–90. The season was also highlighted by the arrival of Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur, who turned down a lucrative offer from the Los Angeles Kings so he could finish his career in his home province. 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 season saw the Nords hit rock bottom; they finished with a hideous record of 12–61–7 (31 points)--the second of three straight seasons with the worst record in the league, and still the worst record in franchise history.

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. 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 Nordiques would go on to draft Lindros who refused to play for the team and he was than traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in a giant trade that included Peter Forsberg. Look, this tanking system was around before the Pens did it. Who knew Oh yeah, back on topic. Among the reasons for refusing to play for Quebec, Lindros cited distance, lack of marketing potential, and having to speak French. After the Nordiques selected him anyway, Lindros then 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 lasted over a year. The Nordiques president publicly announced that they would make Lindros the centerpiece of their franchise turnaround, and refused to trade Lindros, saying that he would not have a career in the NHL as long as he held out.....or until Philly came knocking.

The Nordiques missed the playoffs in 1993–94 as they struggled with injuries. After that season, Sundin was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in return for Wendel Clark. This trade was controversial for both teams, as Sundin was one of the Nordiques' rising talents, while Clark was the Leafs captain and fan favorite. While Clark performed respectably, he then became embroiled in a contract dispute after the season ended and was sent to the New York Islanders.

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 the Nordiques' 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. 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 was made even more difficult by a weakening Canadian dollar (these teams' revenues are earned in Canadian, but salaries are paid in US). Quebec City was by far the smallest market in the NHL, and the second-smallest market in North America to host a major league team (behind only Green Bay, Wisconsin). It didn't help that even in their best years, they were unable to escape the long shadow of the Canadiens. Additionally, Quebec City is a virtually monolingual Francophone city. Unlike in Montreal, nearly all public address announcements were only given in French. Then as now, there were no privately-owned English-language radio stations, and the only English-language newspaper was a weekly. All of these factors severely limited the Nords' marketability, and made free agents and draftees (most notably Lindros) skeptical about playing for them.

Aubut asked for a bailout from Quebec's provincial government, but the request was turned down, as the politicians did not want to be seen to be subsidizing a hockey club that paid multimillion-dollar salaries. In May 1995, shortly after the Nordiques were eliminated from the playoffs, Aubut explained that he had no other choice but 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.




Retired Numbers:
3 J. C. Tremblay, D, 1972–79
8 Marc Tardif, LW, 1974–83
16 Michel Goulet, C, 1979–90
26 Peter Stastny, C, 1980–90


HHOF Players:
Michel Goulet, LW, inducted 1998
Guy Lafleur, RW, inducted 1988
Jacques Plante, coach, inducted 1978
Peter Stastny, C, inducted 1998
Maurice Richard, coach, inducted 1961


Point Leaders in franchise history:
Joe Sakic C 1378GP 625G 1016A 1641P
Peter Stastny C 737GP 380G 668A 1048P
Michel Goulet LW 813GP 456G 489A 945P
Peter Forsberg C 589GP 217G 538A 755P
Milan Hejduk RW 783GP 312G 345A 657P
Anton Stastny LW 650GP 252G 384A 636P
Dale Hunter C 523GP 140G 318A 458P

Wanna show your colours to this day?

http://www.nordiquespreservation.com

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by CH4

which of these cities will have a team back first?

Quebec and Winnipeg seems to have the advantage up to now...

or and I fucking hate that bubblehead Buttman

Hamilton is the clear Canadian favourite, even though they never had a team.
Fucken Atlanta had an easy ass time getting a team again. I would think Hartford will get a team before Quebec and Winnipeg does if I were to make a bet on this.

[BEAKERMANIA]

I think Quebec City still faces many of the problems they did when the Nords left... though the CBA helps.

They are just not as big a market as Hamilton, Hartford, Winnipeg, etc... and the language issue along with the tax issue will combine to make attracting free agents very difficult. Montreal has a hard enough time as it is, and it is far easier to not be able to speak french in Montreal than it would be in Quebec City. Montreal also has the advantage of their history to help draw FAs, something that Quebec wouldn't have.

[Psycho Papa Joe]

[Hasbro]

Originally Posted by Judge Sauer

Hamilton is the clear Canadian favourite, even though they never had a team.

In the modern era anyway. I'd place Kansas City's odds as the first ex-NHL city to get a team at least equal with Hamilton.