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Nordiques-Avalanche Players with 100-Point Seasons
With two Stanley Cups and six Hockey Hall of Famers in their 41-year franchise history, the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche have had six 100-plus point players on their team. The club has had at least one of these elite players on the squad in 14 different seasons. Only two players were with the Avalanche and only one player solely earned his 100-plus points season wearing burgundy and blue.
Quebec Nordiques 100-Plus Point Scorers
Jacques Richard, the only 100-point club member not in the HHOF, earned 103 points in the 1980-81 season. His 52 goals and 51 assists in the Nordiques’ second season in the NHL put the team on the map. Although they lost in the preliminary round to the Philadelphia Flyers, players were improving their game in their new league.
In the same 1980-81 season, a Czechoslovakian rookie named Peter Stastny notched 39 goals and 70 assists. He was the first rookie to achieve a 100-plus point season, and he also won the Calder Trophy that year.
He continued his 100-plus point achievement for the next six straight seasons, falling short in an injury plagued 1986-87 season. He rebounded and earned 111 points in the 1987-88 season with 46 goals and 65 assists. Stastny, also known as “Peter the Great,” was the second highest goal scorer in the 1980s behind a player known as “The Great One.”
Stastny tallied 1,048 points in his 10 seasons with the Nordiques. He is one of only seven other NHL players in history to have 100 points or more in six consecutive seasons.
Stastny played with his two brothers (Anton and Marian) who were third and 10th on the all-time scorers list for the Nordiques, respectively. Stastny’s sons, Yan and Paul, both played for the St. Louis Blues, where they grew up as it was the last team he played for professionally. Paul was drafted by the Avalanche and was a Calder Trophy finalist his rookie year.
He was named one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players in 2017.
Stastny’s company in the 100-point club during his great years was Michel Goulet. Goulet achieved the prestigious title back-to-back in the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons, and then again in the 1985-86 and 1987-88 seasons. While with the Nordiques, he tallied a total of 946 points in 11 seasons, earning him second place behind Stastny for all-time points leaders for the team.
As the first European-born player drafted first overall in NHL history, Mats Sundin reached his 100-point status in the 1992-93 season. With 47 goals and 67 assists (114 points), he led the team with teammate Joe Sakic behind him at 105 points.
While that was Sundin’s only 100-plus point season, Sakic was completing a consecutive hat trick of similar seasons.
Mile-High City Centennials
After the franchise was sold and relocated to Denver following the 1994-95 season, the newly named Colorado Avalanche didn’t let the change affect their play. The epic 1995-96 Avalanche season included Sakic and Peter Forsberg obtaining 100-plus points and the team winning the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.
Sakic didn’t accrue over 100 points again until the 2000-01 season when the Avalanche won their second Stanley Cup. At the age of 37, he earned his last and final 100 points in the 2006-07 season.
Spending his entire career with the Nordiques/Avalanche, Sakic ranked second behind Stastny for most 100-plus point seasons. He retired following the 2008-09 season and his continued commitment to the franchise is now in the front office as general manager.
Forsberg was selected sixth overall in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft by the Flyers, while Eric Lindros was picked first by the Nordiques. Lindros held out on signing with the team for over a year, leading to a trade that sent him to Philly and Forsberg to Quebec.
Forsberg remained playing in Sweden until making his NHL debut in the 1994-95 season. He only played 47 games in a Nordiques sweater but remained with the franchise through the move and another nine seasons.
After not playing for the entire 2001-02 season due to injury, he returned to score 106 points in the 2002-03 season.
As an unrestricted free agent and undergoing foot surgery in the 2007-08 season, Forsberg chose to determine his ability to play before signing with a team. The Avalanche signed him to a contract on Feb. 25, 2008, but injury restricted him to play only nine games that season.
Forsberg played the next two seasons in Sweden. He returned to the Avalanche and signed a contract for the remainder of 2010-11 season on Feb. 6, 2011. Only two games in, Forsberg announced his retirement prior to taking the ice at home on Feb. 14, 2011.
Currently in Denver
Sakic has built the Avalanche into a Stanley Cup contending team. Included in his acquisitions are Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog. Among these three players, MacKinnon has come closest and missed the mark by ONE POINT in the 2018-19 season.
He is on pace for his best season yet with 73 points in 51 games just past the mid-season mark. Press, fans and management alike believe MacKinnon will be the next 100-point achiever for the team.
The post Nordiques/Avalanche Players with 100-Point Seasons appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
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