Instant success: How the Avalanche started on top

Instant success: How the Avalanche started on top

[paypal_donation_button]Instant success: How the Avalanche started on top

In the summer of 1995, the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver to become the Colorado Avalanche. In June of 1996, the Avalanche won their first Stanley Cup. They became the first team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup the season after relocation, and are one of only two North American big 4 sports teams to accomplish this feat. How did the Avalanche manage to reach this pinnacle of success in just their first season in a new city? The answer is a combination of carry-over success from the team built in Quebec, smart moves by the management, and some plain old fashioned good luck.

The Colorado Avalanche were not a brand new team. As the Quebec Nordiques, the franchise started in the WHA in 1972. They were one of four teams absorbed into the NHL when the WHA disbanded in 1979. Like the other absorbed teams, the Nordiques’ first few seasons as an NHL team were hindered by the Expansion and Dispersal Draft of 1979, which left the Nordiques with only three players from their 1978-79 roster. They quickly turned it around, however, thanks to the play of left-winger Michel Goulet and Czech siblings Peter, Anton, and Marian Stastny. The Nordiques made the playoffs every season from 1980-81 to 1986-87, and though they cooled down at the start of the 1990s, the acquisition of key players like Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, and Peter Forsberg had the team on an upswing going into the mid-‘90s. They experienced the most drastic single-season turn-around in NHL history at the time, going from 52 points in the 1991-92 NHL season to 104 in 1992-93—essentially doubling their on-ice effectiveness. Despite the increase in the fan base brought about by these improvements, Quebec City remained the smallest market in the NHL. Financial problems brought about by changes to the free agency system—and the weakening Canadian dollar—forced their relocation in 1995.

The careful team-building of the Quebec Nordiques at least was not done in vain; the Colorado Avalanche rolled into their city carrying that momentum. Unlike with the Nordiques’ transition to the NHL in 1979, when they were forced to give up most of their key players, the Colorado Avalanche maintained a nearly identical roster to the highly successful Quebec team they had been. They retained team scoring leaders Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, though they traded right winger Owen Nolan to the San Jose Sharks in October of the 1995-96 season in exchange for defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh. While this was a big trade, it was only a prelude to the trade they would make in December with the Montreal Canadiens, a large trade that moved around some big players—and none bigger than goaltender Patrick Roy, who moved to Colorado. While Roy’s regular season statistics during his first season were arguably average (a 2.68 GAA and .909 save percentage), he would catch fire during the post-season, posting an incredible 2.10 GAA and notching three shut-outs in his first playoffs with his new club. Roy would remain with the Avalanche through 2003, proving instrumental not only in the team’s 1996 championship but also in securing their second cup in 2001.
The first three rounds of the 1996 playoffs were hard-fought victories (each of the first 3 rounds went to 6 games; 4 of the 6 games in the Western Conference Semi-finals against the Chicago Blackhawks were decided in overtime), but by the Stanley Cup Finals the Avalanche had found their groove. They swept the Florida Panthers in the Cup Finals, winning game 2 by an impressive tally of 8-1, and though the Panthers put up a fight in game 4 with a scoreless tie that went into triple overtime it was too little, too late. They simply could not get a puck past Patrick Roy; the Avalanche went home with the Cup.
With a championship victory in their first season, the Avalanche didn’t have to contend with the lukewarm reception many new teams face. Their relocation is arguably the most successful in the history of the NHL, both from a team and a fan perspective. With the addition of Patrick Roy to an already star-studded roster, the 1995-96 Avalanche became as unstoppable a force as their namesake, burying the rest of the league in their quest for Stanley Cup success.