Quebec's History in the NHL

Quebec entered the NHL along with three other WHA franchises. The team spent the first year adjusting to their new league, in 1979. But that year Quebec made three notable picks in the Entry Draft: Michel Goulet (20th overall), Dale Hunter (41st), and Anton Stastny (83rd). Along with the signing of Peter Stastny, the Nordiques had a foundation that would soon put them among the NHL's elite teams.

While the Nordiques became competitive, in 1987 they drafted another future star - and perhaps one of the best players ever to suit up in the NHL. Joe Sakic was picked 15th overall, behind such immortally bad players such as Dean Chynoweth, Keith Osborne, and Jimmy Waite. Sakic was the best player in the draft, and has scored more points than anyone else from that draft year (which included Brendan Shanahan and Pierre Turgeon).

However, the future continued to brighten while the Nords' regular season results began to slide. Finishing last in their division five years in a row, which included a 12-win season in 1989-90, Quebec could only build for the future. In 1988 they drafted Curtis Leschyshyn, Valeri Kamensky, and Stephane Fiset; in 1989, Mats Sundin and Adam Foote; in 1990 Owen Nolan; in 1993 Jocelyn Thibault and Adam Deadmarsh; and in 1994 - their last draft year as a Quebec franchise - Chris Drury and Milan Hejduk. The biggest payoff came in 1991, though, when Eric Lindros was taken first overall.

Lindros refused to play for Quebec.

The result? The Philadelphia Flyers traded for Lindros in 1992, handing over Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Chris Simon, Jocelyn Thibault, and a pile of cash rumoured to be in the neighbourhood of $16 million.

In 1996, when the Quebec franchise relocated to Colorado, the team won their first Stanley Cup - led by Nordiques such as Sakic, Forsberg, Leschyshyn, Kamensky, Ricci, Simon, Deadmarsh and Foote.