The Los Angeles Sharks were an ice hockey team that played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 to 1974. Their primary home arena was the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena but they sometimes played at the Long Beach Sports Arena when the Sports Arena had other contractual obligations. After the 1973–74 season, the franchise moved to Detroit to become the Michigan Stags and again mid-season to Baltimore to become the Baltimore Blades .
109-585: The franchise was originally meant to be called the Los Angeles Aces , but took the "Sharks" name after the proposed San Francisco Sharks franchise (not to be confused with the current NHL San Jose Sharks ) was transferred to Quebec and became the Nordiques before the WHA began play. They kept the original colors from the name Aces; red and black being the colors of the suits in a deck of cards. The Sharks' first season
218-444: A Stanley Cup dynasty, winning five Cups in its first eleven seasons. The Jets of the 1980s, decimated by the dispersal draft, developed a solid nucleus of players that helped the club achieve respectable regular-season finishes. After missing the playoffs in their first NHL season, the Nordiques quickly became competitive, advancing as far as the third round of the playoffs in their third season. Quebec developed an intense rivalry with
327-741: A 10-minute sudden death overtime; if no team scored after 10 minutes, the game was a tie. This resulted in much fewer tie games than in the NHL but even so, the Sharks were the only team to go an entire season with 0 ties). The last active Sharks player in major professional hockey was Marc Tardif who retired after the 1982–83 NHL season . The last active former Shark was Kirk Bowman who played in Switzerland until 1988. Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes Three years after
436-710: A 15-27-0 record. For the second season of the league in 1978/79, the Sharks moved into the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena and were renamed the Los Angeles Blades before folding mid season. San Francisco Sharks The Quebec Nordiques ( French : Nordiques de Québec , pronounced [nɔʁdzɪk] in Quebec French , / n ɔːr ˈ d iː k s / nor- DEEKS in Canadian English ; translated "Northmen" or "Northerners") were
545-561: A 1977 plan to merge six WHA teams (the Edmonton Oilers , New England Whalers , Quebec Nordiques , Cincinnati Stingers , Houston Aeros , and Winnipeg Jets ) into the NHL before a 1979 merger was approved. The final WHA game was played on May 20, 1979, as the Jets defeated the Oilers to win their third Avco World Trophy . As a result, the WHA ceased operations, and four teams joined the NHL for
654-523: 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 finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference. However, the team faltered in
763-535: A five-year, one million dollar contract with a one million dollar signing bonus. Hull accepted the Jets' offer, sealing the deal in an elaborate signing ceremony at Portage and Main . Hull's move to the upstart league attracted a few other top stars such as Cheevers, Sanderson, and Tremblay. The WHA officially made its debut on October 11, 1972 , at the Ottawa Civic Centre , when the Alberta Oilers defeated
872-465: A key member of the Avalanche Cup-winning teams. Thibault would be traded for Montreal goalie Patrick Roy , after the franchise moved to Denver. During the 1992–93 NHL season , these new players, along with Sakic – now a bona fide NHL All-Star – and the rapidly developing Sundin and Nolan, led Quebec to the biggest single-season turnaround in NHL history. They leaped from 52 points in
981-500: A lengthy prison term for fraud and tax evasion and was unable to intervene; but by the time the Toros played their first game, Ballard had been paroled and had regained control of the Gardens. Much to Bassett's outrage, the arena was dim for the first game. Ballard also ordered the cushions from the home bench removed for Toros' games (he told an arena worker, "Let 'em buy their own cushions!"). It
1090-474: A linesman for the WHA and retired at the end of the 2008–09 NHL season . The WHA instituted sudden death overtime for regular season games to break ties. If no team scored during a 10-minute overtime period, the game ended in a tie. In the 1983–84 season, the NHL then instituted a 5-minute sudden death overtime period to break regular season ties. The WHA had experimented with blue colored pucks, which were supposedly easier for fans to see. The NHL did not adopt
1199-449: A major league, and stayed away from Spurs games. However, halfway through the season, the NHL's Kansas City Scouts began serious talks about moving to Denver. Knowing he could not even begin to compete with an NHL team, Mullenix began talks with a group of Ottawa businessmen who insisted the Spurs move immediately as a condition of further talks. As a result, the Spurs abruptly moved to become
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#17328521338151308-641: A mark which still stands as of 2023. 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 . Despite injuries to Tardif and an aging Tremblay, the Nordiques finally captured the Avco World Trophy in 1976–77 as they took out the New England Whalers and
1417-565: A merger, or he would attempt to purchase an existing club and relocate it to Houston. Neither came to fruition, and as a result the Aeros elected to fold on July 6, 1978. Another proposal had the Edmonton Oilers and the New England Whalers moving to the NHL, with the Winnipeg Jets following a year later, but this was also not accepted by the NHL. The final two seasons of the WHA saw the debut of many superstars, some of whom became hockey legends in
1526-814: A professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City . The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association (1972–1979) and the National Hockey League (1979–1995). The franchise was relocated to Denver in May 1995 and renamed the Colorado Avalanche . They played their home games at the Colisée de Québec from 1972 to 1995. The Nordiques were the only major professional sports team based in Quebec City in
1635-404: A teal, black, and navy scheme. The team would also have abandoned the "igloo holding a hockey stick" logo they had used for their entire existence in favour of a fierce looking Siberian husky , with "NORDIQUES" in grey block letters below it and the "I" in the team's name fashioned to look like an icicle. These designs were published in local papers before the team ultimately decided to move. Due to
1744-560: A team owned by Aubut. The deal transformed the Nordiques from league doormats to a legitimate Stanley Cup contender almost overnight. Forsberg won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 1995, his first season with the Nordiques, and would be one of the cornerstones of the Nordiques/Avalanche franchise for almost a decade with his playmaking and physical presence (albeit being out with injury for periods of time like Lindros), winning
1853-611: A total of nine consecutive division titles, the second-most in the expansion era. The last active NHL player who played for the Nordiques was Adam Foote who announced his retirement after the 2010–11 season. The last active player in any league was Martin Rucinsky , who announced his retirement after the 2014–15 season while playing in the Czech Extraliga . Throughout their history, the Nordiques were famous for their iconic powder blue and white uniforms. But for their first WHA season,
1962-541: A two-year retirement for the chance to play alongside his sons, Mark and Marty , who opted to turn pro a year ahead of their NHL draft eligibility. In the 1974–75 season , to broaden a depleted talent pool, the WHA began signing European players, which the NHL had largely ignored up to that time, in serious numbers, including stars such as Swedish Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson and Czech center Vaclav Nedomansky , who had just defected from Czechoslovakia . Winnipeg especially loaded up with Scandinavian players and became
2071-467: A unique disadvantage due to Quebec City's status as a virtually monolingual francophone city. There were no privately-owned anglophone radio stations and only one privately-owned anglophone television station. The only anglophone newspaper was a weekly. The near-total lack of English-language media limited the Nordiques' marketability even in their best years, and made many non-French-speaking players wary of playing for them. While Aubut never lost money on
2180-575: A weakening Canadian dollar. Quebec City was by far the smallest market in the NHL; it was also the second-smallest major-league city in North America, behind only Green Bay, Wisconsin ; home of the National Football League 's Green Bay Packers . However, the Packers had long drawn support from the nearby major market of Milwaukee , a luxury the Nordiques did not have. The Nordiques also faced
2289-575: The 1974 Summit Series against the Soviets, giving an opportunity for Hull and 46-year-old Gordie Howe to play for Canada against the Soviet team, which the Soviets won 4-1-3. In the 1976 Canada Cup , the NHL and NHLPA broadened the scope of the competition, inviting to the tournament a number of hockey countries and allowing each invited country to send the best possible team they could muster, so this time WHA players were permitted. WHA players played on four of
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#17328521338152398-613: The 1979–80 season : the Edmonton Oilers, New England (renamed Hartford) Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and Winnipeg Jets. Of these four teams, two of the three Canadian teams — the Nordiques and Jets — eventually moved south to Denver and Phoenix , respectively. The Arizona Coyotes suspended operations following the 2023–24 season with the team's hockey assets being sold to the expansion Utah Hockey Club . The Whalers later moved from Hartford to Raleigh, North Carolina , and were renamed
2507-549: The Alberta Oilers (who changed their name to the Edmonton Oilers after one season), Calgary Cowboys , Vancouver Blazers , and Winnipeg Jets . The Nordiques' first head coach was the legendary Maurice "Rocket" Richard but he only lasted two games – a 2–0 loss to the Cleveland Crusaders and a 6–0 win against the Alberta Oilers. Richard decided coaching was not his forte and stepped down. The Nordiques' first star
2616-690: The Carolina Hurricanes . The Oilers are the only WHA merger team to retain both their original nickname and city. The World Hockey Association was founded in 1971 by American promoters Dennis Murphy and Gary Davidson . The men had previously been the founder and first president of the American Basketball Association , respectively. They quickly recruited Bill Hunter , president of the junior Western Canada Hockey League . Hunter and Murphy traveled across North America recruiting franchise owners, and by September 1971, had announced that
2725-486: The Chicago Blackhawks and New Jersey Devils respectively. Despite the stellar play of young forward Joe Sakic , the Nordiques struggled throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, in the 1989 NHL entry 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 . In 1991 ,
2834-640: The Colorado Avalanche , where they have won the Stanley Cup three times (1996, 2001, 2022), the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996 and became the Phoenix Coyotes , and the Hartford Whalers moved to North Carolina in 1997 and became the Carolina Hurricanes , where they have won the Stanley Cup in 2006. To date, the Oilers remain as the last ex-WHA team still in its original city, where they have won
2943-638: 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. By 1978, the WHA was in crisis, and Marcel Aubut , by then the team's president under ownership of the Carling-O'Keefe Brewery, began checking on interest in
3052-709: The Montreal Canadiens . The Whalers had similar rivalries with the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers , and skated to the 1986–87 Adams Division title. In the 1990s, the former WHA clubs suffered from escalating player salaries (ironically, the same trend that was instigated by the WHA). The ex-WHA clubs based in Canada were also hit hard by the declining value of the Canadian dollar . The Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995 and became
3161-595: The NHL's competitive equals, winning more games than they lost in interleague exhibition games. The WHA had many lasting effects on NHL hockey. The NHL used to recruit virtually all its players from Canada, but following the success of the Jets' Hedberg and Nilsson, scouts began looking overseas for the best players that Europe could offer. Teams such as the Whalers and Fighting Saints offered excellent opportunities for young American players, and several U.S.-born or -raised NHL stars of
3270-649: The National Basketball Association 's Denver Nuggets to move the team to Denver, where it was renamed the Colorado Avalanche . Maintaining their momentum from their successful last season as the Nordiques, the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in their first season after the move, added another in 2001 , and recently in 2022 . They would also win their division every year in their first eight years in Denver for
3379-684: The Ottawa Civics while on a road trip. After only seven games as the Civics, the franchise folded when it became clear that the Ottawa group did not have nearly enough financing to buy the team. The Spurs/Civics franchise only played 41 games total, making them easily the shortest-lived franchise in WHA history. The NHL soon fulfilled its promise to Denver by moving the Scouts there to become the Colorado Rockies in
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3488-543: The Ottawa Nationals 7–4. Although the quality of hockey in the early years was predictably below that of the NHL, the WHA had indeed made stars out of many players that had little or no playing time in the NHL. The New England Whalers eventually won the WHA's inaugural championship, later renamed the Avco World Trophy when the Avco Financial Services Corporation became its main sponsor. However,
3597-511: The Toronto Toros ' lease terms at Maple Leaf Gardens as difficult as possible after they moved from Ottawa. The Toros were owned by John F. Bassett, son of Canadian media mogul John Bassett . The older Bassett had formerly been part-owner of the Leafs with Ballard and Stafford Smythe before falling out with his two partners. At the time of the Toros' lease at Maple Leaf Gardens, Ballard was serving
3706-495: The 1976 offseason. Part of the financial trouble was attributed to the high player salaries. For instance, the Philadelphia Blazers signed Derek Sanderson for $ 2.6 million, which surpassed that of Brazilian soccer star, Pelé , making him the highest-paid athlete in the world at the time. Unfortunately, his play did not live up to the expectations of his salary, and between an early-season injury, intemperate remarks to
3815-464: The 1979 amateur draft. Their brother, Marian , would follow and sign with Quebec in the summer of 1981. The following season, led by Peter Stastny's 109-point Calder Memorial 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
3924-532: The Coliseum for their own use from 1972 onwards. The Raiders were first forced to rent space at Madison Square Garden , where they were tenants to the Rangers. The situation rapidly became untenable, with an onerous lease and poor attendance, so the three original owners defaulted and the league ended up taking control of the team midway through the season. The Raiders were sold after their inaugural season. They were renamed
4033-711: The Dayton Arrows and the San Francisco Sharks , relocated before the first season began, becoming the Houston Aeros and Quebec Nordiques , respectively. The Calgary Broncos and the Miami Screaming Eagles, folded outright before the first puck dropped, being replaced by the Philadelphia Blazers and the Cleveland Crusaders . The New York Raiders , initially intended to be the WHA's flagship team, suffered from numerous problems. While they planned to play in
4142-553: The Hart and Art Ross trophies in 2003. Ricci would give six useful seasons to the franchise before being traded. Hextall was moved after a single season to the New York Islanders , and in return the Nordiques got Mark Fitzpatrick (who would go on to be left unprotected in the 1993 NHL expansion draft in which he was claimed by the Florida Panthers ) and a first round pick, which the Nordiques used to select Adam Deadmarsh , who would be
4251-693: The Islanders, the WHA moved the Golden Blades to New Jersey soon after taking control. Renamed the Jersey Knights, they played at the Cherry Hill Arena which had a slope in the ice surface, causing pucks to shoot upward from results of a pass or shot, chain link fencing instead of Plexiglas surrounding the rink, and inadequate, cramped changing and dressing facilities. Ahead of the 1973–74 season, Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard deliberately made
4360-521: 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. The Nordiques were placed in the Adams Division of the Wales Conference. 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 with the second-worst record in the league despite
4469-544: The NHL in early 1979. Under the deal, four WHA clubs – the Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers (renamed the Hartford Whalers), Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets – joined the NHL. The other two WHA teams, the Cincinnati Stingers and Birmingham Bulls , were paid $ 1.5 million apiece in compensation. The NHL treated the new clubs' arrival as an expansion, not a merger, and refused to recognize any WHA records. While
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4578-461: The NHL in the same way the Vancouver Canucks and California Golden Seals had in the preceding decade. When the NHL reneged on the agreement, and Spurs owner Ivan Mullenix was unable to negotiate an early entry into the NHL, he accepted an offer to join the WHA for the 1975–76 season. However, Denver residents felt betrayed after three years of hype for an NHL team. They did not consider the WHA
4687-635: The NHL to the WHA in the first year, led by star forward Bobby Hull , whose ten-year, $ 2.75 million contract was a record at the time. The WHA took the initiative to sign European players, ushering in a new era in North American hockey. The WHA was chronically unstable, with franchises occasionally relocating or folding in the middle of the season. It had an acrimonious relationship with the NHL, resulting in numerous legal battles, as well as competition for control of players and markets. In spite of this, merger talks began almost immediately. NHL owners voted down
4796-505: The NHL's Los Angeles Kings , who qualified for the playoffs in the 1973–74 season for the first time in five years. Thus, attendance dropped considerably, and after season's end it was announced that the Sharks would relocate to Detroit and become the Michigan Stags . The 1973–74 Sharks are notable for one thing - they were the first team (NHL or WHA) to go an entire season without playing a single tie game. (Note that WHA rules provided for
4905-438: The NHL, including Wayne Gretzky , Mark Messier , Mike Liut , and Mike Gartner . The Birmingham Bulls alone featured future NHLers Rick Vaive , Michel Goulet , Rob Ramage , Ken Linseman , Craig Hartsburg , Rod Langway , Mark Napier , Pat Riggin and Gaston Gingras . By the end of the final season, only six teams remained. Facing financial difficulty and unable to meet payrolls, the WHA finally came to an agreement with
5014-497: The NHL, preventing it from enforcing the reserve clause and freeing all players who had restraining orders against them, including Hull, to play with their WHA clubs. The decision effectively ended the NHL's monopoly on major league professional hockey talent. On November 1, 1971, twelve teams were formally announced. They included cities without NHL teams such as the Miami Screaming Eagles , as well as teams in cities where
5123-413: The NHL. The Nordiques were unable to defend their title and fell in the playoffs to the New England Whalers . The 1978–79 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 #3 jersey retired. As part of the NHL–WHA merger , the WHA insisted on including all of its surviving Canadian teams, including the Nordiques, among the teams taken into
5232-420: The National Hockey League were first initiated, with Houston, Cincinnati, Winnipeg, New England, Quebec, and Edmonton applying for entry to the NHL, who voted the proposal down. Merger discussions resumed in 1978, but Houston was not part of the proposal this time. During the final series of talks, Aeros owner Kenneth Schnitzer suggested to the NHL that either his team be admitted as an expansion team independent of
5341-399: The New York Golden Blades for the 1973–74 season, but were forced into a Sundays-only home schedule due to the high price of rent and scheduling conflicts with other events at Madison Square Garden. This was not enough to save the team, and the league was forced to take over the franchise again 24 games into the second season. Realizing that it could not hope to compete with both the Rangers and
5450-478: The Nordiques bottom out with a record of 12–61–7 (31 points)—easily the worst record in the league, and not even half the point total of the next-worst team, the Vancouver Canucks . It is still the worst record in Nordiques/Avalanche history (both NHL and WHA), and one of the worst for a non-expansion team since 1967. It was also the second of three straight seasons with the worst record in the league. Michel Goulet and Peter Stastny were traded in 1990, winding up with
5559-505: The Nordiques once again had the first overall pick in the NHL entry draft. They picked junior star Eric Lindros , even though he had let it be known well in advance that he would never play for Quebec. Among the reasons, 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
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#17328521338155668-413: The Nordiques' uniforms featured splashes of red on the shoulders, waist and numbers. From 1973 to 1975, the blue on the Nordiques uniforms briefly reverted to a dark royal blue shade. Contrasting nameplates were used in 1973–74, then the fleur-de-lis symbol was added to the shoulders the following season which was modeled after the flag of Quebec . Prior to the 1975–76 season, the Nordiques unveiled what
5777-440: The Nordiques, he feared unsustainable losses without a bailout from Quebec's provincial government. However, Premier Jacques Parizeau turned the request down, as few in Quebec were willing to be seen as subsidizing a hockey club that paid multimillion-dollar salaries. Finally in May 1995, shortly after the Nordiques were eliminated from the playoffs, Aubut announced the acceptance of an offer from COMSAT Entertainment Group, owner of
5886-399: The Nordiques. The goals all came after Peter Stastny and Dale Hunter 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 Canadiens won the division by three points—solidified by a 7–1 Canadiens thrashing of the Nordiques at The Forum in
5995-481: The Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference for their last two seasons of play in Quebec. 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 favourite. While Clark performed respectably, he then became embroiled in
6104-479: The Screaming Eagles folded outright, replaced by the Philadelphia Blazers and the Cleveland Crusaders . Although the league had many players under contract by June 1972, including a few NHL stars such as Bernie Parent, many of them were career minor league and college players. The new league was not considered much of a threat, until Bobby Hull , arguably the NHL's top forward at the time, jumped over. Hull had not been thought to be seriously considering signing with
6213-432: The Soviet national team, a costumed mascot, 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 him a permanent fixture at home games. Decline began the following season. The Nordiques finished last in their division – the first of five straight years of finishing at
6322-700: The Soviets, did not permit WHA players, due to the decision of series organizer Alan Eagleson , an NHL agent who was influential in forming the Canadian team. Bobby Hull , one of the best WHA players, was ruled ineligible to play because of his defection from the NHL, despite being initially selected by coach Harry Sinden . Dennis Hull initially planned to boycott the event as well as a show of support for his older brother, but Bobby persuaded him to stay on Team Canada. Other WHA stars turned down included Gerry Cheevers , J.C. Tremblay and Derek Sanderson . Some NHL owners also threatened not to free their players to participate if WHA players were permitted. The WHA organized
6431-449: The Stanley Cup five times. Only the Jets (later the Arizona Coyotes) franchise never won the Cup, with their furthest advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs being the Western Conference Finals in 2012. List of WHA players and executives inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame : This is a list of the trophies and awards that were handed out annually by the World Hockey Association. Three Canadian teams completed all seven WHA seasons based in
6540-454: The WHA Sharks left for Michigan, founding owner Dennis Murphy along with Walt Marlow (and later James Browitt), created the Long Beach Sharks to play in the Long Beach Sports Arena (former home of the Los Angeles Sharks) in the new Pacific Hockey League , a west coast based minor professional hockey league in 1977. The Sharks even revived the uniforms and logo worn by their WHA predecessors. The Sharks would finish in fourth and last place with
6649-411: The WHA's stars. They beat the Phoenix Roadrunners and the Minnesota Fighting Saints to reach the finals, where they were swept in four games by the Gordie Howe -led Houston Aeros . The next 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),
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#17328521338156758-404: The WHA, even though he was in contentious salary negotiations with the Chicago Black Hawks , and when he told reporters that he would only move to the WHA "for a million dollars", it was both intended by Hull and taken by his audience to be a joke since a million dollars at that time was considered to be a ridiculous amount of money for a hockey player. Nevertheless, the Winnipeg Jets offered Hull
6867-434: The WHA, including Mark Howe , Wayne Gretzky , Mike Gartner , Mike Liut , and Mark Messier . Messier was the last WHA veteran to play in the NHL; he opened his professional career with 52 games with the Indianapolis Racers and Cincinnati Stingers in 1978–79 , and played his last NHL game on April 3, 2004. The final active player and official in any on-ice capacity for the league was referee Don Koharski , who started as
6976-422: The Whalers and Oilers earning playoff berths. The Oilers chose to protect Wayne Gretzky in the dispersal draft, which would prove fortuitous. Gretzky and the Whalers' Gordie Howe were selected to the mid-season All-Star Game, respectively the second-youngest and the oldest ever to play in the match. The 1980s was a successful period for the former WHA teams. The Oilers shattered numerous NHL records and amassed
7085-427: The Whalers. Los Angeles and Vancouver feared losing home dates with NHL teams from the East. Montreal and Toronto were not enamored at the prospect of having to split revenue from Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts six ways rather than three. When a second vote was held in Chicago on March 22, 1979, Montreal and Vancouver changed their votes, allowing the deal to go forward. Vancouver and Los Angeles were won over by
7194-427: The blue pucks, but any remaining blue WHA pucks are highly sought after collectors' items . The former WHA clubs, by the terms of the expansion, could protect only two goalies and two skaters each in the player dispersal draft . The Jets posted a dismal nine wins in their second season (second-fewest all-time for a season in the NHL), and finished last. The other WHA teams did respectably well in their first year, with
7303-610: 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 and chose instead to 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. The season saw
7412-411: The brand new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum , Nassau County did not consider the WHA a major league and wanted nothing to do with the Raiders. The county recruited William Shea , leader of New York City's successful lobbying campaign to get baseball's National League to expand following the 1957 departures of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants . Working with the NHL, Shea swiftly won over
7521-401: The class of the league, with Hedberg and Nilsson combining with Bobby Hull to form one of hockey's most formidable forward lines. Along with the mass import of European stars, Vancouver attempted unsuccessfully to lure Phil Esposito away from the NHL by offering a contract similar to that of Bobby Hull, with a million dollars upfront. The 1972 Summit Series , which pitted Team Canada against
7630-461: The deal. The NHL had originally been willing to take only the Oilers, Whalers, and Jets, but the WHA insisted that the Nordiques be included as well. Third, although the NHL had insisted on treating the deal as an expansion, it agreed to freeze the expansion fee for each team at $ 6 million U.S., the same fee paid by every other team that had joined the NHL in the 1970s. By comparison, when the Atlanta Flames were sold and moved to Calgary one year later,
7739-410: The defending champion New York Islanders in the conference finals. The intraprovincial rivalry with the Canadiens intensified during the 1983–84 NHL season culminating in the infamous Good Friday Massacre –or "Vendredi Saint", as it is called in francophone Canada–during the 1984 playoffs. The Canadiens scored five unanswered goals in the third period of Game 6 at the Montreal Forum to eliminate
7848-536: The draft picks was used by the Nordiques to select goaltender Jocelyn Thibault , the other was traded twice and ultimately used by the Washington Capitals to select Nolan Baumgartner . After the trade, Lindros said that his refusal to play for the Nordiques had nothing to do with the language question, and more to do with what he saw as a "lack of winning spirit" in the Nordiques organization. However, in 2016, Lindros said that he simply did not want to play for
7957-452: The early 1980s (such as Mark Howe , Rod Langway , Dave Langevin , Robbie Ftorek , and Paul Holmgren ) had begun their pro careers in the WHA. As a result, the NHL evolved into a truly cosmopolitan league during the 1980s. The WHA ended the NHL policy of paying its players only a fraction of the league's profits and, combined with the abolition of the reserve clause, led to much higher player salaries. Many great stars began their careers in
8066-484: The eventual Stanley Cup champion Canadiens in the first round, winning the first two games but then losing the next four due to inspired goaltending from Montreal's Patrick Roy . Sakic and Sundin both scored over 100 points each, and head coach Pierre Page was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award . In 1993, the NHL renamed their conferences and divisions to better reflect geography; the Nordiques would be situated in
8175-486: The exclusive beer supplier for the Oilers' and Jets' arenas; it is probable that this concession was made in exchange for the Canadiens' vote. The agreement officially took effect on June 22, 1979 (three months to the day after the deciding vote). On that day, the WHA folded and the NHL formally granted expansion franchises to Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec City, and Winnipeg. On the ice, the WHA teams had proven themselves to be
8284-561: The final week of the regular season. This was still enough, however, for the Nordiques to garner home-ice advantage for the first time ever as an NHL team. After being pushed to five games by the Buffalo Sabres , they exacted revenge on the Canadiens in the Adams finals by ousting them in seven games. Peter Stastny clinched the series with an overtime goal in the seventh game at the Forum. They then took
8393-432: The four new clubs were allowed to stock their rosters through the expansion draft , NHL teams were allowed to reclaim players who had jumped to the WHA. The WHA was able to extract three key concessions. First, the WHA teams were allowed to protect two goaltenders and two skaters to keep their rosters from being completely stripped clean by the NHL teams. Second, the NHL allowed all of the WHA's Canadian teams to be part of
8502-428: The game. I'm tired of hearing that name. He's not here and there are a lot of others in this locker room who really care about the game." Meanwhile, the Nordiques finished with another dreadful season in 1991–92 , missing the 70-point barrier for the fifth year in a row. For the first time since 1988, the Nordiques did not finish with the NHL's worst record, as they finished ahead of the expansion San Jose Sharks in
8611-662: The highly-profitable Quebec Remparts junior team. They bought the team after the American Hockey League team, the Quebec Aces , moved south to Richmond, Virginia . The team was renamed the Quebec Nordiques because they were one of the northernmost teams in professional sports in North America. Quebec City is located at 47 degrees north latitude ; Nordiques translated from French to English means "Northerners" or "Northmen." The only WHA teams located farther north were
8720-466: The initially reluctant president of the New York Rangers , Bill Jennings , who was persuaded that it would be better to accept competition from an NHL team that would at least be willing to pay his club compensation for sharing the Rangers' territory as opposed to a WHA team that would owe his franchise nothing. The NHL quickly awarded a franchise to Long Island, the New York Islanders , who locked up
8829-401: The lack of hockey teams in a number of major American cities and mid-level Canadian cities, and also hoped to attract the best players by paying more than NHL owners would. The WHA successfully challenged the NHL's reserve clause , which had bound players to their NHL teams even without a valid contract, allowing players in both leagues greater freedom of movement. Sixty-seven players jumped from
8938-418: The league would begin in 1972 with ten teams, each having paid $ 25,000 for their franchise. The average NHL salary in 1972 was $ 25,000, the lowest of the four major sports, while each player was bound by a reserve clause , that automatically extended their contract by one year when it expired, tying them to their team for the life of their career. In October 1972, the WHA announced that it would not use
9047-423: The league's promoters believed there was room for more than one team, such as the Los Angeles Aces , Chicago Cougars , and New York Raiders . Two of the original twelve teams moved before the first season started: the Dayton Arrows became the Houston Aeros and the San Francisco Sharks became the Quebec Nordiques . The Los Angeles franchise then took the nickname Sharks to replace Aces. The Calgary Broncos and
9156-409: The league. The Sharks were also a physical team and led the WHA in penalty minutes. However, their penalty killing was among the league's best. The Sharks could not capitalize on their successful first season and sank to last place in their second year. They had the league's worst record, scored the fewest goals, and allowed the second most goals. This drop off coincided with a resurgence across town by
9265-590: The modern era, and one of two ever; the other, the Quebec Bulldogs , played in the National Hockey Association (NHA) from 1910 to 1917 and one season in the NHL in 1919–20. 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 and sold to a consortium of Quebec City-based businessmen who owned
9374-538: The overall standings. On June 30, 1992, after confusion over whether Quebec had traded Lindros' rights to the Philadelphia Flyers or New York Rangers was settled by an arbitrator, the Nordiques sent Lindros to the Flyers in exchange for forwards Peter Forsberg and Mike Ricci , goaltender Ron Hextall , defencemen Steve Duchesne and Kerry Huffman , "future considerations" which eventually became enforcer Chris Simon , two first-round picks and US$ 15 million. One of
9483-477: The play of promising rookie left winger Michel Goulet . An early highlight to the otherwise dreary season came when Real Cloutier became the second NHL player, following Alex Smart , 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
9592-460: The playoffs seven years in a row. However, due to the playoff structure during most of the 1980s, the Nordiques faced the near-certainty of having to get past either the Montreal Canadiens or Boston Bruins –or both–to make it to the conference finals. In 1981–82 , despite notching only 82 points in the regular season, they defeated the Canadiens and Bruins, both in winner-take-all games on the road. Their Cinderella run ended when they were swept by
9701-419: The postseason and was eliminated in the first round by the defending Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers in six games. The playoff loss proved to be the Nordiques' swan song as the team's financial troubles increasingly took centre stage, even in the face of renewed fan support over the previous three years. The league's Canadian teams found it difficult to compete in a new age of rising player salaries and
9810-453: 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 in the 1994–95 season), but a defensive collapse in the playoffs allowed the Hartford Whalers to sweep the Nordiques in three games. The next season the Nordiques met the Whalers in the playoffs for
9919-522: The press, and Blazer financial troubles, Sanderson's contract was bought out before the end of the season. As well, big stars lacked supporting players and the quality of the on-ice product suffered. The WHA won several key victories, including a court ruling that prevented the NHL from binding players to its teams via the reserve clause, and the signings of more NHL stars such as Gordie Howe , Andre Lacroix , Marc Tardif , and in later years, Frank Mahovlich and Paul Henderson . Howe had been lured out of
10028-412: The previous season to 104—in the process, going from the second-worst record in the league to the fourth-best (behind only Pittsburgh, Boston and Chicago), as well as notching the franchise's first 100-point season as an NHL team. They made the playoffs for the first time in six seasons, and also garnered home-ice advantage in the first round for only the third time ever as an NHL team. However, they fell to
10137-542: The promise of a balanced schedule, with each team playing the others twice at home and twice on the road. The Canadiens' owners, Molson Breweries , were feeling the effects of a massive boycott that originated in Edmonton, Quebec City, and Winnipeg and spread across Canada. With the boycott severely hurting Molson's sales, the brewer reached agreement with the owners of the three Canadian WHA teams to have Molson replace their competitors (and Nordiques owners) Carling O'Keefe as
10246-429: The relocation. The Colorado Avalanche unveiled the "Reverse Retro" design based on the Nordiques uniforms on November 16, 2020, honouring the legacy of the franchise. Aubut intended to change the team's entire look had he won enough financing to keep the Nordiques in Quebec City for the 1995–96 season. The Nordiques would have abandoned the blue, white, and red palette they had worn throughout their history in favour of
10355-589: The reserve clause, stating that "The reserve clause won't stand up to the scrutiny of ... players, players associations, the United States Congress , the public, and the Supreme Court ." The WHA also promised much higher salaries than the NHL offered, and by the time the league began play, it had lured 67 former NHL players to its league, including Bernie Parent , Gerry Cheevers , Derek Sanderson , J. C. Tremblay , and Ted Green . The biggest name signed
10464-560: The sale was $ 16 million U.S. The deal came up for a vote at the NHL Board of Governors meeting in Key Largo, Florida on March 8, 1979. The final tally was 12–5, one vote short of passage, as a three-quarters majority was required to permit a merger. The Boston Bruins , Los Angeles Kings , Montreal Canadiens , Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks voted against the deal. The Bruins were not pleased with having to share New England with
10573-480: The same city, and were the same three Canadian teams that ultimately joined the NHL. The other WHA team to enter the NHL, the Whalers, were the only other WHA team to play all of its home games over seven seasons within a relatively small geographical area, having moved 100 miles (160 km) from Boston to Hartford. Of the original 12 WHA franchises, only the Winnipeg Jets remained for all seven seasons without relocating, changing team names, or folding. Every season of
10682-579: The second straight season, this time the Nords got their revenge beating Hartford in six games. The next round saw more of the Nordiques–Canadiens rivalry as the playoff series went to seven games, with the Canadiens coming out on top, after that the Nords would not return to the playoffs again until 1993 . In that same season, when Quebec hosted Rendez-Vous '87, an alteration of the All-Star Game to include
10791-532: The signings. The Black Hawks were successful in having a restraining order filed against Hull and the Jets pending the outcome of legal action the Black Hawks were taking against the WHA. The new league was eager for the court action, intending to challenge the legality of the reserve clause. In November 1972, Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia placed an injunction against
10900-415: The team and began a holdout that lasted over a year. The Nordiques president publicly announced that they would make Lindros the centrepiece 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. Some of the Nordiques wanted to move on without Lindros, as Joe Sakic commented, "We only want players here who have the passion to play
11009-808: The team missing an NHL deadline, the logo and uniforms would not have taken effect until the 1996–97 season. Includes WHA captains After the move to Denver, the Avalanche returned all four of these numbers to circulation. Note: This list does not include selections from the WHA . These are the top-ten point-scorers in Quebec Nordiques history, combining NHL and WHA totals. Legend: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game The Nordiques games were televised locally by CFAP 2 from 1988 to 1994 . World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association ( French : Association mondiale de hockey )
11118-599: The tournament's six teams. In December 1976 and January 1977, the Super Series '76-77 tournament took place, opposing the HC CSKA Moscow (Red Army) and WHA teams. The Red Army won the series 6–2. By the 1976–77 season , it had become evident that many of the WHA's franchises were teetering on the verge of financial collapse, and that the (at one time) combined 32 teams of the NHL and WHA had badly strained professional hockey's talent pool. In 1977, merger discussions with
11227-411: The trophy had not yet been completed, and the Whalers skated their divisional championship trophy around the ice surface, much to the embarrassment of the WHA office. Right from the start, the league was plagued with problems. Many teams often found themselves in financial difficulty, folding or moving from one city to another, sometimes mid-season. Citing arena troubles, two of the original twelve teams,
11336-490: Was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979 . It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926. Although the WHA was not the first league since that time to attempt to challenge the NHL's supremacy, it was by far the most successful in the modern era. The WHA tried to capitalize on
11445-467: Was former Chicago Black Hawks star Bobby Hull , who agreed to a ten-year, $ 2.7 million contract with the Winnipeg Jets , the largest in hockey history at the time, and one that lent the league instant credibility. The NHL tried to block several of the defections. The Boston Bruins attempted to restrain Sanderson and Cheevers from joining the WHA, though a United States federal court refused to prohibit
11554-466: Was moderately successful on and off the ice as they finished 3rd in the Western Division (losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Houston Aeros in six games) and attendance was respectable. Gary Veneruzzo led the team with 43 goals, although nobody else had more than 20. The Sharks made up for lack of offensive depth with solid defense and goaltending as they allowed the 3rd fewest goals in
11663-401: Was now their standard look, returning to a powder blue base and adding three fleur-de-lis symbols on the waist. Red was only used on the logo. For the first season, the Nordiques wore red pants, but switched to powder blue pants afterwards. This look would be carried over upon joining the NHL in 1979, and other than some minor trim changes on the logo and numbers, remained basically the same until
11772-465: Was obvious that Ballard was angered at the WHA being figuratively in his backyard, and took out his frustration with the renegade league on the Toros. These terms compelled Bassett to move the team to Birmingham after three seasons. The league bottomed out in 1975–76 with its third expansion team, the Denver Spurs . A mainstay of the minor Western Hockey League , they were originally supposed to join
11881-409: Was two-way defenceman J. C. Tremblay , who led the WHA in assists in the league's first season and would be named a league All-Star for his first four years in Quebec. The next season Serge Bernier and Rejean Houle joined the Nordiques. In 1974–75 season, they finally made the playoffs with the help of the high-scoring Marc Tardif ; the year also saw the debut of Real Cloutier , who would be one of
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