Summer Series: Colorado Avalanche Defining Moment

Hockey and sports in general can be broken down into moments. Some moments are bigger than others and chart the course of a franchise and an entire league. These moments can define a team’s destiny for years to come. Last Word on Hockey’s Summer Series looks at these defining moments. Today we feature the biggest defining moment of the Colorado Avalanche.

The upcoming season will mark 30 years since the NHL returned to Denver, Colorado. It was 1995 when the Nordiques left Quebec City, Quebec and moved to the Mile High City and became the Colorado Avalanche. Since coming to Colorado, the franchise has seen massive success. They won three Stanley Cups and have been a dominant force in a competitive Western Conference. The biggest moment of the franchise came just months after moving to Denver. The young core of stars like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote were just entering their prime years. After years of regular season success in Quebec, the franchise broke through after making “The Trade“. Thus, acquiring star goalie Patrick Roy from the former rival Montreal Canadiens.

Colorado Avalanche Defining Moment

After 16-years in Quebec, and only four appearances past the first round of the playoffs, the Nordiques were sold and uprooted to the state of Colorado. The team was loaded with talented young stars, both up front and on the blueline. A savvy free agent addition in Claude Lemieux brought in some much needed Stanley Cup pedigree, but there was still a missing piece.

In net, Colorado had a promising young tandem with Stephane Fiset and Jocelyn Thibault. Both quality netminders, yet not developed to the level of helping the team to take that big step. The team was good but came up just short of being great. That was until December 6th, 1995 when Colorado secured the missing piece to take them from good to true Cup contender, Patrick Roy.

The Run-up

Colorado got out to a scorching start in 1995, going 15-4-4. Quickly defining themselves as a top team in the Western Conference. However, a trio of rough losses, where they surrendered a combine 16 goals, hit fans and the organization with a stark jab of reality. This realization came in late November, early December just as the rumblings of Montreal and star goalie Patrick Roy were getting loud. It was clear to general manager Peirre LaCroix that an upgrade was needed should the Avalanche fancy themselves true Cup contenders. Thus in a short four day span, LaCroix completed a trade that completely shocked the NHL.

At the time it was just a three-game losing skid. The Avalanche were loaded with star power and still considered a top contender in a top heavy Western Conference. LaCroix saw things differently. Those three loses highlighted the biggest hole in an otherwise strong roster. If Colorado was truly going to contend for a Stanley Cup the goaltending was going to need to be upgraded.

The Trade

December 6, 1995 the Colorado Avalanche became a playoff team, to true Stanley Cup threat. The first season since moving to Denver, the team began strong with tandem netminders, who were both young, Fiset (25) and Thibault (20). Though young, both goalies had great potential, unfortunately the Avalanche were not in position to wait for either guy to potentially reach their ceiling. With the core players entering their prime years, GM LaCroix took advantage of a tumultuous situation in Montreal and secured the best goalie in the league. Patrick Roy was heading to the Mile High City.

Not only did LaCroix acquire Roy and then Montreal captain Mike Keane, but he did it while paying pennies on the dollar. The trade was Roy and Keane to Colorado, while Montreal got Thibault, and forwards Martin Rucinsky and Andrei Kovalenko.

The Aftermath

Not only did Roy immediately stabilize the net in Colorado, he helped the team claim the Pacific Division title, while finishing second in the Western Conference. Playoffs were inevitable for the Avalanche, but with Roy between the pipes the team ripped through the Western Conference playoffs. It started with a sweep of the Vancouver Canucks, before handling the Chicago Blackhawks in six games. Roy would surrender just seven goals in the Avs four wins over the Hawks. The test and main reason that Colorado acquired Roy came in the Conference Finals. Colorado came face to face with the powerhouse Detroit Red Wings (131 pts). In a six game thriller, Roy more than delivered, surrendering just five goals across the four Colorado wins.

The 1996 Stanley Cup was more formality, as the Avalanche matched up with the surprise upstart Florida Panthers. It was a four game sweep, one were Roy gave up only four goals.

From that moment on Colorado would go on to claim eight-straight division titles with Roy between the pipes. Their playoff success matched, with six Conference final appearances in that time and a second Stanley Cup coming in 2001. The addition of Roy not only paid off immediately, but brough a near decade of success to Colorado, and established the Avalanche a true powerhouse of the NHL throughout the late 90’s and early 00’s.

Other Defining Moments

Matt Duchene Trade

For modern Avalanche fans, the Matt Duchene trade offers a flip-side perspective of the Patrick Roy trade. Duchene had become disgruntled in Colorado, following the disastrous 2016-17 season. Rumours of Duchene leaving the Avalanche started in the summer of 2017, though the deal didn’t happen until early November of that year.

The team started the 2017-18 season decent enough, sitting 5-4-0 at the time of the trade. Some thought GM Joe Sakic had missed his chance with trading Duchene over the summer, but the Avalanche legend proved that patience is a virtue. Waiting until a team met his price, Sakic was able to pull off a masterclass trade that landed Colorado important future pieces.

The trade was a three-team deal involving Colorado, Nashville Predators and Ottawa Senators. Ottawa would acquire Duchene, while shipping Kyle Turris to Nashville. In return for everything Colorado acquired young defencemen Sam Girard, forwards Vladislav Kamenev and Shane Bowers, goalie Andrew Hammond and draft picks consisting of a conditional first (2018), a second (2018) and a third (2019). The first round pick shifted to 2019, where the Avs would be awarded the fourth-overall selection thanks to Ottawa. Colorado would select Bowen Byram with the pick, while also taking the third-round pick that year selecting Matthew Steinburg.

Though not all pieces of the trade panned out how Colorado had hoped, they were able to acquire two key defencemen for the team’s 2022 Stanley Cup run.

Stanley Cup Glory to Soul Searching

It had been 20 years since the Avalanche had advanced past the second round the Stanley Cup playoffs. In the 2022 playoffs Colorado not only advanced, but claimed Lord Stanley with one of the most dominant playoff runs in recent memory. The first season that the NHL returned to a normal schedule after the pandemic, Colorado entered the 2021-22 season with just one goal, win the Cup.

Colorado dispatched Nashville in a series sweep. While the St. Louis Blues put up a challenge for Colorado, the Avs were clearly the better team and eventually broke through the Blues stout defensive play. This lead to a heavy weight wilt against the Edmonton Oilers. Overall the series was fast paced and the Oilers looked dangerous at times, but Colorado flexed their muscles, always having a counter punch.

The playoff run climaxed with a clash of heavy weights, as Colorado was the only team standing in Tampa Bay’s way of a threepeat. The series was hyped as a clash of titans, and though there were flashes, Colorado proved that their overall team depth and star power was too much for even the Lightning. The Avs closed out the Cup clinching game surrendering only four shots in the third period while leading 2-1.

The aftermath of the championship run has been felt ever since. Second line centre Nazim Kadri and starting goalie Darcy Kuemper left in free agency. Meanwhile, captain Gabriel Landeskog disclosed a knee injury that kept him sidelined for over a 1000 days. These key departures left the Avalanche searching for replacements. That search has yet to be realized as Colorado has yet to reach a Conference Final since their dominant Stanley Cup run.