Following the departure of Roy, the Avalanche hired Jared Bednar from the Calder Cup champions, the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL), as head coach. In April 2012, the Avalanche were eliminated from playoff contention and finished 11th place in the Western Conference. [74], After the 2004–05 NHL lockout and the implementation of a salary cap, the Avalanche were forced to release some of their top players. [6] In 1979, the franchise entered the NHL, along with the WHA's Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers and Winnipeg Jets. Peter Forsberg was the playoffs' scoring leader with 27 points (9 goals, 18 assists). If the Avalanche aren’t the favorite to win the Stanley Cup, as they are at BetMGM, BetRivers, and DraftKings, they have the same odds as the Las Vegas Golden Knights. It marked a return of the NHL to Denver after an absence of 13 years, when the Colorado Rockies (not to be confused with the Major League Baseball team of the same name) moved to New Jersey to become the New Jersey Devils. Three Avalanche team members played in Vancouver: Paul Stastny for the United States, Ruslan Salei for Belarus and Peter Budaj for Slovakia. Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote were lost to free agency to save room in the cap for Joe Sakic and Rob Blake. The new logo features the insignia taken from the Colorado state flag and re-colored to match the team's color scheme. The Avalanche came back from a 3–2 series deficit and won the series 4–3, marking the second year in a row that defending champions lost in the Finals, as the Devils themselves defeated the Dallas Stars in 2000. The 40–22–13–7 record was good enough for 100 points, one less than the Northwest Division champion Vancouver Canucks. [132] Despite the front office changes, the Avalanche failed to qualify for the 2015 playoffs after finishing with a record of 39–31–12, resulting in a seventh-place finish in the Central Division. [167], Note: This list does not include records from the Quebec Nordiques (WHA & NHL). Patrick Roy had a shutout on the decisive game of each series. major North American professional sports leagues, "Colorado Avalanche season statistics and records", "Franchise Record Book (includes year-by-year results)", "NFL owners let Kroenke keep Rams; transfer Nuggets, Avalanche to his wife", "NHL Entry Draft First Round Selections 1980–89", "NHL Entry Draft First Round Selections 1990–99", "Lindros: Refusal to play for Nordiques 'was about an owner,' not a city", "As expected, Quebec selects Lindros No.1", "The List: Readers Pick Most Lopsided Trades", "An Interesting Parallel: '92-'93 Quebec Nordiques", "1994-95 Quebec Nordiques Roster and Statistics", "Quebec's Government Plans Bailout to keep Nordiques from moving", "NHL's Nordiques sold, moving west to Denver \ Comsat Entertainment Group bought the team. From Ottawa, the Avalanche acquired Andrew Hammond, Shane Bowers a 2018 first-round pick and a 2019 third-round pick. The design is similar to the previous jerseys, with some added piping.[145]. 26 – were entered back into circulation after the move to Colorado. After the last game of the series, Peter Forsberg underwent surgery to remove a ruptured spleen and it was announced he would not play until the following season. MacKinnon finished fifth in league scoring with a 97 points, while Rantanen scored 84 points in his sophomore season. In the middle of the arms, there are five stripes, black, white and burgundy from the outside inside in both sides. The Avalanche have won nine division titles since relocating to Denver (and set the league record for most consecutive division titles at nine in a row from 1995 to 2003; one in Quebec, and the rest in Colorado) and qualified for the playoffs in each of their first ten seasons after relocation; this streak ended in 2007. [94] In the Western Conference Semi-finals, however, the Avalanche were swept[95] by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. Canada won the ice hockey tournament and Rob Blake, Adam Foote and Joe Sakic won gold medals. The race to the title was exciting, namely the second-to-last game of the season, as the Avalanche needed to win the game to stay in the race, and Milan Hejduk scored with ten seconds left in overtime to defeat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Among teams in the major North American professional sports leagues, only the National Football League (NFL)'s 1937 Washington Redskins have also accomplished the feat. Goals For: 326 (2nd of 26), Goals Against: 240 (8th of 26) SRS: 0.93 (2nd of 26), SOS: -0.12 (26th of 26) Playoffs: Won Stanley Cup Final (4-0) over Florida Panthers Won Conference Finals (4-2) over Detroit Red Wings Won Conference Semi-Finals (4 … Easy answer: The personnel wasn’t like it is now. Nonetheless, the result was greater than expected by hockey pundits; Sports Illustrated previewed before the start of the season that the Avalanche would finish 13th in the Western Conference. Between them, the jersey is burgundy, outside those lines it is dark blue. The logo was used on their jerseys since 1995; however, prior to the start of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, the club unveiled a new alternate logo. The Colorado Avalanche … 1991–92 . [25] The Avalanche played their first game in the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver (where the Denver Nuggets also played) on October 6, 1995, winning 3–2 against the Detroit Red Wings. [32] Sandis Ozolinsh was elected for the NHL's first All-Star team at the end of the season. SRS: 0.95 (2nd of 30) ... Colorado Avalanche Goalies Series Stats Table; Goalie Stats Ice Time; No. [29] He won the Hart Memorial Trophy, given to the NHL's most valuable player during the regular season; the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, awarded to the player that has shown the best sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with performance in play; the Lester B. Pearson Award; and shared the NHL Plus/Minus Award with Patrik Elias of the Devils. During their seven WHA seasons, the Nordiques won the Avco World Trophy once, in 1977 and lost the finals once, in 1975. The look was inspired from the original uniforms they wore from 1995 to 2007, save for the bold silver border that pays homage to Colorado's silver mining industry. During a game against the Canucks on March 8, 2004, Canucks player Todd Bertuzzi punched Colorado's Steve Moore from behind, leaving Moore unconscious. American Chris Drury got a silver medal. From the belly down, three large horizontal stripes, the first and the last being black and the middle one being white. [47], After almost two years, Ascent sold the Avalanche and Nuggets to Wal-Mart heirs Bill and Nancy Laurie for $400 million. Finally, in 1997, COMSAT agreed in principle to sell Ascent to Liberty Media. The logo was featured on a patch located on the shoulders of the team's uniforms, along with a 20th anniversary logo, for the 2015–16 season. [71] Because of the punch and the consequent fall on the ice with Bertuzzi on top of him, and numerous other players from both teams piling on top, Moore sustained three fractured neck vertebrae, among other injuries, that ended his career. [60] General manager Pierre Lacroix promoted assistant coach Tony Granato, who had only three months of coaching experience as an assistant, to the head coach position.