Coming off their 2022 Stanley Cup Championship season, the Colorado Avalanche is looking to repeat in 2023. With elite players like Nathan MacKinnon, Captain Gabriel Landeskog, and Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar, they enter the season as favorites, according to GG.Bet at +400 ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs at +700 and Florida Panthers at +900.
As we look forward to what this season may bring, we thought it interesting to look back at past Avalanche legends, including the franchise’s best players all time.
Joe Sakic
When looking back at the all-time greats in Avalanche history, you have to start with Joe Sakic. Sakic played his 21-year National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise. He was named team captain in 1992 and wore the “C” on his sweater until he retired following the 2008-09 season at age 39.
Sakic won the Stanley Cup twice as a player in 1996 and 2001 and once as the General Manager of the team (2022). He won the Conn Smyth Trophy as the most valuable player of the 1996 playoffs and the Hart Trophy as MVP of the NHL in 2001.
Sakic is also a member of the Triple Gold Club, a term used in ice hockey to describe players who have won an Olympic gold medal, a World Championship gold medal, and the Stanley Cup championship. Along with Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Bobby Clarke, Sakic is just one of four players to captain his team to a Stanley Cup championship and win the Hart Memorial Trophy in the same year.
Peter Forsberg
Peter Mattias Forsberg, nicknamed “Peter the Great” and “Foppa” is considered one of the greatest hockey players of all time. In a 19-year career, including 13 years in the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, Philadelphia Flyers, and Nashville Predators, Forsberg won two Stanley Cups, the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year in 1995, and the Hart Memorial Trophy in 2003 as the league’s MVP.
Forsberg amassed 885 points in just 708 games in a career shortened by foot injuries, including 249 goals.
Like his teammate Joe Sakic, Forsberg is a member of the Triple Gold Club and the only Swede who has won each of the three competitions twice. Forsberg was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.
Patrick Roy
Known for his butterfly style of goalkeeping, which he’s credited as popularizing, and his fiery temper, Patrick Roy is an absolute Avalanche legend. Roy split his playing career in the NHL between the Montreal Canadiens, with whom he played for 11 years, and the Colorado Avalanche, with whom he played for eight years.
Roy grew up in Cap-Rouge, Quebec, and was a rabid fan of the Nordiques as a child. He was drafted in the 3rd round by Nordiques rival Montreal Canadians didn’t sit well with him, but it never impacted his play on the ice. Roy won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender 3x, the Jennings Trophy (fewest goals allowed) 5x, and led the NHL in shutouts and goals against average twice.
He is the only player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy (the award given to the Most Valuable Player in the Stanley Cup playoffs) three times, the only one to do so in three different decades (the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s). Roy has won four Stanley Cups, two with the Canadiens and two with the Avalanche. Roy is the sixth NHL player to have his number retired by two franchises.
Adam Foote
Best remembered for his physical presence and gritty play as a stay-at-home defenceman, Adam Foote played 19-seasons in the NHL, 17 with the Quebec Nordiques and Colorado Avalance. Foote was drafted in the first round of the 1989 NHL Draft, 22nd overall by the Nordiques, and played his first season for the team in 1991.
Foote won his first of two Stanley Cups with the Avalanche that year, sweeping the Florida Panthers 4-0 in the series finals. Foote helped the Avalanche to a second Stanley Cup championship in 2001, beating the New Jersey Devils in seven games.
In a career that spanned 1,154 games, Foote recorded 66 goals and 242 assists while compiling 1,534 penalty minutes. He was part of Canada’s 2002 men’s hockey team that won the Olympic gold medal in Salt Lake City and was a member of Canada’s 2004 team that won the World Cup of Hockey.