Best Avalanche team debated by NHL.com entering Stanley Cup Final
2001 champions get nod over 1996 group, but title this season could change that
By
NHL.com @NHLdotcom
With Colorado hosting Game 1 on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ABC, CBC, SN, TVAS), six NHL.com writers and editors debated which is the best version of the Avalanche.
Is it this year's team, which went 56-19-7, finished with a franchise-best 119 points and has gone 12-2 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including sweeping the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final?
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Lightning series coverage]
Or what about the 1996 Avalanche, who had 104 points and went 16-6 in the playoffs, including a four-game sweep of the Florida Panthers in the Final? And then there are the 2001 Avalanche, who amassed 118 points and defeated the defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils in a memorable seven-game Final.
Here are their answers:
1996
Give me the 1996 Avalanche. I mean, what a way to put an exclamation point on a move to Denver from Quebec City than to win the Stanley Cup in your first season there, right? Joe Sakic was incredible in the regular season, when he had an NHL career-high 120 points (51 goals, 69 assists) and was just as impressive in the playoffs, when he had 34 points (18 goals, 16 assists) and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the postseason. And in their four-game sweep in the Final, they outscored the Panthers 15-4. Pretty dominant. -- Tracey Myers, staff writer
The 1996 team was special. Sure, there was then 26-year-old Sakic playing in his prime, but the supporting cast was so impressive. Peter Forsberg, Valeri Kamensky and Claude Lemieux each played big offensive roles at some point during the postseason run. Lemieux was acquired by Colorado on Oct. 3, 1995, after winning the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy with the Devils in 1995, scoring 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 19 games for the Avalanche. Of course, the acquisition of goalie Patrick Roy on Dec. 6, 1995, was huge. Roy had a 2.10 goals-against average, .921 save percentage and three shutouts. To me, this first championship was the most memorable. -- Mike G. Morreale, staff writer
Watch: Youtube Video
2001
The 2001 Avalanche made the Cup Final after dominating the NHL in the regular season. They won the Presidents' Trophy with 118 points, seven more than the Devils and Detroit Red Wings. They did it with a roster full of big names. I mean, go down the list: Roy, Sakic, Milan Hejduk, Alex Tanguay, Rob Blake, Chris Drury, Forsberg, Ray Bourque … Of course, Bourque wasn't part of the 1996 team, and he ended his incredible NHL career by winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in 2001. -- Nicholas J. Cotsonika, columnist
I realize they haven't won yet, but the discount the 2021-22 Avalanche team is getting here makes me nervous. I think we're going to look back in the not-too-distant future and give them a lot of votes. That said, they haven't won the Cup yet, so I'll choose the 2001 Avalanche. The Bourque factor puts it over the top for me, that storybook finish for a Hall of Fame defenseman finally winning his last playoff game. It was a stellar team with Sakic, Forsberg, Roy and company, but it was a team of stars that delivered at crunch time. -- Tim Campbell, staff writer
The 2001 Avalanche are the pick here, as much for the team they beat in the Final as it is the players on their own roster. They defeated the defending champion Devils in seven games in a matchup oozing with future Hall of Famers in Forsberg, Sakic, Blake, Bourque and Roy. But keep in mind that so, too, did three Devils: goalie Martin Brodeur and defensemen Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer. Brodeur, the NHL's all-time leader in wins (691) and shutouts (125), grew up in the Montreal area idolizing Roy and told me the 3-1 loss against the veteran goalie and the Avalanche in Game 7 was one of, if not the most difficult defeats he had in his illustrious career. To be the best, beat the best. The 2001 Avalanche did exactly that. -- Mike Zeisberger, staff writer
Watch: Youtube Video
2022
The trigger was almost pulled by colleague Tim Campbell, but he wavered at the last second. I won't. This current Avalanche team is better than the two championship teams that have preceded them in the city and they will prove it after knocking off the Eastern Conference champion in the Final. The Avalanche have lost two games in reaching the Final, an unheard of run of excellence. The star-studded teams of the past didn't do this. The 1996 team lost six times before reaching the Final; the 2001 team four times. And speaking of star power, let's not sleep on the star power on this team. Forsberg? I'll counter with Nathan MacKinnon, who is a more dynamic postseason player. Go look at the numbers. Sakic? Meet Gabriel Landeskog, the captain and heart and soul of this generation of Avalanche players. Bourque? Hello Cale Makar, who even Bourque thinks may be a better defenseman. I got on the 2022 Avalanche bandwagon before the playoffs started and I'm not getting off now, even in the face of competition from their glorious past. -- Shawn P. Roarke, senior director of editorial
