What's wrong with the Quebec Nordiques?

Hello hockey fans. Welcome to the GHL blog.

Tonight's second post is about a team that has traditionally been one of the GHL's title contenders, but now they seem to be bound for last place. That team is the Quebec Nordiques. 

The Quebec Nordiques were part of the GHL's second expansion in 2015, making up the then 72-team GHL before the expansion in 2017 which bumped the team count to 120.

Quebec started off well in their first-ever game, setting a new record for highest-scoring GHL game at the time, beating the Rocky Mountain Rage by a final score of 18-1.

Wayne Montana scored the first-ever goal for the franchise, and would go on to score a hat trick in the game.

Montana (Pictured above) was the team's first-ever captain, as well as the team's leading scorer in the 2015-16 season. He would play alongside players like Joe Sakic, Peter Stastny, Trevor Daley, Alex Galchenyuk, and Gabriel Landeskog. The 2015-16 Nordiques were stacked, finishing 5th in the North American Conference.

After a hard-fought 3-game series with the Hartford Whalers in the Wild Card round, they moved on to the 1st round to play the Boston Bruins.

Unfortunately, the Bruins were able to win the series in 3 games despite Quebec's early success in each of the 3 games.



The 2016-17 season saw major changes with Quebec. Captain Wayne Montana had left the team in order to save a dying roller hockey team that he owned, the Waterloo Wolverines. He brought the team into the GHL and signed a contract to play there. The Nordiques were also without Defenseman Trevor Daley, as he was placed on waivers and signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

However, Quebec persevered and made the playoffs for yet another season. They earned the 8th seed in the North American Conference, good enough for a 4th place Wild Card seed.

The Nordiques would eliminate the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Wild Card round, then moved on eliminate the New York Rangers in the 1st round. Quebec enjoyed more playoff success afterwards, beating the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins on their way to their first-ever Global Hockey Championship appearance.

Unfortunately that's where the ride stopped for Quebec, as HRCA Inline Hockey swept them to win the Player's Cup.

So what's different with the Nordiques this year?

Well, there are many problems this year for the Nordiques. The first is their place in the standings.

As you can see, Quebec is below .500 and barely hanging on in their own division. This is where the second problem comes into play.

In the 2017 offseason, the Nordiques lost many key players. Adam Foote, Valeri Kamensky, Peter Forsberg, and Joe Sakic went to the Colorado Avalanche after the team entered the GHL. The Montreal Canadiens also took key players from the Nordiques, including Andrei Markov, Alex Galchenyuk, and Guy Lafleur. 

What Quebec is left with is a list of young, under-developed players who are being shoved into roles that former Nordiques players left behind. 

The one bright spot, however, is their first-overall draft pick, Lanzo Benedetti.

Lanzo Benedetti was selected 1st overall by the Nordiques in the 2017 draft from the University of Michigan. His abilities on the ice have been admirable, scoring 20 goals this season as of this post. He's paired on a line with Peter Stastny and Brandon Dubinsky, who the Nordiques were able to secure the rights to.

You would think this line would help the Nordiques win games right? Well unfortunately the teams they've been playing have learned how to shut down this line. Benedetti has been able to beat defensemen on his own, but not at the rate the team needs him to in order to win games.

The 3rd problem has to do with coaching.

Head coach Marc Crawford is in his 3rd year with the team. He was the first staff member hired by the Nordiques in November 2015. His record with the Nordiques is above .500, but that was with a loaded roster. Nowadays he's been struggling to put quality lines together with the remaining talent he's got. His contract is set to expire this season, and rumors have been going around that the organization won't give Crawford an option to renew his contract due to the team's lackluster performance.

To put it into perspective, here's Quebec's schedule that's been played so far:

Statistically, Quebec has outscored their opponents 71-59. Unfortunately the teams that Quebec has beaten have been low-ranking teams. The teams they've lost to are mostly at the top of the standings. To be fair, Quebec has a difficult schedule with the team they have right now. Rookies and young minor-leaguers are being outplayed by established veterans almost every night, especially in Montreal. That 9-1 loss came without Quebec's best players, as Benedetti and Dubinsky were out with injuries.

What do you think should happen with Quebec? Should they rebuild through the minor leagues or make a major trade to shake things up?

Well that does it for this post. Until next time, this is Mario Ardais saying so long folks and keep your stick on the ice.

The 2017-18 Season So Far

Hello hockey fans. Welcome to the GHL blog. Tonight's post is about the 2017-18 season so far.


This season marks the GHL's 10th anniversary, which was celebrated on October 5th, 2017.

The 10th Anniversary season kicked off that same day with the opening night matchup between HRCA Inline Hockey and the Colorado Select, who played in the first-ever GHL game on October 5th, 2008.

The Colorado Select repeated their performance 10 years ago by beating HRCA 3-1. The score from the first meeting in 2008 was 4-2 Colorado.


As of the end of November, here's how each team stands in their respective divisions.

NORTH AMERICAN CONFERENCE:

WORLD CONFERENCE:

Also, an event that happened earlier in the year was the induction for the GHL Hall Of Fame class of 2017.

And that does it for this post. Until next time, I'm Mario Ardais saying so long folks and keep your stick on the ice.

Catching Up On The Past 2 Seasons

Hello hockey fans. Welcome back to the GHL Blog.

We apologize for not giving you updates on the league for the past 2 seasons. The league's day-to-day operations were too hectic for blog posts to be written. So today I will recap the last 2 seasons.

The 2015-16 season ended with the Pittsburgh Penguins taking home the Global Hockey Championship, their first-ever in the GHL.

Pittsburgh beat Team France in a 2-game sweep to claim their first-ever Player's Cup.

The 2016-17 GHL season ended with another team winning their first-ever Player's Cup. HRCA Inline Hockey would win it this year, in a 2-game sweep over the Quebec Nordiques.

HRCA Inline Hockey became the first-ever GHL team outside of North America to win the Player's Cup.

Well we hope this clears things up in terms of who won the Player's Cup the past 2 seasons. We'll give you a recap of this season tomorrow. Until next time, This is Mario Ardais saying so long folks and keep your stick on the ice.