J.C. Tremblay had an excellent career in the National Hockey League, where he was a five-time Stanley Cup Champion with the Montreal Canadiens.  That is true,  but this is a list about the all-time Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques, the team where Tremblay had his best individual success.

The Quebec Nordiques of the 1970s were not just representing Quebec City, but they also were loaded with French-Canadiens.  One of those stars was Real Cloutier, an offensively skilled player who would win the WHA Scoring Title twice.  The Nordiques owned that award for four consecutive years as his teammate; Marc Tardif won that honor in 1975-76 and 1977-78 with Cloutier capturing it in 1976-77 and 1977-79.  In those four years where the two Quebecers were trading the Bill Hunter Trophy (The WHA’s version of the Art Ross), Cloutier never had less than 114 Points and was a post-season All-Star (one First Team and three Second Team) Selection in all of those years.  He would also score 27 Points in the 1977 Avco Cup Playoffs, which were won by Quebec.

There have been a plethora of phenomenal players who have suited up for the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche.  Still, it was effortless to choose Joe Sakic as the greatest Avalanche player ever.

Peter Stastny (and his brother, Anton) sent shockwaves in the world of hockey when he defected from Czechoslovakia to play professional hockey with the Quebec Nordiques in 1980.  Stastny had just been named the Czechoslovakian Player of the Year, so it was certainly expected that he would be spectacular, and he would not disappoint.  He would score 109 Points as an NHL rookie and won the Calder.  This year would usher a six-year streak where Stastny would exceed the 100 Point mark, peaking with 139 in 1981-82.  That year he finished fourth in Hart Trophy voting and would later have two seventh place finishes.  Stastny was a bona fide scoring machine and is the answer to the question who has the second most Points behind Wayne Gretzky in the 1980s.

After playing for Birmingham in the WHA as an underaged player, Michel Goulet was drafted 20^th Overall by Quebec in the 1979 Draft.  Playing at Left Wing, Goulet would become an elite NHL sniper.  Goulet would have four consecutive 50 Goal Seasons (1982-83 to 1985-86) and would finish in the top ten in Goals six times.  His scoring touch was the backbone of vibrant Nordiques teams in the 1980s, and he was rewarded with three First Team All-Star and two Second Team All-Star Selections.

A converted winger, J.C. Tremblay made the transition to defense look easy. As a converted forward, Tremblay understood the offensive aspects of the game and was a natural playmaker from the blue line. Tremblay’s last two years with the Habs saw him reach his best points totals, but it could be argued that his best years were out of the NHL. Tremblay joined the WHA’s Quebec Nordiques and was easily among the best defenders in the league. His WHA output was good and had he chose to stay in the NHL it could be debated that he might have had a potential induction by now.

In the world of the National Hockey League, you wouldn’t normally think that any player who amassed over 3,000 career penalty minutes could potentially have over 1,000 points but the notorious Dale Hunter is currently the only player to have accomplished this feat. Hunter may not have led the league in scoring but he was able to score 70 or more points six times in his career and did achieve some level of consistency in that department. He was a tenacious player who you never wanted to face on the ice but would be glad to have on your side. He was a true leader and in many ways symbolic of many hockey players (one of the nicest guys you could meet off the ice and a real beast on it). His overall statistics may not show a Hall of Fame career, but Dale Hunter may have had just enough intangibles to receive a peek from the Hockey Hall of Fame committee.

Marc Tardif is the all-time leading goal scorer in league history. Sadly, that league is the World Hockey Association. Tardif was really starting to come into his own with the Montreal Canadians and fans were beginning to think they had a real emerging superstar on their hands. He joined to upstart WHA (for a very substantial pay increase) and eventually landed cross-province province Quebec Nordiques. It was there that Marc Tardif in his prime lit up the WHA tallying goals at a blistering pace. With the merger of the NHL and WHA, he found himself back in the NHL still with the Nordiques where he was still an effective contributor. One of the knocks on the Hall is its lack of recognition from the WHA. Inducting their two -ime MVP would silence those critics.