The Nordiques select Lindros with the first pick in the 1991 NHL Draft, but he declines to report and spends the season with the Canadian Olympic Team. The Flyers and New York Rangers each make a trade with the Nordiques to acquire Lindros; Bertuzzi rules the transaction with the Flyers is the valid one.
Lindros helps the Flyers get to the Stanley Cup Final in 1997, but they are swept by the Detroit Red Wings. Forsberg becomes a cornerstone of Cup-winning teams with the Colorado Avalanche in 1996 and 2001 after the Nordiques relocate to Denver in 1995. The two centers each wind up in the Hockey Hall of Fame; Forsberg is inducted in 2014, Lindros in 2016.
MORE MOMENTS
1982: The relocating Colorado Rockies, preparing for their first season in New Jersey, officially adopt the nickname "Devils" after fan balloting. The name refers to the legend of the Jersey Devil, a creature that allegedly inhabited the Pine Barrens in the southern part of the state. The team's original color scheme of red, green and white is unique in the NHL at the time.
1993:
Emile Francis
ends his 47-year career in professional hockey when he steps down as president of the Hartford Whalers.
Francis, a goalie, plays in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers but spends most of his career in the minor leagues before retiring as a player in 1960. He rejoins the Rangers as coach of their junior team in Guelph, Ontario, is promoted to the parent club two years later as assistant general manager, then becomes GM and coach in 1965. Francis builds a team that makes the Stanley Cup Playoffs every season from 1967-75 and advances to the Final in 1972.
However, the Rangers lose to the Boston Bruins and fail to make the Cup Final again. Francis is let go by the Rangers in January 1976 but quickly is hired by the St. Louis Blues. He stays there until coming to the Whalers as president and GM in 1983, one year after he's
elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame
.
2013: The Colorado Avalanche select Nathan MacKinnon, a center with Halifax of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, with the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Aleksander Barkov, a center from Finland, goes No. 2 to the Florida Panthers, and the Lightning take MacKinnon's Halifax teammate, forward Jonathan Drouin, with the No. 3 pick. Defenseman Seth Jones, rated as the top North American skater in the final rankings by NHL Central Scouting, is selected No. 4 by the Predators.
