1991-92 Quebec Nordiques Mats Sundin Jersey

The 2011 NHL Entry Draft, to be held in St. Paul, Minnesota, is just three days away. As part of our countdown to the draft, we are going to take a look today at the first, and only, NHL draft ever held in Minnesota.

The 1989 NHL Entry Draft was held at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, which was home to the Minnesota North Stars. The first NHL draft, then called the Amateur Draft, was held in Montreal, Quebec at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Montreal remained host to the draft through 1984, although at a few different venues over time, until Toronto hosted the draft in 1985. It was back to Montreal in 1986, followed by Detroit in 1987, a return to Montreal in 1988 and finally to Minnesota in 1989, only the third time in the draft's 27 year history it was held outside of Montreal.

History was made at the draft when the Quebec Nordiques selected Swede Mats Sundin first overall, making him the first European-born player taken with the first pick in NHL history. He would go on to have a successful 18 year NHL career, scoring 564 goals and 1,349 points in 1,346 games played, putting him among the top 20 all-time goal scorers in league history and the only Swede to reach 500 goals and the first Swede to reach 1,000 points.

Slightly less successful with the second pick, the New York Islanders selected Canadian Dave Chyzowski who played just 126 NHL games while scoring 15 goals. He would go on to have an 18 year career, but the majority of it was spent in the IHL and in Europe.

Scott Thornton was picked third by the Toronto Maple Leafs and had a long NHL career which lasted until 2008.

The Winnipeg Jets took Stu Barnes fourth followed by the New Jersey Devils choice of Bill Guerin. The host Minnesota North Stars picked Minnesota native Doug Zmolek 7th overall, but he would end up as property of the San Jose Sharks and would never wear the North Stars sweater.

Other notables in the first round were Bobby Holik at #10 to the Hartford Whalers and the well-travelled and Third String Goalie favorite Mike Sillinger to the Detroit Red Wings at #11. Olaf Kolzig was the first goaltender taken 19th by the Washington Capitals and would go on to serve the Capitals for 16 seasons.

Round 2 saw the Nordiques make another solid pick when they chose Adam Foote, who would play for the franchise for 13 years in his first tour of duty with the team, including a pair of Stanley Cups following the Nordiques relocation to Colorado.

The Capitals again chose a goaltender in the second round when they chose Byron Dafoe with the 35th pick.

The Detroit Red Wings then began to distance themselves from the herd with their third round selection of defenseman Niklas Lidstrom, who will play his 20th season in Detroit in 2011-12 and is widely regarded as one of the best defenseman in the history of the league.

The other main notable of the third round was Kris Draper, taken #62 by Winnipeg, but later acquired by Detroit for a single dollar in 1993. He would prove to be one of the greatest bargains in league history by going on to play 17 seasons with Detroit, contributing to four Stanley Cups and winning a Selke Trophy in the process.

The highlight of round four again went to the Red Wings, with their pick of Sergei Fedorov of the Soviet Union. Following his defection from the Soviet Union, his flashy style would make him a star player of the 1990's, which included a 56 goal season in 1993-94. His trophy cabinet would include the Hart, Pearson and Selke Trophies in 1994, another Selke in 1996 and three Stanley Cups, all with Detroit.

Another club to risk a later pick on a Soviet was the Vancouver Canucks, whose choice of Pavel Bure at #113 paid off handsomely when Bure became an NHL star with seasons of 60, 60, 51, 58 and 59 goals during his 12 year NHL career.

Also of note were steals Donald Audette at #183 in round nine by the Buffalo Sabres, goaltender Arturs Irbe at #196 by Minnesota in round ten and another addition to the embarrassment of riches for Detroit with their selection of rugged defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov of the Soviet Union with the 221st pick in round #12.

Nicklas Lidstrom and Vladimir Konstantinov were both selected in the 1989 draft

In all, 252 players were taken over the 12 rounds of the draft from Sweden, Canada, the United States, Czechoslovakia, West Germany, Finland and the Soviet Union as well as 18 Minnesota natives, led by Zmolek.

Of the players drafted, Lidstrom has played the most games at 1,494 and counting, Sundin the most goals at 564 and points with 1,349.

On the other end of the scale, of the 252 players chosen, 139 would never see action in an NHL game, even seven of the Red Wings picks, despite the amazing success they had that year with their other selections. Another 20 picks would play less than 20 NHL games, 14 of those in the single digits.

This Friday evening the draft returns to Minnesota for only the second time ever with the host Minnesota Wild picking 10th in the first round. Rounds two through seven will take place on Saturday.

Today's featured jersey is a 1991-92 Quebec Nordiques Mats Sundin jersey, the first player taken in the only previous draft held in Minnesota and the first European-born player ever taken first overall.

This jersey features the NHL 75th Anniversary patch worn by all players in the NHL to commemorate the league's anniversary.

This was the first season that the Nordiques added the red trim around their previously single color numbers.

Today's video highlight are the Quebec Nordiques selecting Mats Sundin first overall in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, the first European ever drafted first overall. Unfortunately for Sundin, they apparently didn't have baseball caps in Sweden at that time, resulting in the world's first stovepipe ballcap.

1986-87 Quebec Nordiques Mario Gosselin Jersey

Mario Gosselin, born on this date in 1963, played junior hockey for the Shawnigan Cataractes of the QMJHL from 1980-81 to 1982-83, including going 32-9-1 in his final season.

He was drafted 55th overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft but spent the 1983-84 season playing with the Canadian National Team program prior to playing in the 1984 Olympics for Canada in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. On his return from Europe, he made a memorable NHL debut with the Nordiques on February 26, 1984, shutting out the St. Louis Blues 5-0.

The next season he would see action in 35 games while splitting playing time with Richard Sevigny (20 games) and Dan Bouchard (29). His 19-11-3 record gave him the most wins on the team. He would also see action in 17 playoff games, going 9-8 as the Nordiques would make it all the way to the Eastern Conference finals. Their legendary seven game series against their hated rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, would prove to be the high point of the Nordiques franchise in the NHL.

Gosselin again split time in goal in 1985-86, only this time with the newly arrived Clint Malarchuk. Gosselin's 31 appearances saw him post a 14-14-1 mark.

Malarchuk again got the bulk of the playing time in 1986-87, but the Nordiques fell down the standings, finishing 20 points lower that the year before. Gosselin's 13-11-1 mark gave him he only winning record among the Nordiques goaltenders that season. He also made 11 playoff starts, going 7-4.

With Malarchuk no longer in the picture, Gosselin played in 54 games in 1987-88, winning 20 of them, both career highs. The following season Gosselin led the Nordiques in appearances with 39, once more sharing time in the nets, but now with Ron Tugnutt (26 games) and Bob Mason (22). Gosselin led the last place club with 11 wins.

He signed with the Los Angeles Kings as a free agent for the 1989-90 season and posted a 7-11-1 mark in 26 appearances while backing up Kelly Hrudey.

Following his one season in Los Angeles, he signed a free agent contract with the Hartford Whalers, who assigned him to their minor league affiliate, the Phoenix Roadrunners of the IHL. In 46 games he posted a strong 24-15-4 record and went 7-4 in 11 playoff games.

He spent the entire 1991-92 season in the AHL, leading the Springfield Indians with a 28-11-5 record. He split time with Springfield and Hartford in 1992-93. In 16 games with Hartford, he went 5-9-1.

The 1993-94 season saw Gosselin play two games with Springfield before being recalled by Hartford for seven games, but would suffer a career-ending knee injury in November.

His final NHL totals show 241 games played and a 91-107-14 record.

In 1984, the ice arena in Thetford Mines, Quebec was renamed the Centre Mario Gosselin after the Thetford Mines native.

Today's jersey is a 1986-87 Quebec Nordiques Mario Gosselin jersey which features the Rendes-vouz '87 patch on the right sleeve.

Rendez-vous 87 was a two game series held in Quebec City that pitted a team of NHL All-Stars against the Soviet National Team rather than the traditional NHL All-Star Game that season.

This jersey is customized with the bold, single color white numbers used by the Nordiques from the time they adopted this jersey style in 1975, while then members of the World Hockey Association, until the conclusion of the 1990-91 season before going to two color numbers, white trimmed in red, for the 1991-92 season.

Today's first video is a tribute to the career of Mario Gosselin and features excellent quality video from throughout his entire NHL career.

Here is footage from the 1984 Olympics, where Gosselin makes a great save in goal for Canada against Sweden.

Our final video today is a look at the renovations at the Centre Mario Gosselin in his hometown of Thetford Mines.

1991-92 Quebec Nordiques Mats Sundin Jersey

The 1991-92 Quebec Nordiques were looking to improve on their previous season in which they finished last overall in the NHL with a 16-50-14 record. Their 46 points were 11 less than the nest worst team, the 20th place Toronto Maple Leafs.

To that end, they selected Eric Lindros first overall in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, despite repeated warnings from the Lindros' camp that he would refuse to play for the Nordiques due to several factors, including lack of marketing potential and having to learn to speak French if he were to play in Quebec. Standing their ground in the face of the threats from Lindros, the Nordiques chose him first overall and, as promised, he refused to report to Quebec and played for both the Oshawa Generals of the OHL and the Canadian National Team while holding out.

With their second pick, 24th overall, the Nordiques chose left wing Rene Corbet, who would play 17 total games over two seasons with Quebec, scoring just 5 total points. Round 3 saw the Nordiques select Rich Brennan, who would never even wear a Nordiques sweater during his career.

With the much publicized hold out of Lindros, and the lack of any other impact players from the draft, the Nordiques were going to be hard pressed to improve in 1991-92. The most notable additions to their roster consisted of the likes of Greg Paslawski and Russian defenseman Mikhail Tatarinov.

Still, with a top three of Joe Sakic and second year players Mats Sundin and Owen Nolan, there was some hope for increased competitiveness, but the roster had little to offer beyond those three with the exception of Russian Valeri Kamensky.

The 1991-92 Quebec Nordiques

Things got off to a deceptively bright start when the Nordiques won their opening game at home against the Hartford Whalers by a score of 4-2. They then travelled to New Jersey for their first road game of the season. Although they scored a more than respectable 5 goals, they were defeated 6-5. Two nights later they traveled to Minnesota where they lost 3-2 to the North Stars.

After a pair of home games, they lost 5-3 in Philadelphia. An overtime loss in Montreal came after a loss at home to Detroit.

Following their second win of the season at home over Winnipeg, another road loss to the Rangers followed, again by a goal. Their next three road games were all losses, at Chicago, Hartford and Boston, which came as part of a six game losing streak.

The losing streak ended with a win at home over Montreal, only to have the road losing streak extended in Montreal two nights later. After a home win over Hartford, the Nordiques earned their first point on the road in ten tries with a 4-4 tie in Buffalo. After a loss in St. Louis, their best run of form all season included two wins at home and a tie in Boston followed by another pair of wins at home for five games without a loss.

Still, their winless streak on the road continued with losses at Detroit and Washington, a tie in Calgary, a loss in San Jose and a tie at Vancouver. Two wins at home proceeded their worst run of form, with eight consecutive losses in regulation, including four in a row on the road. A win at home only momentarily broke up the losing, as their next nine games consisted of two losses, a tie and then six more losses. From January 2, 1992 and February 13th, the Nordiques would go 1-16-1, including nine more road losses and a tie to remain winless on the road since the start of the season.

Their next three games they managed a tie in Montreal, a win at home over Minnesota and another tie in Pittsburgh to begin a five game road trip. Four games later, a loss in Hartford, a tie in Montreal and losses at San Jose and Los Angeles, left them with 2 points out of a possible 10.

A tie at home against Buffalo preceded their game at Hartford against the Whalers on this date in 1992, with the Nordiques now standing 0-25-8 on the road for the season to date.

The teams ended the first period even at 3 apiece before the Nordiques erupted for five consecutive goals, which included a hat trick by Sundin. The third period saw the Nordiques again outscore Hartford 2-1 to make the final margin 10-4. It was the first win on the road for Quebec all season and their first since March 10, 1991, six days short of a year, which also came at the expense of the Whalers.

Sundin was the star of the night for the Nordiques with 5 goals and 2 assists for 7 points, becoming the 38th player in the 75 year history of the NHL to score 5 or more goals in a single game and just the third player from Sweden to accomplish the feat. His five goals alone were enough to outscore Hartford for the game.

Sundin's linemate Nolan finished the night with a goal of his own as well as 5 assists while the third member of the line, Kamensky had 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points to give the trio 18 points during the game, including 8 of Quebec's 10 goals.

Peter Sidorkiewicz gave up the first 6 goals in 27:11 before being replaced by Kay Whitmore, who fared little better, giving up 4 goals in 32:49.

"It's a big relief," said Sundin, whose five goals broke a Quebec record held by Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet.

The Nordiques would go 6-7-2 the rest of the way, winning both ends of a home and home against Buffalo to end the season 20-48-12 with a road record of 2-30-9.

Joe Sakic would lead the club in scoring with 94 points, followed by Sundin's 76. Owen Nolan led the team in goals with 42 on his way to third in scoring with 73 to distance the top three from the rest of the squad, with no one else scoring more than 45.

The Nordiques fortunes would begin to turn around in the off-season when Lindros was finally traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for six players, a pair of first round draft picks and $15 million, which led to the Nordiques making the playoffs in 1992-93 and beginning the franchise's rise to prominence, albeit in Denver, Colorado as the Avalanche.

Sundin would play one more season for the Nordiques, his fourth, before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the summer of 1994.

Today's featured jersey is a 1991-92 Quebec Nordiques Mats Sundin jersey. The Nordiques were the last team to use heat sealed names and numbers on their jerseys prior to switching to sewn on twill numbers for the 1991-92 season, which included a switch to two color numbers, white with red trim, for the first time in their history.

This jersey features the NHL 75th Anniversary patch worn by all players in the NHL to commemorate the league's anniversary.

Today's video highlight are the Quebec Nordiques selecting Mats Sundin first overall in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, the first European ever drafted first overall. Unfortunately for Sundin, they apparently didn't have baseball caps in Sweden at that time, resulting in the world's first stovepipe ballcap.

1980-81 Quebec Nordiques Peter Stastny Jersey

Perhaps one of the mot unique back-to-back hat trick scenarios happened in a span of 48 hours, from February 20th to February 22nd back in 1981.

The Stastny brothers - Anton and Peter - were quickly establishing themselves as dangerous offensive threats in the NHL despite the fact they were both NHL rookies, having defected from Czechoslovakia just prior to the opening of NHL training camps in the fall of 1980.

Peter and Anton Stastny

The previous season the Nordiques had failed to qualify for the NHL playoffs, finishing 19 our of 21 teams with a record of 25-44-11. It was their first season after moving over to the NHL from the now defunct WHA, where for the last previous five seasons they had been competitive, including two trips to the WHA Finals and a championships in 1977.

Their 1980-81 season started badly, winning their second game of the season before going 1-9-5 in their first 15 games. From that point through the end of January, the Nordiques went 10-15-8, but flipping the calendar to February also flipped a switch with the Nordiques who went on an 8-2 tear leading up to their game on February 20th against the Vancouver Canucks, their seventh consecutive road game as they toured the western half of North America.

Their road trip started on the 8th in Boston. Four days later they played in Calgary, followed by Edmonton the next night, Winnipeg on the 15th, Colorado on the 17th and Los Angeles the very next day before making the trip up to Vancouver for their game two days later.

Peter Stastny with unique Czech diacritical marks over letters of his name

Peter Stastny opened the scoring at 5:54 with an assist from defenseman Kim Clackson. He quickly scored his second goal of the night at 6:25 from Clackson and his brother Anton. The Canucks got one back at 8:56 on a power play.

Anton Stastny extended the Nordiques lead just 1:07 into the second period on a power play from Marc Tardif and Jacques Richard. He then got his second goal of the period at 5:11 from his brother Peter and Clackson's third assist of the game - during a season he would play 61 games and record just five total assists!

The Canucks scored at 6:59 only to have Michel Goulet get one past Gary Bromley in the Vancouver goal at 9:51 at even strength from Peter and Anton Stastny. Richard closed out the second period scoring with a goal assisted by Robbie Ftorek to make it 6-2 for the Nordiques at 13:38.

Goulet continued the scoring parade for the resurgent road warriors at 7:39, unassisted. Peter Stastny completed his hat trick on the power play at 14:40 from defenseman Dale Hoganson and slightly over a minute later Anton Stastny finished his hat trick at 15:56 from the rugged John Wensink and brother Peter. The Canucks added a late goal to finish off the scoring, as the Nordiques romped to a 9-3 win as Dan Bouchard got the win for Quebec, who were actually outshot by Vancouver 27-26.

Anton Stastny ended the night with 3 goals and 2 assists while Peter had 3 goals and 3 assists for six points, giving the brothers a combined 6 goals and 11 points.

With their west coast swing to completed, the schedule makers rewarded the Nordiques with a game two nights later in...

Washington D. C. - as far from Vancouver on the 1981 NHL map as possible!

Bouchard once again got the start in goal for the streaking Nordiques, while the Capitals countered with Mike Palmateer in an effort to derail the Stastny express. That effort lasted just 5:45 before Peter Stastny scored from Anton and Goulet to open the scoring. Anton got his 27th goal of the year to take the family lead from Peter at 9:46 from Peter and Goulet to make it 2-1 Quebec at 9:46.

Anton's 28th of the season and second of the game came at 2:37 of the second period from Peter to give Quebec back the lead at 3-2 even strength at 2:37. After Washington tied the game for the third time, it was Peter's turn to score, his second of the game from Anton and Hoganson 19 seconds after Washington's equalizer.

Richard extended the Nordiques lead to 2 for the first time from Dale Hunter and Tardif at 13:27. Washington got one back only to have Peter complete his second consecutive hat trick from Anton and Pierre Lacroix at 18:51 on the power play as a result of a huge brawl at 18:26, the third outbreak of fisticuffs of the period. Lacroix extended the Nordiques lead to 7-4 after two periods from Richard and Peter Stastny at 19:41.

It was Anton's turn to complete the brother/brother hat tricks in back-to-back games (and take the lead in the Stastny family goal scoring race) with his third goal of the game and 29th of the season from Peter and Lacroix on the power play at just 34 seconds to ignite the fuse on a scoring explosion.

Richard scored at 1:07 (from Goulet and Anton Stastny), which chased Palmateer from the Capitals goal in favor of Wayne Stephenson, who gave up Richard's third goal of the game just 33 seconds later from Tardif and Hoganson. Washington responded 18 seconds later for the fourth goal of the period before it was even two minutes old. Less than two minutes later Washington scored again to make it 10-6.

Washington secored once more at 7:21 and Peter Stastny then got his fourth goal of the game to tie Anton at 29 goals for the season from Gary Lariviere and his brother Anton on the power play at 19:05 to make the final score 11-7.

Anton concluded the game with 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points, while Peter finished with 4 goals and 4 assists for 8 points of his own. Their matching 8 point nights set several records, including Most Points by a Player in One Game as a Rookie, Most Points by a Player in a Road Game and Most Points by a Pair of Siblings in an NHL Game. They also became just the 6th and 7th players to record eight points in an NHL game, to date an accomplishment only achieved by 12 men, and they were the only two to do so in the same game.

Over the course of the two games on February 20th and 22nd, Anton totaled 6 goals and 7 assists for 13 points while Peter amassed 7 goals and 7 assists for 14 points, a combined 27 points in two games!

The Nordiques hot streak would continue through March, as they went 19-4-5 over the course of two months and reach the .500 mark on March 31st, only to drop two and tie one during their final three games in April to finish below .500 at 30-32-18, but their strong run through February and March elevated them into the playoffs as the 11th seeded team out of 16, only to lose in five games to the 6th seeded Philadelphia Flyers. During their five playoff games, Peter (2 goals, 10 assists) and Anton (4G, 3A) would lead the club with a combined 17 points.

Still, the future looked bright for the Nordiques with the arrival of their Czech defectors, as Peter led the Nordiques in scoring with 39 goals and a record 70 assists as a rookie for 109 points, good for 6th in the NHL scoring race which earned him the 1981 Calder Trophy. While Anton finished third on the club with 85 points behind Richard's 103, he tied Peter's 39 goals for the season.

The brothers were joined the following season by a third brother Marian, and the Nordiques would make the playoffs for the next six seasons, including two runs to the semifinals.

Peter's career would conclude with his being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998 and the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2000.

Today's featured jersey is a 1980-81 Quebec Nordiques Peter Stastny jersey as worn duiring his rookie season in the NHL when he set records for most assists by a rookie and joined the exclusive club of players with eight or more points in an NHL game on his way to winning the rookie of the year award.

The Nordiques adopted this style jersey during their fourth WHA season of 1975-76 and it remained in use through their final NHL season of 1994-95. As seen in today's featured jersey, the Nordiques used a lower quality heat sealed material for their names and numbers which does not age very well, leaving some game worn jerseys completely missing names and with numbers that are in danger of coming off. They were the final team to switch to sewn on tackle twill numbers and letters, which they did in 1991-92 when they finally changed to numbers trimmed in red.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1980-81 Quebec Nordiques Anton Stastny jersey as worn duiring his rookie season in the NHL when he also joined the exclusive club of players with eight or more points in an NHL game, amazingly on the same date as his brother.

Today's first video selection is the Legends of Hockey profile of Peter Stastny.

Here is Anton Stastny doing his part to contribute to the bad blood between the Canadiens and Nordiques, as he holds his own in a fight against Craig Ludwig.

1990-91 Quebec Nordiques Ron Tugnutt Jersey

Ron Tugnutt set a record on this date in 2002, when he became the first goaltender to play for eight different teams when he made his Dallas Stars debut with a 5-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes.

Tugnutt's long journey began back in Peterborough, Ontario while as a member of the Petes in the Ontario Hockey League, he was drafted 81st overall in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft after going 18-7 with the Petes that year. One more season with Peterborough ensued prior to joining the Fredericton Express of the AHL in 1987-88. He then made his NHL debut with the Nordiques on December 29, 1987 with a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. In all, he would play in 6 games with the Nordiuqes that season.

In 1988-89, he would split time between the Halifax Citadels (24 games) and the Nordiques (26 games), going 10-10-3 with Quebec, not a bad feat considering the Nordiques other goalies combined to go 17-36-4 for the worst team in the league.

For an encore, the Nordiques got worse the following season. Much worse. While they scored 61 points the year before, the 1989-90 Nordiques went 12-61-7 for just 31 points, 33 points less than the next worst team! Needless to day Tugnutt's numbers took a beating that year and his final win-loss record was 5-24-3 as, searching for answers the Nordiques used no less than seven different goaltenders that season, with the other six combining for 7 wins.

The Nordiques "improved" to 46 points in the 1990-91 standings and 16 wins, 12 of which were by Tugnutt, while four other goalies combined for 4. In one memorable game, he made 70 saves in a 3-3 overtime tie against the Bruins.

After suffering through another season with the terrible Nordiques, Tugnutt was paroled in March of 1992 when he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers late in the season. While he arrived just after the conclusion of the Oilers dynasty, the Oilers were still a contender and made the conference finals, giving Tugnutt his first taste of postseason play.

Unfortunately, the 1992-93 season would see the Oilers miss the NHL playoffs for the first time in their 14 year NHL history.

He was left unprotected by the Oilers that summer and was claimed by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft, ensuring that he would once more end the season without his name being engraved on the Stanley Cup. While the Mighty Ducks did not qualify for the playoffs in their first season, favorable rules allowed them to field a respectable squad and the club won 33 games, 10 of which were by Tugnutt prior to him being traded to the Montreal Canadiens in February of that season.

The 1994-95 season was a lost one for Tugnutt, as he appeared in only 7 games for Montreal, as the Canadiens number one starter Patrick Roy played in the vast majority of games in the strike shortened season.

Although he was signed by the Washington Capitals organization prior to the 1995-96 season, he would never appear in a game for the Capitals as he would spend the entire year back in the AHL with the Portland Pirates where he set a career high with 58 games played.

Happy to have a chance to return to the NHL, Tugnutt signed with the Ottawa Senators, his 5th NHL club, despite the fact Ottawa had yet to make the playoffs in their four year history. Splitting time with Damian Rhodes that season, the Senators earned their first playoff berth and Tugnutt set a personal NHL best with 17 wins and finally found some stability in the NHL.

The next two seasons Tugnutt would appear in 43 and then 44 games while in tandem with Rhodes and raised his best win total up to 22 along with a standout 1.79 goals against average in 1998-99, which earned him some consideration in the Vezina Trophy balloting in which he placed fifth and his only appearance in an NHL All-Star Game that season.

There were changes for 1999-00, as Tugnutt now shared time with Patrick Lalime following the departure of Rhodes, and despite starting the bulk of the games for the Senators, he was sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the trade deadline. In Pittsburgh, he got the most playoff experience of his career, with 11 games in the 2000 postseason.

With his contract now expired, Tugnutt signed as a free agent with the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets for the 2000-01 season and set an NHL high with 53 games played as well as a respectable 22-25-5 mark for the first year club to set a record for wins with a first year expansion team.

After one more season with the Blue Jackets, Tugnutt was traded to the Dallas Stars for the 2002-03 season and would become the first NHL goalie to play for eight different teams when he made his first start for the Stars on this date in 2002. After one more season, in which he played 12 games for the Stars and 5 for the Utah Grizzlies in the AHL, Tugnutt found himself unsigned following the season lost to the NHL lockout and retired as a player.

His final NHL totals were 537 games played, 186 wins, 239 losses and 62 ties while playing on some truly horrible clubs and a series of expansion teams.

Internationally, Tugnutt played for Team Canada in the World Championships twice, in 1993 and 1998.

Today's featured jersey is a 1990-91 Quebec Nordiques Ron Tugnutt jersey. from the season in which he had his 70 save performance against the Bruins. The Nordiques were the last NHL club to use heat sealed material for their names and numbers, which shown here is prone to discolorization and long-term cracking and peeling, making them a challenge for collectors of game worn jerseys to keep in good condition.

All told, Tugnutt would wear 18 different jerseys during his NHL career, including two alternate styles while with Ottawa and Dallas.

Today's video section highlights the 70 saves Tugnutt made in one game versus the Boston Bruins in 1991.

Here is an interview with Tugnutt following the conclusion of his career.

While we normally avoid "slideshow" videos, this look at Tugnutt's career includes enough video clips and is a very nice retrospective on his career that we are pleased to bring it to you today.

1990-91 Oshawa Generals Eric Lindros Jersey

Despite his steadfast and repeated warnings he would not play for them, the Quebec Nordiques drafted Eric Lindros with the first overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft on this day in 1991.

The Nordiques Pierre Page with Lindros at the 1991 NHL Draft

Lindros, perhaps the most hyped and anticipated player since Wayne Gretzky or perhaps even Bobby Orr, had already led the Oshawa Generals of the OHL to the 1990 Memorial Cup championship with 45 points in 21 playoff games, scored 149 points in 57 games for the Generals to lead the league in scoring in 1991 and was named the league MVP and the CHL Player of the Year.

Lindros with the Oshawa Generals

While Lindros was tearing up Canadian junior hockey, the Quebec Nordiques were the doormats of the NHL, having finished last overall in 1988-89 with 61 points, suffered through a dreadful 1989-90 season scoring a mere 31 points and "improved" to 46 points in 1990-91, earning the right to select first overall for the third consecutive year.

Having already refused to report to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in junior hockey, Lindros again made his wishes known that he had no intention of playing for the Nordiques due to several factors which did not meet his or his agent's satisfaction, including limited marketing potential, high tax rates in Quebec and the difficulties associated with the exclusively French speaking Quebec City.

With both sides at a standoff, the stubborn Nordiques selected him with the first overall pick anyway. The even more stubborn Lindros wasted no time in snubbing the Nordiques by refusing to wear the club's jersey for photos.

Lindros refusing to wear a Nordiques jersey at the draft

Undaunted, the Nordiques president Marcel Aubut announced that they would build the team around Lindros and refused to trade him, claiming he would not have a career in the NHL as long as he held out. Meanwhile, Lindros played for Team Canada in the 1991 Canada Cup, briefly returned to the Generals for 13 games prior to joining the Canadian National Team for 24 games, participating in the 1992 World Junior Tournament and then the 1992 Winter Olympics, so there was no shortage of places for him to play during his unprecedented standoff with the Nordiques despite their 10-year, $50 million contract offer.

Lindros skating for Canada during his year long holdout

Eventually, after his year long holdout, the Nordiques relented and traded Lindros at the draft in 1992. The problem was, they agreed to trade him on June 20, 1992 to both the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers in separate deals!

Eventually the NHL arbitrator would rule in favor of the Flyers on June 30th and with that, it was the Flyers who sent a King's Ransom to the Nordiques in the form of Peter Forsberg, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Steve Duchesne, Chris Simon, Kerry Huffman, two first-round draft choices (one of which was used to select Jocelyn Thibault while the other was traded away) plus $15 million!

The trade would send the franchise on the road to the Stanley Cup, which they would win in 1996 as the Colorado Avalanche, their first season after their relocation to Denver, Colorado.

Today's featured jersey is a CCM 1990-91 Oshawa Generals Eric Lindros jersey as worn the season in which Lindros scored 149 points in 57 games just prior to his being drafted first overall by the Quebec Nordiques.

Bonus Jerseys: Today's first bonus jersey is a Tackla 1991-92 Canada National Team Eric Lindros jersey as used in the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France while Lindros was refusing to play for the Nordiques in Quebec.

This jersey has all the graphics dye-sublimated onto the jersey and features the unusual white nameplate with red letters on a red jersey.

Today's second bonus jersey is a CCM 1991-92 Quebec Nordiques team issued Eric Lindros jersey made for Lindros to wear in his planned rookie season of 1991-92 with the Nordiques, which went unworn as Lindros made good on his threats to not play for the Nordiques and instead embark on a schedule of games with primarily the Canadian National Team until the Nordiques traded him to the Philadelphia Flyers in time for the 1992-93 season.

Today's first video is the Nordiques following through on their promise to take Lindros first overall in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft.

Here is a report on Lindros refusing to play for the Nordiques prior to the draft.