1983–84 Quebec Nordiques season

The 1983–84 Quebec Nordiques season was the Nordiques fifth season in the National Hockey League. In the 1982–83 season, Quebec won a club record 34 games, and finished fourth in the Adams Division earning 80 points, making the post-season for the third consecutive season. The Nordiques would fall to the Montreal Canadiens in six games in the Adams Division Finals.

1983–84 Quebec Nordiques
Division	3rd Adams
Conference	6th Wales
1983–84 record	42–28–10
Home record	24–11–5
Road record	18–17–5
Goals for	360
Goals against	278
Team information
General manager	Maurice Filion
Coach	Michel Bergeron
Captain	Mario Marois
Alternate captains	None
Arena	Colisée de Québec
Team leaders
Goals	Michel Goulet (56)
Assists	Peter Stastny (73)
Points	Michel Goulet (121)
Penalty minutes	Dale Hunter (232)
Plus/minus	Michel Goulet (+62)
Wins	Dan Bouchard (29)
Goals against average	Dan Bouchard (3.20)

Off-season

During the off-season, Quebec named defenseman Mario Marois as their new team captain. The club played the 1982–83 season with no captain. Marois, an eight-year NHL veteran, had been with the Nordiques since the 1980–81 season. In early June, the Nordiques and Buffalo Sabres pulled off a blockbuster deal, with Quebec sending Real Cloutier and their first round draft pick in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft to Buffalo in exchange for Tony McKegney, Andre Savard, Jean-Francois Sauve, and the Sabres third round draft pick in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft.

Regular season

The Nordiques would get off to a fast start, earning a 7-2-1 record in their first ten games. The team fell into a slump though, and found themselves under .500 with a 10-11-3 record. Quebec would snap out of the slump, and end the season with a club record 42 victories and 94 points, finishing in third place in the Adams Division, their highest final standing position in club history, and making the post-season for the fourth straight season. Quebec scored a club record 360 goals, and allowed a franchise low 278 goals.

Offensively, the Nordiques were led by Michel Goulet, who scored a team high 56 goals, which was the second highest total in the NHL, while adding 65 assists, recording 121 points, the third highest total in the league. Peter Stastny was right behind Goulet, as he scored 46 goals and 73 assists for 119 points, finishing fourth in the league scoring race. Dale Hunter had a solid season, scoring 24 goals and 79 points, as he recorded a team high 232 penalty minutes, while Wilf Paiement had 39 goals and 76 points. Newly appointed team captain Mario Marois led the Nordiques blueline, scoring 13 goals and 49 points.

In goal, Dan Bouchard had a very solid season, winning a franchise record 29 games, while posting a team low 3.20 GAA, and earning a shutout in 57 games.

Season standings

Adams Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Boston Bruins	80	49	25	6	336	261	104
Buffalo Sabres	80	48	25	7	315	257	103
Quebec Nordiques	80	42	28	10	360	278	94
Montreal Canadiens	80	35	40	5	286	295	75
Hartford Whalers	80	28	42	10	288	320	66

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Record vs. opponents

Adams Division record vs. opponents

Vs. Wales Conference Vs. Adams Division 1983–84 NHL records Team BOS BUF HFD MTL QUE Total Boston — 4–4 5–2–1 6–2 4–4 19–12–1 Buffalo 4–4 — 5–3 8–0 1–6–1 18–13–1 Hartford 2–5–1 3–5 — 0–7−1 1–3−4 6–20–6 Montreal 2–6 0–8 7–0−1 — 3–5 12–19–1 Quebec 4–4 6–1–1 3–1−4 5–3 — 18–9–5 Vs. Patrick Division 1983–84 NHL records Team NJD NYI NYR PHI PIT WSH Total Boston 2−1 2−0−1 2−0–1 1−1−1 3−0 2−1 12−3−3 Buffalo 2−0−1 0−3 1−1−1 3−0 3−0 2−0−1 11−4−3 Hartford 1−1–1 2–1 2–1 2–1 1–2 1−2 9−8−1 Montreal 2−1 0−3 2–1 0−2−1 2−0−1 0−3 6−10−2 Quebec 2−1 2−1 0−2–1 0−2−1 3−0 2−1 9−7−2 Vs. Campbell Conference Vs. Norris Division 1983–84 NHL records Team CHI DET MIN STL TOR Total Boston 1–2 2–1 1–2 3–0 1–2 8–7–0 Buffalo 1−2 1−1−1 1−2 2−1 2−0−1 7−6−2 Hartford 2–1 1–1−1 3−0 2–1 2–1 10–4–1 Montreal 2−0–1 3−0 1–2 3–0 2−1 11–3–1 Quebec 1–1−1 1–2 2–0−1 2–0–1 2–1 8–4–3 Vs. Smythe Division 1983–84 NHL records Team CGY EDM LAK VAN WIN Total Boston 2−0−1 1−2 3−0 2−0−1 2−1 10−3−2 Buffalo 3−0 1–2 2−0−1 3−0 3−0 12−2−1 Hartford 0−2–1 1–2 2–1 0–3 0–2–1 3–10–2 Montreal 2−1 1−2 1−2 1–2 1−1−1 6−8−1 Quebec 2−1 0−3 3−0 1−2 1−2 7−8−0

Schedule and results

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Pts	Attendance
1	October 4	New York Islanders	3–7	Quebec Nordiques	1–0–0	2	14,917
2	October 6	Quebec Nordiques	3–9	Boston Bruins	1–1–0	2	14,451
3	October 8	Buffalo Sabres	2–9	Quebec Nordiques	2–1–0	4	14,849
4	October 10	Montreal Canadiens	6–4	Quebec Nordiques	2–2–0	4	15,321
5	October 13	Quebec Nordiques	4–4	Hartford Whalers	2–2–1	5	8,353
6	October 14	Quebec Nordiques	6–4	New Jersey Devils	3–2–1	7	9,961
7	October 16	Quebec Nordiques	4–2	Washington Capitals	4-2–1	9	7,270
8	October 18	Boston Bruins	3–5	Quebec Nordiques	5–2–1	11	15,125
9	October 19	Quebec Nordiques	8–1	Toronto Maple Leafs	6–2–1	13	16,382
10	October 22	Minnesota North Stars	2–11	Quebec Nordiques	7–2–1	15	15,017
11	October 25	Philadelphia Flyers	4–2	Quebec Nordiques	7–3–1	15	15,025
12	October 27	Quebec Nordiques	3–4	Philadelphia Flyers	7–4–1	15	16,024
13	October 29	Quebec Nordiques	3–4	Detroit Red Wings	7–5–1	15	18,455
14	November 1	Los Angeles Kings	4–8	Quebec Nordiques	8–5–1	17	15,291
15	November 3	Quebec Nordiques	2–3	Montreal Canadiens	8–6–1	17	17,148
16	November 5	New York Rangers	4–4	Quebec Nordiques	8–6–2	18	15,075
17	November 6	Quebec Nordiques	7–1	Buffalo Sabres	9–6–2	20	12,204
18	November 8	Edmonton Oilers	7–4	Quebec Nordiques	9–7–2	20	15,272
19	November 12	Boston Bruins	6–4	Quebec Nordiques	9–8–2	20	15,300
20	November 15	Detroit Red Wings	3–1	Quebec Nordiques	9–9–2	20	14,669
21	November 17	Quebec Nordiques	4–2	Hartford Whalers	10–9–2	22	10,644
22	November 19	Hartford Whalers	4–4	Quebec Nordiques	10–9–3	23	14,879
23	November 20	Quebec Nordiques	5–6	New York Rangers	10–10–3	23	17,421
24	November 22	Quebec Nordiques	2–3	New York Islanders	10–11–3	23	15,351
25	November 24	Quebec Nordiques	6–3	Boston Bruins	11–11-3	25	14,451
26	November 26	Buffalo Sabres	2–3	Quebec Nordiques	12–11–3	27	15,263
27	November 29	Washington Capitals	3–6	Quebec Nordiques	13–11–3	29	14,937
28	December 1	Quebec Nordiques	6–3	Montreal Canadiens	14–11–3	31	17,248
29	December 3	Chicago Black Hawks	2–3	Quebec Nordiques	15–11–3	33	15,173
30	December 6	Calgary Flames	1–8	Quebec Nordiques	16–11–3	35	14,435
31	December 10	Quebec Nordiques	6–4	Los Angeles Kings	17–11–3	37	10,563
32	December 13	Quebec Nordiques	2–6	Vancouver Canucks	17–12–3	37	13,973
33	December 14	Quebec Nordiques	2–4	Calgary Flames	17–13–3	37	17,754
34	December 17	Quebec Nordiques	1–8	Edmonton Oilers	17–14–3	37	17,498
35	December 20	Vancouver Canucks	4–6	Quebec Nordiques	18–14–3	39	15,061
36	December 22	Montreal Canadiens	1–4	Quebec Nordiques	19–14–3	41	15,304
37	December 27	Hartford Whalers	3–7	Quebec Nordiques	20–14–3	43	15,281
38	December 29	Quebec Nordiques	5–8	Buffalo Sabres	20–15–3	43	16,433
39	December 31	Quebec Nordiques	2–4	Montreal Canadiens	20–16–3	43	17,866
40	January 3	Montreal Canadiens	5–9	Quebec Nordiques	21–16–3	45	15,315
41	January 5	Quebec Nordiques	8–3	Boston Bruins	22–16-3	47	14,451
42	January 7	Toronto Maple Leafs	2–4	Quebec Nordiques	23–16–3	49	15,279
43	January 10	Pittsburgh Penguins	1–7	Quebec Nordiques	24–16–3	51	15,014
44	January 12	Quebec Nordiques	4–1	New Jersey Devils	25–16–3	53	9,050
45	January 14	Philadelphia Flyers	3–3	Quebec Nordiques	25–16–4	54	15,294
46	January 17	Boston Bruins	3–7	Quebec Nordiques	26-16–4	56	15,317
47	January 19	Quebec Nordiques	3–4	Boston Bruins	26–17–4	56	14,451
48	January 21	Chicago Black Hawks	4–4	Quebec Nordiques	26–17–5	57	15,273
49	January 24	Winnipeg Jets	5–3	Quebec Nordiques	26–18–5	57	15,077
50	January 26	Quebec Nordiques	5–1	New York Islanders	27–18–5	59	15,660
51	January 28	Hartford Whalers	0–3	Quebec Nordiques	28–18–5	61	15,074
52	January 29	Quebec Nordiques	5–5	Hartford Whalers	28–18–6	62	10,067
53	February 4	New Jersey Devils	5–3	Quebec Nordiques	28–19–6	62	N/A
54	February 5	Quebec Nordiques	2–1	Buffalo Sabres	29–19–6	64	16,233
55	February 7	Vancouver Canucks	4-2	Quebec Nordiques	29–20–6	64	14,830
56	February 11	Quebec Nordiques	2–5	Toronto Maple Leafs	29–21–6	64	16,382
57	February 13	Pittsburgh Penguins	1–6	Quebec Nordiques	30–21–6	66	14,757
58	February 15	Quebec Nordiques	2–5	Chicago Black Hawks	30–22–6	66	16,528
59	February 17	Quebec Nordiques	6–3	Winnipeg Jets	31–22–6	68	11,680
60	February 18	Quebec Nordiques	7–2	Minnesota North Stars	32–22–6	70	15,294
61	February 21	Montreal Canadiens	2–3	Quebec Nordiques	33–22–6	72	15,365
62	February 23	Quebec Nordiques	2–4	New York Rangers	33–23–6	72	17,404
63	February 25	St. Louis Blues	3–3	Quebec Nordiques	33–23–7	73	15,292
64	February 26	St. Louis Blues	0-5	Quebec Nordiques	34–23–7	75	15,289
65	February 28	Detroit Red Wings	2–6	Quebec Nordiques	35–23–7	77	14,952
66	March 3	Buffalo Sabres	2–4	Quebec Nordiques	36–23-7	79	15,311
67	March 4	Quebec Nordiques	1–1	Buffalo Sabres	36–23–8	80	16,433
68	March 6	Calgary Flames	3–4	Quebec Nordiques	37–23–8	82	15,287
69	March 8	Quebec Nordiques	8–6	Pittsburgh Penguins	38–23–8	84	3,812
70	March 9	Quebec Nordiques	3–5	Washington Capitals	38–24–8	84	16,793
71	March 11	Quebec Nordiques	5-6	Winnipeg Jets	38–25-8	84	13,172
72	March 13	Edmonton Oilers	6–5	Quebec Nordiques	38–26–8	84	15,326
73	March 17	Quebec Nordiques	6–4	St. Louis Blues	39–26–8	86	14,460
74	March 18	Quebec Nordiques	5–5	Minnesota North Stars	39–26–9	87	15,784
75	March 20	Quebec Nordiques	3–1	Los Angeles Kings	40–26–9	89	8,535
76	March 24	Hartford Whalers	3–2	Quebec Nordiques	40–27–9	89	15,346
77	March 25	Quebec Nordiques	6–6	Hartford Whalers	40–27–10	90	10,058
78	March 27	Boston Bruins	6–4	Quebec Nordiques	40–28–10	90	15,337
79	March 29	Quebec Nordiques	5–2	Montreal Canadiens	41–28–10	92	18,089
80	March 31	Buffalo Sabres	1–4	Quebec Nordiques	42–28–10	94	15,353

Playoffs

The Nordiques opened the 1984 Stanley Cup playoffs with a best of five Adams Division semi-final series against the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres finished the season in second place in the Adams Division, earning a record of 48-25-7 for 103 points. The series opened with two games at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium; however, Quebec struck first, holding off the Sabres for a 3–2 victory in the first game, followed by a 6–2 thrashing in the second game to take a 2–0 series lead. The series moved back to Le Colisée, and the Nordiques made short work of the Sabres, defeating them 4–1 in the third game, to record their first ever series sweep in team history, advancing to the Adams Division finals.

Quebec would face the Montreal Canadiens in the best of seven Division finals. The Canadiens had a 35-40-5 record in the regular season, earning 75 points and a fourth-place finish. Montreal upset the powerful Boston Bruins in their first round series, as the Canadiens swept the Bruins in three games. The series opened with two games at Le Colisée, and the Nordiques took the first game with a 4–2 victory, however, the Canadiens evened the series up in the second game, beating Quebec 4–1. The series shifted to the Montreal Forum for the next two games, and the Canadiens took their first series lead, defeating Quebec 2–1 in the third game. The Nordiques rebounded in the fourth game with a 4–3 overtime victory in the fourth game to even the series up once again. The fifth game was played back in Quebec City, but it was the Canadiens who took control of the series, shutting out the Nordiques 4–0. With the Nordiques on the brink of elimination in the sixth game, back in Montreal, the team stormed out to a 2-0 lead before a bench clearing brawl broke out, in which Dale Hunter and Peter Stastny of the Nordiques were ejected from the game. The Canadiens took advantage of the situation, and scored five unanswered goals in the third period, to win the game 5-3 and eliminate the Nordiques from the playoffs.

Quebec Nordiques 3, Buffalo Sabres 0

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Attendance
1	April 4	Quebec Nordiques	3–2	Buffalo Sabres	1-0	16,800
2	April 5	Quebec Nordiques	6–2	Buffalo Sabres	2-0	15,730
3	April 7	Buffalo Sabres	1–4	Quebec Nordiques	3-0	15,334

Montreal Canadiens 4, Quebec Nordiques 2

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Attendance
1	April 12	Montreal Canadiens	2–4	Quebec Nordiques	1-0	15,390
2	April 13	Montreal Canadiens	4–1	Quebec Nordiques	1-1	15,397
3	April 15	Quebec Nordiques	1–2	Montreal Canadiens	1-2	18,076
4	April 16	Quebec Nordiques	4–3	Montreal Canadiens	2-2	17,276
5	April 18	Montreal Canadiens	4–0	Quebec Nordiques	2-3	15,382
6	April 20	Quebec Nordiques	3–5	Montreal Canadiens	2-4	18,090

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Michel Goulet LW 75 56 65 121 76 62 11 2 16 Peter Stastny C 80 46 73 119 73 22 11 0 4 Dale Hunter C 77 24 55 79 232 35 7 2 1 Wilf Paiement RW 80 39 37 76 121 28 8 3 3 Anton Stastny LW 69 25 37 62 14 12 7 0 0 Marian Stastny RW 68 20 32 52 26 1 4 0 5 Tony McKegney LW 75 24 27 51 23 4 4 0 2 Mario Marois D 80 13 36 49 151 51 4 0 0 Andre Savard C 60 20 24 44 38 17 0 2 2 Alain Cote LW 77 19 24 43 41 21 0 1 1 Bo Berglund RW 75 16 27 43 20 6 1 0 1 Louis Sleigher RW 44 15 19 34 32 23 3 1 1 Pat Price D 72 3 25 28 188 20 0 0 2 Jean-Francois Sauve C 39 10 17 27 2 4 5 0 0 Normand Rochefort D 75 2 22 24 47 41 0 0 1 Randy Moller D 74 4 14 18 147 26 0 0 1 Paul Gillis C 57 8 9 17 59 10 0 0 1 Andre Dore D 25 1 16 17 25 1 0 0 0 Rick Lapointe D 22 2 10 12 12 9 0 0 0 Blake Wesley D 46 2 8 10 75 14 0 0 0 Dave Pichette D 23 2 7 9 12 2 0 0 0 John Van Boxmeer D 18 5 3 8 12 -1 4 0 0 Wally Weir D 25 2 3 5 17 5 0 0 1 Gord Donnelly D 38 0 5 5 60 -1 0 0 0 Dan Bouchard G 57 0 3 3 19 0 0 0 0 Pierre Aubry LW 23 1 1 2 17 -3 0 0 0 Jimmy Mann RW 22 1 1 2 42 -3 0 0 0 Clint Malarchuk G 23 0 1 1 9 0 0 0 0 Jim Dobson RW 1 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 Brian Ford G 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jean-Marc Gaulin RW 2 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 Mario Gosselin G 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 David Shaw D 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO Dan Bouchard 3373 57 29 18 8 180 3.20 1 Clint Malarchuk 1215 23 10 9 2 80 3.95 0 Mario Gosselin 148 3 2 0 0 3 1.22 1 Brian Ford 123 3 1 1 0 13 6.34 0 Team: 4859 80 42 28 10 276 3.41 2

Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM PPG SHG GWG Peter Stastny C 9 2 7 9 31 2 0 0 Jean-Francois Sauve C 9 2 5 7 2 2 0 1 Anton Stastny LW 9 2 5 7 7 0 0 0 Michel Goulet LW 9 2 4 6 17 0 0 0 Dale Hunter C 9 2 3 5 41 0 0 0 Marian Stastny RW 9 2 3 5 2 0 0 1 Mario Marois D 9 1 4 5 6 0 0 0 Wilf Paiement RW 9 3 1 4 24 0 0 0 Andre Savard C 9 3 0 3 2 0 2 1 Blake Wesley D 9 1 2 3 20 0 0 1 Bo Berglund RW 7 2 0 2 4 0 0 1 Louis Sleigher RW 7 1 1 2 42 0 0 0 Alain Cote LW 9 0 2 2 17 0 0 0 Randy Moller D 9 1 0 1 45 0 0 0 Pat Price D 9 1 0 1 10 0 0 0 Normand Rochefort D 6 1 0 1 6 0 0 0 Dan Bouchard G 9 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Andre Dore D 9 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 Paul Gillis C 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Rick Lapointe D 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jimmy Mann RW 3 0 0 0 22 0 0 0 Tony McKegney LW 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wally Weir D 1 0 0 0 17 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO Dan Bouchard 543 9 5 4 25 2.76 0 Team: 543 9 5 4 25 2.76 0

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards

• First NHL All-Star team: Michel Goulet

Transactions

The Nordiques were involved in the following transactions during the 1983–84 season.

Trades

June 29, 1983	To Minnesota North Stars Jay Miller	To Quebec Nordiques Jim Dobson
August 12, 1983	To Toronto Maple Leafs Basil McRae	To Quebec Nordiques Richard Turmel
August 19, 1983	To St. Louis Blues Head Coach Jacques Demers	To Quebec Nordiques Gord Donnelly Claude Julien
January 1, 1984	To St. Louis Blues Cash	To Quebec Nordiques Roger Haegglund
February 6, 1984	To Winnipeg Jets 5th round pick in 1984 – Brent Severyn	To Quebec Nordiques Jimmy Mann
February 10, 1984	To St. Louis Blues Dave Pichette	To Quebec Nordiques Andre Dore
February 29, 1984	To Detroit Red Wings Pierre Aubry	To Quebec Nordiques Cash

Waivers

October 3, 1983	To Montreal Canadiens Jean Hamel
October 3, 1983	To St. Louis Blues Terry Johnson
October 3, 1983	From Montreal Canadiens Jeff Brubaker
October 3, 1983	To Calgary Flames Jeff Brubaker
October 3, 1983	From Buffalo Sabres John Van Boxmeer

Draft picks

Quebec's draft picks from the 1983 NHL Entry Draft which was held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/junior/club team (league)
2	32	Yves Heroux	Canada	Chicoutimi Saguenéens (QMJHL)
3	52	Bruce Bell	Canada	Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
3	54	Iiro Jarvi	Finland	HIFK (Finland)
5	92	Luc Guenette	Canada	Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
6	112	Brad Walcot	Canada	Kingston Canadians (OHL)
7	132	Craig Mack	United States	East Grand Forks High School (USHS)
8	152	Tommy Albelin	Sweden	Djurgardens IF (Sweden)
9	172	Wayne Groulx	Canada	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)
10	192	Scott Shaunessy	United States	St. John's Preparatory School (USHS)
12	232	Bo Berglund	Sweden	Djurgardens IF (Sweden)
12	239	Jindrich Kokrment	Czechoslovakia	Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team (National)