1988–89 Quebec Nordiques season


The 1988–89 Quebec Nordiques season saw the team finish in fifth place in the Adams Division with a record of 27 wins, 46 losses, and 7 ties for 61 points.

Off-season

Quebec announced that interim head coach Ron Lapointe would come back on a permanent basis as head coach of the team. Lapointe had a 22-30-4 record with the Nordiques in 1987–88.
At the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, Quebec had two picks in the first round, the third overall pick, and the fifth overall pick. The Nordiques selected Curtis Leschyshyn of the Saskatoon Blades with the third pick. He had 14 goals and 55 points, and would see regular playing time with Quebec in the upcoming season. With the fifth pick, the Nordiques selected Daniel Dore. Dore had 24 goals, 63 points and 223 penalty minutes with the Drummondville Voltigeurs in 1987–88. In the later rounds of the draft, Quebec selected Valeri Kamensky and Alexei Gusarov of CSKA Moscow.
The Nordiques made some trades during the summer months, as they dealt away Mike Eagles to the Chicago Blackhawks for Bob Mason. Mason appeared in 41 games with Chicago, going 13-18-8 with a 4.15 GAA in 1987–88. Quebec then traded away Terry Carkner to the Philadelphia Flyers for Greg Smyth and the Flyers third round draft pick in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft. Smyth had a goal and seven points in 48 games with Philadelphia, as well as 192 penalty minutes.
Quebec's biggest trade of the summer was trading away Normand Rochefort and Jason Lafreniere to the New York Rangers for Bruce Bell, Jari Gronstrand, Walt Poddubny, and the Rangers fourth round draft pick in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft. Bell played his rookie season with the Nordiques in 1984–85, however, he spent most of the 1987–88 season with the Colorado Rangers of the IHL, where he had 11 goals and 45 points in 65 games. In 13 games with New York, Bell had a goal and two assists. Poddubny was coming off of a 38 goal and 88 point season with the Rangers in 1987–88. Poddubny scored 40 goals and 87 points with New York in 1986–87. Gronstrand had three goals and 14 points on the Rangers blueline in 1987–88.

Regular season

The Nordiques began the season with three wins in their first four games, however, Quebec would slump, and fall to 6-12-2 after twenty games. The team made some trades in December, acquiring former team captain Mario Marois from the Winnipeg Jets, however, the club continued to lose, and had an 11-20-2 record after 33 games. The Nordiques then fired Lapointe as head coach, and replaced him with Jean Perron on an interim basis. Perron had coached the Montreal Canadiens to the 1986 Stanley Cup. Under Perron, the club continued to lose, as Quebec quickly fell out of the playoff race. The team finished the season with a 27-46-7 record, earning 61 points, which was 18 points behind the Hartford Whalers for the final playoff spot in the Adams Division, and tied with the New York Islanders with the lowest point total in the league.
Peter Stastny led the club with 85 points, as he scored 35 goals and 50 assists in 72 games. Walt Poddubny scored a team high 38 goals in his first season with the Nordiques, as he also had 37 assists for 75 points. Michel Goulet saw his numbers drop to 26 goals and 64 points, his lowest totals since his rookie season in 1979–80. Rookie Joe Sakic had 23 goals and 62 points.
Jeff Brown had another solid season on the Nordiques blueline, scoring 21 goals and 68 points, good for third on team scoring. Brown had 13 powerplay goals, tied with Peter Stastny for second on the team, one behind team leader Walt Poddubny.
In goal, Mario Gosselin saw the majority of action, appearing in 39 games, earning 11 wins and a 4.24 GAA. Bob Mason had a tough season, earning only five wins in 22 games with a 4.73 GAA, while Ron Tugnutt had a 10-10-3 record in 26 games, with a team best 3.60 GAA and a.893 save percentage.

Final standings

Schedule and results

Player statistics

Forwards

PlayerGPGASTPTSPIM
Peter Stastny72355085117
Walt Poddubny72383775107
Michel Goulet6926386467
Joe Sakic7023396224
Iiro Jarvi7511304140
Paul Gillis79152540163
Marc Fortier5720193945
Anton Stastny557303712
Gaetan Duchesne708212956
Mike Hough469101939
Ken McRae376111768
David Latta2448124
Jeff Jackson33461028
Alain Cote55281014
Trevor Stienburg55639125
Mark Vermette120447
Lane Lambert1322423
Darin Kimble26314149
Dean Hopkins50224
Jacques Mailhot500033
Joel Baillargeon50004

Defencemen

PlayerGPGASTPTSPIM
Jeff Brown7821476862
Randy Moller7472229136
Robert Picard747142161
Curtis Leschyshyn71491371
Mario Marois4221113101
Steven Finn77268235
Tommy Albelin1424627
Gord Donnelly1640446
Jari Gronstrand2513414
Bobby Dollas1603316
Greg Smyth1001170
Scott Shaunessy400016

Goaltending

PlayerGPWLTSOGAA
Mario Gosselin391119304.24
Ron Tugnutt261010303.60
Bob Mason22514104.73
Mario Brunetta513005.04

Transactions

The Nordiques were involved in the following transactions during the 1988–89 season.

Trades

Waivers

Free agents

Roster

Draft picks

Quebec's draft picks from the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, which was held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec.
Round#PlayerNationalityCollege/junior/club team
13Curtis LeschyshynSaskatoon Blades
15Daniel DoreDrummondville Voltigeurs
224Stephane FisetVictoriaville Tigres
345Petri AaltonenHIFK
466Darin KimblePrince Albert Raiders
587Stephane VenneVermont Catamounts
6108Ed WardNorthern Michigan Wildcats
7129Valeri KamenskyCSKA Moscow
8150Sakari LindforsHIFK
9171Dan WiebeAlberta Golden Bears
11213Alexei GusarovCSKA Moscow
12234Claude LapointeLaval Titan
S3Phil BergerNorthern Michigan University
S8Jamie BakerSaint Lawrence University

Farm teams