The 3 Consecutive NHL 1st Overall Picks That Built A Stanley Cup Champion

Only one team in National Hockey League history has had the first overall pick at the Entry Draft three years in a row. With those three picks, the team built a Stanley Cup winner. However, the city that won the Cup was nearly 3000 kilometers away.

The Quebec Nordiques picked first in the NHL Entry Draft in 1989, 1990 and 1991. The team was relocated to Denver, Colorado for the 1995-96 season. Neither of the three would play for the Colorado Avalanche in 1995-96 when they swept the Florida Panthers to win their first Stanley Cup. However, the three would play a very important role through trades.

In 1989, the Nordiques chose Mats Sundin first overall. Sundin played four years in Quebec and was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs before the 1994-95 season, the last for the Nordiques in Quebec. In exchange for Mats, Wendel Clark, Sylvain Lefebvre and Landon Wilson went the other direction. Lefebvre would play a prominent role on defense in 1996. Clark was traded by Quebec/Colorado for Claude Lemieux. Lemieux won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP the previous season with the New Jersey Devils. Sundin played 1346 NHL regular season games in total with Quebec, Toronto and the Vancouver Canucks.

In 1990, Quebec took Owen Nolan first overall. Nolan played with the Nordiques from 1990-91 to 1994-95. He played nine games with the Avalanche in 1995-96 before being traded to the San Jose Sharks for Sandis Ozolinsh. Ozolinsh became part of a defensive wall that took the Avalanche to the Cup. Nolan did play 1200 games in the NHL over his career but never won a Stanley Cup.

The number one pick in 1991 was Eric Lindros. Lindros refused to play for the Nordiques, forcing a trade. In June of 1992, Eric was shipped to the Philadelphia Flyers for six players. Of the six, Mike Ricci and Peter Forsberg would play prominent roles in Colorado’s 1996 success. Ricci, a graduate of the OHL’s Peterborough Petes, had been a fourth overall pick in 1990 and Forsberg went sixth overall in 1991. Lindros had what was to be a promising career get plagued by injuries. After 760 games with the Flyers, New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars, Eric retired after the 2006-07 NHL season.

The only first round picks of the Quebec Nordiques that were kept by the Avalanche were Joe Sakic, Curtis Leschyshyn and Adam Deadmarsh. Sakic went 15th overall in 1987 and was the leader of both the Nordiques and Avalanche many years. Leschyshyn played just 1995-96 with the Avalanche and got his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. Adam Deadmarsh was a mainstay with the Avalanche.