{"id":343343,"date":"2025-12-12T14:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T14:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/343343\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T14:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T14:54:09","slug":"claude-lemieux-sees-stanley-cup-potential-in-avalanche-much-like-his-title-team-in-95-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/343343\/","title":{"rendered":"Claude Lemieux sees Stanley Cup potential in Avalanche, much like his title team in ’95-96"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER (AP) \u2014 The Stanley Cup was in the building Thursday night as part of the pregame celebration to honor the 1995-96 Colorado Avalanche<\/a> squad.<\/p>\n

It could be in the building again later this season, too. <\/p>\n

At least, longtime forward Claude Lemieux<\/a> believes so. He\u2019s been on four Stanley Cup-winning teams, including the \u201895-96 Avalanche squad. This team, he surmised after watching a 6-2 win over the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers<\/a>, has all the necessary ingredients.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love watching them play,\u201d said Lemieux, whose squad back then won the Mile High City\u2019s first major professional championship in their first season in town after relocating from Quebec. \u201cThey\u2019re fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a lot of ways, this version is built in the image of that squad. No real surprise there, given the architect of this team is Hall of Famer turned front office executive Joe Sakic. <\/p>\n

Back then, Sakic, the captain, and fellow Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg<\/a> helped provide the scoring punch in a season that ended with a Stanley Cup Final sweep over Florida. Colorado had a blue line that include a rugged defender in Adam Foote<\/a> and a scoring defenseman in Sandis Ozolinsh<\/a>. They also had another Hall of Famer in goaltender Patrick Roy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This team has that same sort of makeup. They have an elite goal scorer (Nathan MacKinnon<\/a>), leadership (captain Gabriel Landeskog<\/a>), even more leadership (40-year-old Brent Burns<\/a>), a scoring defenseman (Cale Makar<\/a>) and reliable goaltending (Mackenzie Blackwood<\/a> and Scott Wedgewood<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The current crew watched Thursday night as the players from the \u201995-96 squad were recognized. They heard the applause. They then went out and put on a show for them. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis team knows what it takes,\u201d Lemieux said. \u201cThey have players, quite a few of them, that were on the \u201822 Cup. I think it could be the \u201926 Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Avalanche (22-2-7) have a league-leading 51 points so far this season as they became the sixth team in the last 20 years to reach the 50-point plateau in 31 or fewer games. What\u2019s more, they still haven\u2019t lost a game at home in regulation (12-0-2).<\/p>\n

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar thinks it was a valuable experience having the older players back in the building. The current roster briefly got to chat with them Thursday morning, and hear some stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, they accomplished that two years before I was born,\u201d Makar cracked. \u201cBut I\u2019ve obviously heard a lot about it. It\u2019s pretty cool they bring legends like that back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the Avalanche players who made the trip to the rink for the ceremony from the 1995-96 squad included Forsberg, Stephane Yelle<\/a>, Valeri Kamensky<\/a>, Lemieux, Ozolinsh, Mike Ricci<\/a> and, of course, Sakic. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor them to be able to come back and get together as a group and share their stories with our guys and amongst one another, I\u2019m sure it\u2019s been a great couple days for them,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been really happy that they were able to come and visit us.\u201d<\/p>\n

It gave the old-timers a chance to stroll down memory lane.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s happening, when you\u2019re in the middle of it, you don\u2019t quite appreciate it as much as you should,\u201d said Lemieux, who also won Stanley Cup titles with Montreal (1985-86) and two with the New Jersey Devils<\/a> (1994-5, 1999-00). \u201cSo you get to relive it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

How has the game has changed?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think we\u2019re better \u2014 no, we\u2019re just kidding,\u201d Lemieux said. \u201cThe game\u2019s change. It\u2019s not as physical as it was, but to counter that physicality they\u2019ve got so much more skills. So we appreciate the game. We appreciate their skills and everything they bring.\u201d<\/p>\n

The get-together provided a chance to remember old teammates, too. The late Chris Simon<\/a> was represented during the on-ice ceremony by his children. He died in 2024 at 52.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult, and especially with Chris passing at such a young age,\u201d Lemieux said. \u201cWe have to count our blessings \u2014 be grateful for the days that we have and enjoy and appreciate those times when we get together.”<\/p>\n

Lemieux certainly enjoyed being around this new cast of Avalanche.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope we bring them good luck,\u201d Lemieux said, \u201dand inspire them to win another Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/p>\n

Pat Graham<\/a>, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER (AP) \u2014 The Stanley Cup was in the building Thursday night as part of the pregame celebration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-343343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}