A Series: Looking into Avalanche and Nordiques Player Numbers: Number 22

An interesting thing about number 22: three guys wore it during the 1980 season. Three!

Francois Lacombe 1980: Although Francois was part of the Quebec organization from 1973- 1980. Although, I can only find proof that he wore number 22 during his last year in Nords gear, I included all his stats because I cannot find info on his other numbers and have a sinking feeling that it was 22 all along. In total he played 372 games, had 35 goals, 111 assists and 362 penalty minutes.

John Stewart 1980: John played two games in Nords gear and was a -2. Those two games would be his only two at the NHL level.

Reg Thomas 1980: Reg played 39 games for the Quebec Nordiques, these would prove to be his only in the NHL. During those games he earned9 goals, 7 assists, and 6 penalty minutes. He retired to a farm in 1984.

Bernie Saunders 1981: Bernie played for the Nords from 1980 to 1981. Unfortunately, number 22 was taken during the 1980 season so Bernie had to wait his turn to make the switch. He was able to sport the number for 6 games. He had 1 assist and 8 penalty minutes.

Mario Marois 1981-1986: Mario was drafted 62nd overall in the 1977 amateur draft by the New York Rangers. Mario played a total of 294 games. During this time he had 33 goals and 136 assists, he also sat in the sin bin for 573 minutes.

Jeff Brown 1987- 1990: Jeff Brown was quite an accomplished defenseman. He was an All-Star after he left Quebec. While in Quebec he suited up for 263 games, had 55 goals, 132 assists (.711 points per game) and had 182 penalty minutes. He played his last game in 1998 and retired due to a concussion.

Stephane Morin 1990: Stephane only wore the number 22 for one year, afterwards he switched to a number that you will see later this week! In 1990 he played 6 games, had 2 assists and 2 penalty minutes.

Aaron Broten 1991: Broten was drafted 106th overall in the 1980 draft by the Colorado Rockies, just for you BoB, he played 20 games in the Quebec jersey. Notching 5 goals, 4 assists and 6 penalty minutes.

Scott Pearson 1991-1993: Scott, a left wing, was drafted 6th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1988. While in Quebec he played 86 games, had 25 goals, 7 assists and 195 penalty minutes.

Martin Gelinas 1994: Martin wore the Nords crest for 31 games, in that time he had 6 goals and 6 assists as well as 8 penalty minutes.

Ron Sutter 1994: Ron was the 4th overall pick in 1982. Ron was traded to the Nords in January of '94 and then was traded from the Nords in the summer. The Nords gave up a first round draft pick (that turned out to be Brett Lindros, ironically enough) in return they got Uwe Krupp and Wade Belak. Ron played 37 games for the Nords. He had 9 goals, 13 assists and 44 penalty minutes in that time.

Janne Laukkanen 1995 - 1996: Janne played for both the Nords and the Avs wearing the 22. In January of '96 Janne was traded for Brad Larsen. Janne played a total of 14 games, had 1 goal, 3 assists and 4 penalty minutes.

Claude Lemieux 1996-2000: Claude was drafted 26th overall in 1983 by the Canadiens. Claude played 297 regular season games and had 106 goals and 106 assist. He topped it off with 381 penalty minutes. He loved the playoffs. He became even more of a pest... he played 62 games had 24 goals, 31 assists and 121 penalty minutes. Claude is known for being a large part of the start of the Blood Feud. He won the Stanley Cup with three teams, and has 80 career playoff goals!

Vaclav Nedorost 2002-2003: Vaclav was drafted by your Colorado Avalanche 14th overall in 2000. In total he played 67 games for the Avs, scoring 6 goals, getting 7 assists and had 22 penalty minutes.

Cody McCormick 2004: In his first season with the Avs the former Avalanche 5th round pick played with the number 22. He played 44 games that year, he had 2 goals, 3 assists and 73 penalty minutes!

Steve Konowalchuck - 2004 & 2006: Steve was drafted in the third round by Washington in 1991. In 2003 the Avs gave up Bates Battaglia and Jonas Johansson to get Steve. Steve played a total of 110 games for the Avs. In that time he had 29 goals, 29 assists and a total of 100 penalty minutes. During a regular Team physical it was discovered that Steve had a heart condition and he was forced to retire. He stayed with the Avalanche as an assistant coach and is now a head coach of a WHL team.

Scott Hannan 2008 - 2011:Scott was a first round pick in 1997. In his 3 and a quarter years with the Avalanche he played a total of 282 games, had 5 goals, 49 assists and 135 penalty minutes. In November 2010 Scott was traded for Tomas Fleischmann.

Matt Hunwick 2012: Matt was a 7th round pick in 2004 by the Bruins. In 2010 he was traded from the Bruins to the Avs in exchange for Colby Cohen. His first season he wore number 48. In the 2012 season he played 33 goals, had 3 goals, 3 assists and 8 penalty minutes.