A Series: Looking into Avalanche and Nordiques Player Numbers: Number 34

I know, you all have absolutely no idea who I'm going to vote for when it comes to Number 34. None. I would never vote for Winnik. Nope. Not me. Other than Winnik, there have been eight men to wear the number 34 for the Quebec Nordiques and Colorado Avalanche. Only three for more than 100 games.

Gord Donnelly (86, 87, 88, 89): I feel like I just talked about Gord.. oh, that's because I did. Seeing as how Jibs was on a mission with the Number 28, perhaps Gord will have a chance at this number. Gord switched from 28 to 34 during the 1986 season. He would play 153 regular season games with the new number. He had 10 goals, 7 assists and 575 penalty minutes. He played 14 playoff games, had no points but did manage to get 53 penalty minutes.

Brian Ford (84): Brian is the first goalie on the list today. He played a total of 11 games in the NHL, 3 of them for the Quebec Nordiques. He had 1 win and 1 loss. His GAA? A rather large number at 6.34.

Claude Julien (85): Claude was part of the trade that brought Gord Donnelly to the Nords in exchange for Jaques Demers. He would only play 14 NHL games - all with the Quebec Nordiques. He had no goals, 1 assist and 25 penalty minutes. He retired from playing hockey after the 1992 season and went on to become a successful NHL coach.

Sergei Mylnikov (90): The Quebec Nordiques drafted the Russian in the 7th round of the 1989 NHL Draft. He would play 10 games for the Nords in 1990. The goalie had 1 win, 7 losses and 2 ties. Sergei was inducted into the Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame.

Lee Norwood (81, 82): Lee was drafted by the Nords in the third round of the 1979 Draft. Norwood would play a total of 13 regular season games and 3 playoff games for the team before being traded to the Capitals for Tim Tookey. Whilst on the Nordiques he had 1 goal, 1 assist and 13 penalty minutes.

John Tanner (91, 92): John was selected in the third round by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1989 Draft. John had the daunting task of being a goalie for the Nords. He played a total of 20 games for the team while wearing the Number 34 (he had one game - a loss - in a different number), had 2 wins, 10 losses and 5 ties. These would be his only NHL games.

Aaron MacKenzie (09): Aaron was undrafted and signed a contract with the Blues. Unfortunately he never played a game for them. He has only played 5 NHL games, all of them with the Avalanche. He had no points, no penalty minutes and was a +1. Currently, Denver folks, can see him play for the Denver Cutthroats. He was the first player to have a contract with the Cutthroats in the franchise history.

Kurt Sauer (04-08): Kurt was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the third round of the 2000 Draft. However, he was unsigned. In the summer of 2002 he signed with the Mighty Ducks. In 2004 he, along with Martin Skoula, was traded to the Colorado Avalanche for a fourth round pick. The defenseman would play 153 regular season games for the Avalanche. He'd have 2 goals, 16 assists, 108 penalty minutes and averaged a +4. He played 22 playoff games had 1 goal and 12 penalty minutes.

Daniel Winnik (11,12): Daniel was drafted in the ninth round by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2004 draft. He made his way to the Avalanche for a fourth round draft pick. Personally my favorite memory of this man is because of the pension plan puppets. Their preview comments, our preview - they invaded the comments, and their game threads. The hated man of the hour? Daniel Winnik. They didn't want to hear that his line - he was with Gabriel Landeskog and Ryan O`Reilly - was the best line for the Colorado Avalanche. And they had serious issues with Daniel. Daniel went on to score in that game. It was fantastic. Daniel played a total of 143 games before being traded to the Sharks in the middle of the 2012 season. In those games he had 16 goals, 28 assists and 77 penalty minutes. He drew the ire of many fans because he wasn't a physical player. He has the stature, but doesn't use his size very much. However, he excelled during penalty kills.