The National Hockey League has dug in its heels about trying to prop up the troubled Arizona Coyotes franchise and downplaying any possible interest or opportunity to bring an NHL franchise back to Québec City.
Listen, it's always a shame for fans when a city loses its team. But this isn't about the fans. It's about business. When you find yourself talking about how playing in collegiate rink makes more financial sense while you are hoping for a longshot new professional grade arena it becomes harder and harder to make the case with a straight face that the Québec City market is insufficient for a contemporary NHL franchise.
The municipal interest is there, the fan support would be guaranteed. Québec City, from my point of view, would be a way better situation than trying to keep the dream going of a thriving "hockey in the desert" franchise that became of the original incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets.
The expansion Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg and became the latter-day Jets. The failed Kansas City Scouts and Colorado Rockies became the New Jersey Devils. Denver got hockey back when the Nordiques moved and became the Avalanche, and it's been a success story. So why shouldn't Québec City get a second shot at an NHL team? It doesn't even mean that someday, somehow a renewed Arizona-based venture could never succeed (although I probably wouldn't invest in it if it were my money).
I can attest firsthand, that Québec City is a great place for hockey at every level. Recently, I participated in a panel discussion with six other former players. Hope you enjoy it. I had a great time reliving my Nordiques memories as part of the panel.
For those who would mock my eight years as a pro player, think about this: I achieved my goals. I made it to the NHL. This native Bostonian made his NHL playing -- and later, refereeing -- debut in the Boston Garden. I lived the dream that I had since I first put on my sister's too big white skate with toe picks. I even scored a couple goals in the NHL.
I can laugh and joke about my modest skills as a player. The bottom line is that I literally fought my way into the NHL playing fraternity and, however brief it was, that is something special that no one can ever take away from me. Likewise, I am proud to have played for the Quebec Nordiques, even though the franchise has since relocated to Denver.
I truly enjoyed my time in Québec City as both a player and an NHL referee. There are some financial downsides to playing there -- high taxes, for one -- but it is a tremendous city with a passion for hockey. The Nordiques-Canadiens rivalry was a real good one, too. The folks in Québec City loved their Nordiques and I enjoyed the atmosphere at Le Colisée.
Story time: I'll work backwards chronologically because this anecdote shows just how deep the Quebec fans' passions ran even after the Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche.
Around 2010, I refereed an NHL Legends Game in Québec City. An hour or so before the game, I was talking with Mario Lemieux and Mark Messier.
I said, "I will bet you that I get a bigger ovation than either one of you when I'm introduced before the game."
Mario and Mark smirked at each other.
"Yeah, Stewy, whatever you say," Lemieux said.
"No, I'm serious," I said. "Let's make a bet. If I win, you buy me dinner tonight. If I lose, it's my treat."
"You're on," they said.
Pregame introductions rolled around. Messier got a huge ovation. Lemieux got a standing ovation.
I was introduced as the referee. The crowd was dead silent.
Mario and Messier grinned at me. I put up my hand as if to say, "Wait a second, guys."
I pulled off my referee sweater. Underneath, I wore a Nordiques jersey with my old number 22 on it. The crowd immediately rose to its feet, roaring its approval. I hammed it up a little, pointing to the Nordiques crest, and they roared even louder.
I skated by Mario. Now it was my turn to grin.
"I think I'll have wine with that dinner," I said.
Winning my bet, courtesy of my Nordiques sweater!
When the NHL merged with the World Hockey Association, one of the terms of the agreement arranged by the WHA Players Association was that all players under WHA contract had to be taken by NHL teams in the ensuing dispersal draft. Legend has it that I was the last player taken.
Whether that's true or not, who cares? All that matters is that Québec -- one of the teams coming over to the NHL in the merger, along with the Whalers, Jets and Oilers -- took me and I ended up joining the Nordiques in the NHL.
In June of 1979, I was staying with my then-wife at her summer house in New Jersey. I got a phone call from my former Cincinnati Stingers coach, Jacques Demers. Jacques, who had moved on from the Stingers to coach the Nordiques, convinced the Nordiques to take me with the final pick.
"Cat, you're back with me," Demers said.
Training camp was quite the ordeal. The Nords were owned at the time by Carling O'Keefe -- the beer company -- and my first day as a Nord in training camp actually ended with being forced to share an O'Keefe's beer as a peacemaking gesture with Wally Weir in general manager Maurice Filion's office after Weier and I had a vicious fight and he kneed my in the face (I told that story in my autobiography; there was a lot of back-story and intrigue to it).
Relative to the times and the era, my contract with the Nordiques was a good one. The team agreed to pay me in American dollars, which stretched my money much further in Canada in those days. The exchange rate at that time was about $1.40 Canadian for each U.S. dollar. The simple act of pulling out a wallet with U.S. dollars in it could get you the VIP treatment in stores, restaurants and bars. I even got a signing bonus and my meal money and other expense coverages from the team were also in American dollars. To top it all off, it was a one-way contract, meaning that I got paid the same amount whether I was in the NHL or sent to the minor leagues.
I ended up going back to Cincinnati -- the Stingers franchise had moved to the minor league Central Hockey League when the WHA folded -- to start the season. I barely played. In early November, the team took a road trip and I was told to stay back because I would not be dressing in any of the games.
Quick tangent: Knowing that fighting was my stock in trade, I had been working out as a boxer. I even sparred with future champion Aaron Pryor and other heavyweights and cruiserweights. I already had martial arts background, too, training in the arts of aikido and karate. In later years, some hockey enforcers took to studying other fighting arts to improve their balance and technique. Nowadays, I know mixed martial arts is quite popular among hockey fighters. Back then, I was pretty much the only hockey tough guy who was serious about learning other fighting forms.
At any rate, playing so infrequently in Cincy and working out so heavily ended up pushing me over the top when the Nordiques needed an enforcer. I made my NHL debut for the Nordiques on Nov. 22, 1979. We were in Boston, and I got the Dorchester Hat Trick (three fights and a game misconduct).
Fighting Terry O'Reilly in my NHL debut with the Nordiques.
Demers and assistant coach Andre Boudrias were wonderful to me during my time with the Nordiques. Boudrias worked hard with me on my skating, which benefited me later on when I became an official.
Just as important, I found Québec City to be a tremendous community. I spoke very little French at the time -- it would later improve with help from Romeo Leblanc and other friends -- but it was a great city. As I noted earlier, they loved their hockey and were driven to see their team compete against the Habs in particular. They really embraced the Nordiques players. Each and every one of us.
I was refereeing in the NHL when the Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995 and went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1995-96 -- ironically enough, with former longtime Canadiens goalie Patrick Roy as their new goaltender -- in their first year as the Colorado Avalanche. That had to have been a bitter pill to the people in Québec to lose their team and then see it blossom from an up-and-comer into a champion.
The time has come to bring the NHL back to Québec City. Oui, je me souviens. But now it's time to build new NHL memories in that tremendous city.
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A 2018 inductee into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
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