Flesh and blood and vulcanized rubber — a Colorado Avalanche family legacy (Part One of Four)

Family is deeply interwoven in the history of professional hockey. The Sutter Brothers (all six of them) and their myriad of hockey-playing offspring, the Howes, the Gretzkys (technically), the Hulls, the Espositos, the Richards, the Staals, the Tkachuks — the list of relatives to all play hockey professionally is long.

Dating back to the origins of the Québec Nordiques in the WHA (which, for the purposes of this article, will be included in this list), there are plenty of bloodlines that reach through the minor leagues, up to the NHL, and across the span of a half-century; based on extensive research, there are 27 total families and 63 total individuals within them who have been at least peripherally connected to the Québec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche and the franchise's various affiliate teams. This quartet of articles, presented alphabetically by last name, attempts to serve as a hopefully-complete compendium of the families that have represented the Avs franchise since 1972. Each player is given a brief summary of their connection to the team; the focus of each player's bio is to identify their connection and to provide a baseline summary of their career, as a whole.

Four quick notes before beginning:

1. Finding familial data is not as straightforward as one might think. There may be people missing from this list, but, with the information available — and hundreds of hours of research amassed — it should be largely accurate and complete.

2. After introducing each player's full name, their first name will be used subsequently to refer to them as a way to avoid confusion with other, mentioned relatives throughout the article.

3. While some names on this list are players who did play for an Avalanche/Nordiques affiliate but were signed only to AHL deals, they will still be included because of their ties to the Avs.

4. For each stat table, every player's respective numbers illustrate values for both the Avs franchise and for their total NHL stats, presented in that specific order.

Example:

The "591" represents his games played with Québec and Colorado; the "708" represents his total stats as an NHLer.

Anthony Battaglia and Bates Battaglia

Relation:
Brothers

Anthony Battaglia

Anthony Battaglia played four full seasons with Western Michigan University, in which time he played, relatively speaking, rather well. In his post-college career, Anthony played in seven different leagues across the span of 12 seasons: the American Hockey League (AHL), East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), International Hockey League (IHL), Central Hockey League (CHL), Federal Hockey League (FHL), and Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). After his playing days were over, he and his brother Bates competed in (and won) the 22nd season of The Amazing Race, which aired in 2013.

While he never played on an NHL sheet of ice, he still managed to make a career after establishing himself as a hockey player willing to dress for whoever would pay him to continue to play the game he loved. During his various seasons in various minor leagues, he spent one season — the 2010-11 season — with the Tulsa Oilers: the affiliate of the Lake Erie Monsters, who, themselves, were the affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. In that one season, he recorded 33 points ( nine goals and 24 assists) in 37 games. In four postseason games that year, he recorded a single assist in four games.

Bates Battaglia

The oldest of the Battaglia brothers, Bates Battaglia, had the most notable professional hockey career. Foremost: unlike Anthony, Bates was drafted into the NHL, 132nd overall in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the then-Anaheim Mighty Ducks. He was one of the fist 20 players ever drafted by the expansion Mighty Ducks, but he never actually suited up for a single game for them. Instead, he was dealt to the Hartford Whalers — less than two months before officially relocating to Raleigh, North Carolina and rebranding as the Hurricanes — for a fourth-round draft pick in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft in exchange for Mark Janssens.

Toward the middle of his time in the NHL, Bates played for the Avs, dressing in 13 total games for them in parts of both the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. In that period, likely due to the transient nature of his time wearing the burgundy and blue, Bates put up some of the worst number of his pro career. After the trade, which sent him to Colorado in a move that brought Radim Vrbata to the 'Canes, Bates' opportunities — and statistics — as an NHLer declined, and, after a stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Bates played out the majority of his remaining career in the minor leagues.

Other, notable family members in hockey: N/A

Graham Belak and Wade Belak

Relation:
Brothers

Graham Belak

Graham was drafted 53rd overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche — the last player selected in the second round of that year's draft. He was Colorado's second pick, with defenseman Kevin Grimes going 26th overall. Graham was not a gifted offensive player, but he was a menace on the ice — something that appealed to the Avs as their often-out-of-contol rivalry with the Red Wings was intensifying. The infamous "Bloody Wednesday" game between the Avs and the Wings took place less than two months before the 1997 draft; it is clear that the Avs went into that draft with a mission: support the core offensive players like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Valeri Kamensky by drafting players who could serve as goon-deterrents and who could handle more of the physicality, which would, in theory, let the stars be stars and stay out of the penalty box.

That explains why the Avs drafted Grimes (551 PIMs in 175 GP with the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs) and Graham (817 PIMs in 202 GP with the WHL's Edmonton/Kootenay Ice) with their first and second picks, respectively. Despite his second-round-draft status, Graham never had the chance to represent the Avalanche; he bounced around between the ECHL and the AHL for a handful of seasons before finishing his career overseas after one season, the 2005-06 season, which was spent with the Coventry Blaze of the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) in the United Kingdom. Interestingly enough, during the 2004-05 NHL Lockout the season prior, Graham's brother, Wade Belak, played for the Blaze, as well.

Wade Belak

Graham's older brother, Wade, was drafted three years earlier — in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft — by the Québec Nordiques. Wade went 12th overall, and he played a similar hard-nosed game to that of his brother. Unlike Graham, however, Wade did make it to the NHL, and he played more than 500 combined games for the Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, and Nashville Predators. His career spanned 14 NHL seasons, despite only registering 33 points in 549 games; he was a physicality-oriented, stay-at-home defenseman who was assessed 1,263 PIMs as an NHLer.

Wade was an enforcer: a member of a dying breed, an abandoned art, a maligned facet of the game of hockey. As the game continues its pivot from brutality to finesse, from line brawls to player assistance, players like Wade are going the way of the visorless helmet: gradually phased out. Yet, during the time in which Wade played, he had a role, and he fulfilled it admirably. Unfortunately, like far too many other enforcers from that era, Wade ultimately took his own life at age 35 in 2011. The long list of NHL enforcers to have been diagnosed — both prehumously and posthumously — with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) who died young, often by their own hands, is alarming, but it has raised awareness of the long-term effects of brain trauma accrued by players like Wade, and there has been a necessary shift away from the kind of hockey that contributed to Wade's death. His legacy lives on in the continued efforts and medical studies that have been implemented to help make the game of hockey safer and more accessible.

Other, notable family members in hockey: N/A

Cédrick Bernier and Jonathan Bernier

Relation:
Twin brothers

Cédrick Bernier

During the one season in which the Arizona Sundogs were the affiliate team of the Colorado Avalanche (the 2006-07 season), Cédrick Bernier happened to be on the team. While — as mentioned in the initial disclaimer of this article — he wasn't technically a member of the Avs' organization just because of his place on the Sundogs, he is still connected to the team in that way. In 13 games with the Sundogs that season, he recorded a single goal and 31 PIMs.

Cédrick played an enforcer role throughout his seven-year minor-league career, amassing more than 100 PIMs in three of those seasons, including the 2008-09 season, in which he — impressively — recorded exactly 108 PIMs with both the Wheeling Nailers, and later in the season, with the Charlotte Checkers. It took only 17 games with the Nailers; it took 33 games with the Checkers.

Jonathan Bernier

Not to be confused with the NHL goaltender who played with the Colorado Avalanche in the 2017-18 season, this Jonathan Bernier was even more of a goon than his twin brother. In that same 2006-07 season with the Sundogs, he registered a personal-best 226 PIMs in 64 games. He registered just five assists in that same time: another career best.

After his time in the ECHL/CHL, the Québec native played two additional seasons, this time in the now-defunct Ligue de Hockey Beauce Bellechasse Frontenac (LHBBF), which was based in Québec. For the 2011-12 campaign, he played for the St-Pascal Imperial. Four years later, he appeared in eight games with the Lotbinière Mercenaires before calling it a career.

Other, notable family members in hockey: N/A

Collin Bowman and Drayson Bowman

Relation:
Brothers

Collin Bowman

While Collin never played for the Avs, he and his brother Drayson have strong ties to Colorado. Collin was born in Littleton, Colorado in 1991, and he spent the first 10+ years of his life in the Centennial State. His family moved to Vancouver to try to get the brothers a better chance at making a CHL team as part of their respective development; Collin spent six total seasons in the CHL, the first four of which were played with the Kelowna Rockets. For much of his time there, Collin, a defenseman, played alongside future Avs star Tyson Barrie, and the two — together with Tyler Myers — routinely led the team in points scored by defensemen.

After his junior career ended without a draft call from an NHL club, he returned to Colorado to play for the Eagles, and he made three separate stops with the team (2012-13, 2014-16, and 2017-18). He was a strong player at all levels in which he played, and he won championships in the WHL (Kelowna Rockets 2008-09), the Austrian League (Vienna Capitals 2016-17), and the ECHL (Colorado Eagles 2017-18). He also earned himself a spot in both the 2012-13 and 2014-15 ECHL All-Star Games.

Drayson Bowman

While Drayson was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1989, he was raised in Littleton, CO alongside his younger brother, Collin, before the aforementioned family move to Canada. Perhaps fated because of his eventual ties to the Avs, he played in the Québec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament in both 2001 and 2002 as a member of the Colorado Junior Avalanche. He was a fan of the big league club, as well, naming Joe Sakic as one of his role models.

As a player, Drayson never truly lived up to his potential in the NHL, but he still suited up for 179 games as an NHL pro; he played an additional 296 games at the AHL level. Like his brother Collin, he also spent time playing overseas; Drayson spent two seasons with Duesseldorf EG of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). In that time, he played with former Avs players David van der Gulik and Brandon Yip. This all came before a late-career, last-ride return to North American hockey with a single, final season with the Eagles in which the Bowman brothers helped the Eagles claim the 2017-18 Kelly Cup. Drayson's opportunities regressed as his career progressed, beginning play in the NHL, moving to the AHL, and ending in the ECHL.

Other, notable family members in hockey: N/A

David Boychuk, Johnny Boychuk, and Joel Quenneville

Relation:
Brothers (David and Johnny)
Uncle by marriage (Joel and David; Joel and Johnny)

David Boychuk

David Boychuk was not drafted by the Colorado Avalanche, nor did he ever play a game for the team or any of its affiliates — why, then, is he on this list? Well, in the offseason before the 2002-03 season, he was signed to an amateur tryout (ATO) by the Avs, in which time he and his brother Johnny played together, with the latter going on to have a notable NHL career and the former never playing at a level higher than juniors and college. After the ATO, he decided to go to college, and he played for the University of Alberta for the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.

Despite never playing professionally, David had a respectable career in the WHL. He spent the 1997-98 season — and part of the 1998-99 season — with the WHL's Tri-City Americans; he was traded to the Spokane Chiefs during the 1998-99 season, and he finished out his junior career there at the end of the 2001-02 season. In a combined 305 WHL games, David, a defenseman, recorded 13 goals, 32 assists, and 45 points. He was not an offensively-oriented player, though; he excelled in a shutdown role and provided consistent minutes and a physicality that led to an average of more than 200 PIMs a season in his last three seasons with the Chiefs. While his career technically ended after his second year of collegiate hockey, he did make appearances in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) and the Chinook Hockey League/Allan Cup Hockey West League (ACHW) as recently as the 2022-23 season, when he was 41 years old.

Johnny Boychuk

Johhny Boychuk is remembered for his long NHL career and his durability, toughness, and booming slapshot — he's just generally not remembered for any of these things while playing for the Colorado Avalanche. He did begin his career in the Mile High City, but he was traded away after just four games with the Avs in a one-for-one that brought Matt Hendricks to the Avs from the Boston Bruins on June 24, 2008. Johnny went on to become Andrew Ference's defensive partner on a bruising Bruins team — one that ultimately claimed Lord Stanley's Cup in 2011.

After six seasons in Beantown, Johnny was traded to the New York Islanders for a second-round pick in both 2015 (Brandon Carlo) and 2016 (Ryan Lindgren) and a conditional third-round pick in the 2015 draft (for which the conditions were not met). He played an additional six seasons on Long Island before multiple injuries to his right eye — including once where his eye required plastic surgery and 90 stiches after it was slashed by the skate of future Avs' star Artturi Lehkonen in 2020 — ultimately ended his career at age 36. Despite his physical presence on the ice — standing at 6'2" and 225lbs, Johnny's game consisted of a well-rounded mix of defense, offense, physicality, and intangibles; he was a quintessential "locker room" guy.

Joel Quenneville

Joel Quenneville has been involved in professional hockey since 1978, first as a player but most notably as a coach; his 803 games across 13 NHL seasons as a defenseman are impressive, but it is his coaching career of nearly 30 years — especially his tenure with the Chicago Blackhawks where he coached the team to three Stanley Cups — that has defined his legacy for better and for worse. It's a legacy still being written, but many of the moments for which he will be remembered have already transpired.

Quenneville, who is the uncle-in-law of David and Johnny Boychuk, was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs, 21st overall, in the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft. He played for the Leafs for two seasons before his first career stop in Colorado: as a member of the now-defunct Colorado Rockies. He played in the final three seasons of Rockies history and followed the team from Colorado to New Jersey as the Devils made their debut in the 1982-83 season. He spent the bulk of his playing career with another now-defunct team, the Hartford Whalers, where he played for seven seasons. Then, after a final NHL season with the Washington Capitals — and two succeeding seasons in the AHL — he retired.

After his playing days were done, Quenneville got his start as an Assistant Coach with the Nordiques for the 1994-95 season, and, in a fitting reversal of his initial departure from Denver while with the Rockies, he followed the Nordiques when they relocated to Denver; he remained with the team for the next two seasons, earning himself a Stanley Cup ring with the team in 1996. Partway through the 1996-97 season, he left Colorado to take the head coaching gig with the St. Louis Blues, and he remained there until the bench boss position opened up in Colorado after the 2004-05 NHL Lockout. Back where he began his coaching career, he helmed the Avs for three seasons before leaving once again, this time for the Chicago Blackhawks. It is here that he truly established himself as one of the NHL's premier bench bosses, but it wasn't without its share of controversy. For his part in the Kyle Beach scandal with the Blackhawks, Quenneville, who had moved on to the head coaching role for the Florida Panthers, was ousted from his position and didn't begin coaching again until this season, where he now coaches the Anaheim Ducks. His presence in the league is still scrutinized and demonized by many.

Other, notable family members in hockey: David Quenneville (Joel's first cousin; David and Johnny's nephew-in-law), John Quenneville (Joel's first cousin; David and Johnny's nephew-in-law), Peter Quenneville (Joel's first cousin; David and Johnny's nephew-in-law)

Derick Brassard and Pierre Brassard

Relation:
Father (Pierre) and son (Derick)

Derick Brassard

Derick Brassard had a long NHL career, in which he played over 1,000 regular season games and an additional 118 playoff games. Only 29 of them, in total, occurred while wearing the burgundy and blue. In those 29 games, he registered four goals and a single assist: numbers significantly worse than his career average of more than half a point per game. Accordingly, as a rental player acquired for the 2018-19 season, the Avs did not re-sign him, and he moved on to the New York Islanders the following season. The Hull, Québec native played for 10 teams in his NHL career, including eight teams across his last six seasons in the league: a record in the salary cap era.

With Colorado, Derick played some of the most minutes a night of his career, despite playing primarily on the fourth line (often alongside Tyson Jost and Gabriel Bourque). He also played on both the penalty kill and the second powerplay unit. Empirically speaking, it seems that the downturn in Brassard's offensive output was simply a result of his usage: not getting many high-danger offensive opportunities — and being utilized as a depth, checking winger — hindered his usefulness and went against his otherwise-offensive deployment while playing on other teams in the NHL. He also missed a handful of games down the stretch; it was listed as an illness, but no further information was ever made available. Regardless of circumstance, Derick Brassard's time with the Avs was forgettable.

Pierre Brassard

Pierre Brassard never dressed in a professional game at any level higher than the QMJHL, but he has two ties — one direct and one entirely anecdotal — to the Avs franchise. First, he was drafted by the Québec Nordiques in the 1976 WHA Amateur Draft; he went 114th overall (and he was also, in that same draft year, selected 108th overall by the Montréal Canadiens in the NHL Amateur Draft). Nothing ever came out of either selection, but he is forever linked to professional hockey in the province of Québec. Second, his QMJHL team was the Cornwall Royals — Cornwall was also the home of the Aces, the team that served as the AHL affiliate of the Québec Nordiques from 1993-1995 (and remained the Avs' affiliate for their first season in Colorado).

As a QMJHLer, Pierre was an offensive force. In each of his three seasons with the Royals — including his final season, during which he served as the team's captain — his points totals increased:

It's understandable, then, why two different professional hockey clubs would draft him; he elected to join the Montréal Canadiens and attended their 1976 training camp. After getting cut from the Canadiens' roster, however, he played an additional junior-level season, this time with the Pembroke Lumber Kings of the CJHL, before moving on from the sport altogether. His son, Derick, clearly picked up on his father's scoring touch: apart from Derick's steady NHL statistics, his offense was also shown off in the QMJHL, with his best season point total reaching 116 with the Drummondville Voltigeurs — just two points less than Pierre's career best as a junior player.

Other, notable family members in hockey: N/A

Statistics, data, and analytics provided by the AHL, Altitude Sports, BarDown, Bleacher Report, Boston.com, the CBC, CBS Sports, the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Hockey Now, Complete Hockey News, the CHL, the DAWG Nation Hockey Foundation, The Denver Post, The DNVR, Dobber Prospects, Elite Prospects, The Face-Off Spot with Adam Larson, the Hartford Courant, The Hockey News, Hockey Reference, The Hockey Writers, HockeyDB, hockeyfights.com, "Ice Guardians," JFresh Hockey, the Loveland Reporter-Herald, Maclean's, Mayor's Manor, Mile High Hockey, Mile High Sports, the NHL, the NHL Network, NPR, the OHL, the Ottawa Sun, PuckPedia, the QMJHL, Sportsnet, Sports Illustrated, Spotrac, StatMuse, the Tampa Bay Times, TSN, the University of Denver, USA Today, the Washington Post, the WHL