Source Image: Håkan Dahlström, 'Joe Sakic Colorado Avalanche', 1997, Via www.flickr.com/photos/dahlstroms/257173433
Joseph Steven Sakic also known as Joe Sakic is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player. He played his entire 21-year NHL career with Quebec Nordiques which later moved to the Colorado Avalanche. He was nicknamed Burnaby Joe, for the fact that he grew up in Burnaby.
Like I said, he was born in Burnaby, BC to 2 immigrant parents from Croatia. He didn’t actually learn to speak English until he was in kindergarten as Croatian is his mother’s tongue. He played hockey growing up. He modelled himself after his idol, Wayne Gretzky, but he had to use his skill rather than size. He ended up scoring 83 goals in 156 points in 80 games for the Burnaby BC Selects while attending school at Burnaby North Secondary. But soon after that, he was added to the Lethbridge Broncos of the WHL for the last part of the 85-86 season. During the next season, the Broncos relocated to Swift Current, Saskatchewan and so they became the Swift Current Broncos.
On their way home on December 30th, 1986, after going against the Regina Pats they faced some bad weather and the bus crashed after the driver lost control just outside of Swift Current. Joe was unharmed but four of his teammates were killed. This had a lasting impact on him and he declined to talk about the crash throughout his career.
He was named the WHL’s Most Valuable Player and Canadian Major Junior Player of the Year for the 1987 to 1988 season.
He was drafted 15th overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. Instead of making an immediate jump into the NHL, he told the Nordiques management he would prefer to spend the 87-88 season with Swift Current to prepare for the NHL. He made his professional debut in 1988. Joe became Co-captain just two years after he started and then became sole captain in 1992. Under his leadership, the Nordiques made the playoffs for the first time in six years and set a franchise record for wins and points in the process which has since been broken by the 2021-2022 Colorado Avalanche team.
In May 1995, the Nordiques announced that the team had been sold and relocated from Quebec to Denver, Colorado. Joe led the team to a Stanley Cup championship in the first year. While playing his first Olympics with Team Canada, he suffered a knee injury which forced him to miss 18 games with the Avalanche in the 1997-1998 season. He led the Avalanche to their second Stanley Cup championship in their 2000 to 2001 season and instead of hoisting up the cup, he broke tradition and gave it to one of his team members, Ray Bourque, who had waited 22 seasons to win a Stanley Cup.
Joe also played some international games as well. In 1988 he helped the Canadian junior team win the 1988 World Junior Championships. In the 1991 World Championship, Joe helped Team Canada win silver. He played in the 1994 World Championships for Canada and won gold. His first Olympic appearance came in 1998 at the Nagano, Japan Olympics where he suffered a knee injury. Joe also played in the Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City where they won gold. His final Olympic appearance was the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy where he was captain of Team Canada. Unfortunately, they failed to medal.
He announced his retirement in July 2009 and the Avalanche retired his jersey number 19 prior to the 2009-2010 season. A C on the banner represents his lengthy service as team captain, having been captain of the Avalanche until he retired. They also named him the inaugural member of the Avalanche Alumni Association.
In 2011, two years after his retirement, he returned to the Avalanche to work in their front office. Joe was named Executive Advisor and Alternate Governor of the team. In 2012, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and in 2013, he was promoted to Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations. In 2014, Joe was named General Manager and remained in this position until 2022 when the Avalanche announced that he would be ceding the General Manager title to longtime assistant Chris MacFarland and assuming a new role as President of the Hockey Association.
He is only one of four players to captain his team to the Stanley Cup championship and win the Hart Memorial Trophy in the same year.