Claude Lemieux sees Stanley Cup potential in Avalanche, much like his title team in '95-96

DENVER (AP) — The Stanley Cup was in the building Thursday night as part of the pregame celebration to honor the 1995-96 Colorado Avalanche squad.

It could be in the building again later this season, too.

At least, longtime forward Claude Lemieux believes so. He's been on four Stanley Cup-winning teams, including the ‘95-96 Avalanche squad. This team, he surmised after watching a 6-2 win over the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers, has all the necessary ingredients.

“I love watching them play,” said Lemieux, whose squad back then won the Mile High City’s first major professional championship in their first season in town after relocating from Quebec. “They’re fun to watch.”

In a lot of ways, this version is built in the image of that squad. No real surprise there, given the architect of this team is Hall of Famer turned front office executive Joe Sakic.

Back then, Sakic, the captain, and fellow Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg helped provide the scoring punch in a season that ended with a Stanley Cup Final sweep over Florida. Colorado had a blue line that include a rugged defender in Adam Foote and a scoring defenseman in Sandis Ozolinsh. They also had another Hall of Famer in goaltender Patrick Roy.

This team has that same sort of makeup. They have an elite goal scorer (Nathan MacKinnon), leadership (captain Gabriel Landeskog), even more leadership (40-year-old Brent Burns), a scoring defenseman (Cale Makar) and reliable goaltending (Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood).

The current crew watched Thursday night as the players from the '95-96 squad were recognized. They heard the applause. They then went out and put on a show for them.

“This team knows what it takes,” Lemieux said. “They have players, quite a few of them, that were on the ‘22 Cup. I think it could be the ’26 Cup.”

The Avalanche (22-2-7) have a league-leading 51 points so far this season as they became the sixth team in the last 20 years to reach the 50-point plateau in 31 or fewer games. What's more, they still haven't lost a game at home in regulation (12-0-2).

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar thinks it was a valuable experience having the older players back in the building. The current roster briefly got to chat with them Thursday morning, and hear some stories.

“Obviously, they accomplished that two years before I was born,” Makar cracked. “But I've obviously heard a lot about it. It’s pretty cool they bring legends like that back.”

Some of the Avalanche players who made the trip to the rink for the ceremony from the 1995-96 squad included Forsberg, Stephane Yelle, Valeri Kamensky, Lemieux, Ozolinsh, Mike Ricci and, of course, Sakic.

“For them to be able to come back and get together as a group and share their stories with our guys and amongst one another, I’m sure it’s been a great couple days for them,” Bednar said. “We’ve been really happy that they were able to come and visit us.”

It gave the old-timers a chance to stroll down memory lane.

“When it’s happening, when you’re in the middle of it, you don’t quite appreciate it as much as you should,” said Lemieux, who also won Stanley Cup titles with Montreal (1985-86) and two with the New Jersey Devils (1994-5, 1999-00). “So you get to relive it now.”

How has the game has changed?

“We think we’re better — no, we’re just kidding,” Lemieux said. “The game’s change. It’s not as physical as it was, but to counter that physicality they've got so much more skills. So we appreciate the game. We appreciate their skills and everything they bring.”

The get-together provided a chance to remember old teammates, too. The late Chris Simon was represented during the on-ice ceremony by his children. He died in 2024 at 52.

“It’s very difficult, and especially with Chris passing at such a young age,” Lemieux said. “We have to count our blessings — be grateful for the days that we have and enjoy and appreciate those times when we get together."

Lemieux certainly enjoyed being around this new cast of Avalanche.

“We hope we bring them good luck," Lemieux said, "and inspire them to win another Cup.”

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Members from the 1996 Stanley Cup Championship team of the Colorado Avalanche gather for a group shot during a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of winning the Cup before an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic and member of team that won the Stanley Cup in 1996, is introduced during a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the win before an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Peter Forsberg waves as he is introduced as one of the members from the Colorado Avalanche's 1996 Stanley Cup Championship team during a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the victory before an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Members of the 1996 Stanley Cup Championship team from the Colorado Avalanche are honored to mark the 30th anniversary of winning the Cup before an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The U.S. Army found many systemic breakdowns that led to last year’s midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C., and recommended numerous steps the military should take to prevent future tragedies.

The military has not publicly released its report on the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil in over two decades, but eventually shared it late last week with families of the 67 people who died.

For months, many of the families have been pressuring the Army in daily social media posts to release the report, which was completed in May. The Associated Press obtained a copy on Thursday. The Army did not immediately comment.

Former Army Black Hawk pilot Tim Lilley, whose son Sam Lilley was the first officer on the American Airlines jet, said he still wants more details from the military. Some information in the report was redacted and the military assigned responsibility for its shortcomings broadly across the Army.

“The Army owes the families and the American public a full accounting of how these risks were allowed to persist, who was responsible for the decisions that allowed them to persist and what will be done to make sure this never happens again,” said Lilley, who is a commercial jet captain today.

While the report largely reinforces the National Transportation Safety Board's conclusions, the civilian investigation was broader and NTSB members focused on years of warning signs missed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The Army report highlighted how the air traffic controller in the tower at Reagan National Airport could have prevented the crash, but also acknowledged the military's own failings.

The report recommended that the Army look beyond Washington, D.C., to study the practices in every major city where its helicopters operate to ensure similar risks aren't present. An Army official said the review of helicopter flights in other cities, including Los Angeles and the Seattle-Tacoma region, is ongoing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the situation.

The lieutenant general who authored the report said “breakdowns across all layers of conflict management caused this accident” but “the most salient contributing factor was the two broken radio transmissions” that contributed to the helicopter crew not identifying Flight 5342 as it was circling to land on Reagan National Airport's alternate runway. The military pilots were wearing night-vision goggles that limited their field of vision and made it difficult to spot the plane amid the lights of the city.

The poorly designed helicopter route in use at the time of the crash provided only a scant 75 feet (23 meters) of vertical separation between a helicopter and a plane landing on Reagan’s secondary runway, and that was only true if the helicopter stuck to the riverbank. This did not allow enough separation to account for the accepted level of error in a Black Hawk’s altimeter, and the NTSB found the helicopter was flying nearly 100 feet (30 meters) higher than its instruments read.

The NTSB said in a letter to the Army last week that the agency is pleased with the progress being made on seven of the eight recommendations to the Army. That contrasts with the FAA, which the NTSB has faulted for failing to implement roughly one-third of the recommendations to that safety regulator.

The Army report said the controller should have provided the helicopter crew with more details about exactly where the plane was to help the pilots spot it, and the controller should have warned the plane about the helicopter headed toward it. The FAA has prohibited controllers from relying on pilots to maintain visual separation in busy airspace since this crash.

The main group of families of passengers on the plane, who were flying from Wichita, Kansas, said the report reinforces their call for Congress to pass aviation safety reforms and require aircraft to be equipped with systems that will help pilots know where traffic in the air is.

“It’s a simple concept anyone can understand: aircraft should be able to see each other in the sky. The technology is proven. All that’s required is the political will to do the right thing,” the Families of Flight 5342 group said in a statement Thursday.

“We have waited long enough. We waited for the NTSB. We waited for the Army. Both investigations are complete, and both make clear that collision avoidance technology must be part of the solution. There is nothing left for Congress to wait for,” they said.

Both the House and Senate passed different aviation safety bills, but lawmakers are still working on a compromise piece of legislation to bring up for a vote in both houses of Congress.

Associated Press Writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed.

FILE - Search efforts are seen around a wreckage site of a deadly midair collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Jan. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)