1996–97 NHL season
The 1996–97 NHL season was the 80th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the Detroit Red Wings. They swept the Philadelphia Flyers in four games. The Red Wings had not won the Stanley Cup for 42 years.
1996–97 NHL season | |
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League | National Hockey League |
Sport | Ice hockey |
Duration | October 4, 1996 – June 7, 1997 |
Number of games | 82 |
Number of teams | 26 |
TV partner(s) | CBC, TSN, SRC (Canada) ESPN, Fox (United States) |
Draft | |
Top draft pick | Chris Phillips |
Picked by | Ottawa Senators |
Regular season | |
Presidents' Trophy | Colorado Avalanche |
Season MVP | Dominik Hasek (Sabres) |
Top scorer | Mario Lemieux (Penguins) |
Playoffs | |
Playoffs MVP | Mike Vernon (Red Wings) |
Stanley Cup | |
Champions | Detroit Red Wings |
Runners-up | Philadelphia Flyers |
Regular season
changeThe Boston Bruins recorded the league's worst record, missing the playoffs for the first time in thirty seasons and ending the longest number of years in a row in the playoffs ever recorded in the history of North American professional sport.
Final standings
changeNote: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
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Scoring leaders
changeNote: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
Player | Team | GP | G | A | PTS |
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Mario Lemieux | Pittsburgh | 76 | 50 | 72 | 122 |
Teemu Selanne | Anaheim | 78 | 51 | 58 | 109 |
Paul Kariya | Anaheim | 69 | 44 | 55 | 99 |
John LeClair | Philadelphia | 82 | 50 | 47 | 97 |
Wayne Gretzky | NY Rangers | 82 | 25 | 72 | 97 |
Jaromir Jagr | Pittsburgh | 63 | 47 | 48 | 95 |
Mats Sundin | Toronto | 82 | 41 | 53 | 94 |
Zigmund Palffy | NY Islanders | 80 | 48 | 42 | 90 |
Ron Francis | Pittsburgh | 81 | 27 | 63 | 90 |
Brendan Shanahan | Hartford/ Detroit |
81 | 47 | 41 | 88 |
Stanley Cup playoffs
changePlayoff bracket
changeConference Quarterfinals | Conference Semifinals | Conference Finals | Stanley Cup Finals | |||||||||||||||
2 | Buffalo | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
7 | Ottawa | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
2 | Buffalo | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
3 | Philadelphia | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
3 | Philadelphia | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
6 | Pittsburgh | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
3 | Philadelphia | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
Eastern Conference | ||||||||||||||||||
5 | NY Rangers | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
1 | New Jersey | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
8 | Montreal | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
1 | New Jersey | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
5 | NY Rangers | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
4 | Florida | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
5 | NY Rangers | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
E3 | Philadelphia | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
W3 | Detroit | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
3 | Detroit | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
6 | St. Louis | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
3 | Detroit | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
4 | Anaheim | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
4 | Anaheim | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
5 | Phoenix | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
1 | Colorado | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
Western Conference | ||||||||||||||||||
3 | Detroit | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
1 | Colorado | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
8 | Chicago | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
1 | Colorado | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
7 | Edmonton | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
2 | Dallas | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
7 | Edmonton | 4 |
Conference quarterfinals
changeEastern Conference
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Western Conference
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Conference semifinals
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Conference finals
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Stanley Cup final
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Scoring leaders
changeNote: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts |
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Eric Lindros | Phi | 19 | 12 | 14 | 26 |
Joe Sakic | Col | 17 | 8 | 17 | 25 |
Claude Lemieux | Col | 17 | 13 | 10 | 23 |
Valeri Kamensky | Col | 17 | 8 | 14 | 22 |
Rod Brind'Amour | Phi | 19 | 13 | 8 | 21 |
John LeClair | Phi | 19 | 9 | 12 | 21 |
Wayne Gretzky | NYR | 15 | 10 | 10 | 20 |
Sergei Fedorov | Det | 20 | 8 | 12 | 20 |
Brendan Shanahan | Det | 20 | 9 | 8 | 17 |
Peter Forsberg | Col | 14 | 5 | 12 | 17 |
Sandis Ozolinsh | Col | 17 | 4 | 13 | 17 |
Vyacheslav Kozlov | Det | 20 | 8 | 5 | 13 |
Paul Kariya | Ana | 11 | 7 | 6 | 13 |
Steve Yzerman | Det | 20 | 7 | 6 | 13 |
Janne Niinimaa | Phi | 19 | 1 | 12 | 13 |
NHL Awards
changeThe NHL Awards presentation took place on June 19, 1997.
All-Star teams
changeFirst games
changeThe following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1996–97 (listed with their first team, stars(*) mark start in playoffs):
- Dwayne Roloson, Calgary Flames
- Marc Denis, Colorado Avalanche
- Roman Turek, Dallas Stars
- Tomas Holmstrom, Detroit Red Wings
- Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Hartford Whalers
- Tomas Vokoun, Montreal Canadiens
- Jay Pandolfo, New Jersey Devils
- Bryan Berard, New York Islanders
- Wade Redden, Ottawa Senators
- Janne Niinimaa, Philadelphia Flyers
- Vaclav Prospal, Philadelphia Flyers
- Patrick Lalime, Pittsburgh Penguins
Last games
changeThe following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1996–97 (listed with their last team):
- Tim Cheveldae, Boston Bruins
- Charlie Huddy, Buffalo Sabres
- Denis Savard, Chicago Blackhawks
- Sergei Makarov, Dallas Stars
- Neal Broten, Dallas Stars
- Mike Ramsey, Detroit Red Wings
- Vladimir Konstantinov, Detroit Red Wings
- Dale Hawerchuk, Philadelphia Flyers
- Brad McCrimmon, Philadelphia Flyers
- Dan Quinn, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Joe Mullen, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Tim Hunter, San Jose Sharks
- Craig MacTavish, St. Louis Blues
- Gary Leeman, St. Louis Blues
- Jon Casey, St. Louis Blues
- Jay Wells, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Don Beaupre, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Nick Kypreos, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Mike Ridley, Vancouver Canucks