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1997–98 NHL season

The 1997–98 NHL season was the 81st regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup champions were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Washington Capitals in four games.

League business

On June 25, 1997, the National Hockey League approved of four expansion franchises for Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus, and Saint Paul expanding the league to 30 teams by 2000. These franchises became the Nashville Predators in 1998, the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999, and the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild in 2000.

This was the first season for the Carolina Hurricanes, who were previously known as the Hartford Whalers. The Hurricanes played their home games at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, a temporary home while awaiting the construction of their permanent home arena in Raleigh. They would remain in the Northeast Division until realignment the following season. It would be another 14 years before another NHL team would relocate.

This was the first season for Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who until the 2012–13 season was the longest-tenured NHL coach.

The controversial "FoxTrax" puck system was last used this season as well. In August 1998, the NHL signed a five-year, $600 million rights agreement with ABC Sports/ESPN. FOX elected not to use the system in the subsequent "lame duck" season.

This was the last season the Toronto Maple Leafs were a member of the Western Conference.

This was the last season of the four-division quasi-geographic alignment inherited from the traditional Adams/Patrick/Norris/Smythe set. The league would change the following season to a six-division, more purely geographic alignment.

For the first time since 1968–69 season, the Chicago Blackhawks missed the playoffs.

Due to the retirement of Craig MacTavish after the 1996–97 season, this was the first season in the League's history in which there were no helmetless players.

Teams

Regular season

The all-time record for most shutouts in a season, set at 127 just a year earlier, was broken again as 160 shutouts were recorded, 13 of which were earned by Dominik Hasek, who set a League record with 11 teams shut-out. He zeroed the New York Rangers three times, and Los Angeles, Anaheim, Tampa Bay, Boston, Calgary, Washington, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh and Edmonton once each. Only two teams, the St. Louis Blues and the Detroit Red Wings, averaged more than three goals scored per game. In addition, only one player, Jaromir Jagr, reached the 100-point plateau during the regular season.

Highlights

Jari Kurri reached 600 goals in his career, finishing with 601.

The Vancouver Canucks and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim opened the season with a two-game series in Tokyo, Japan, the first time the NHL played regular games outside of North America.

Final standings

Eastern Conference

Divisions: ATL – Atlantic, NE – Northeast

bold – Qualified for playoffs

Western Conference

Divisions: CEN – Central, PAC – Pacific

bold – Qualified for playoffs; x – Won Division; p – Won Presidents' Trophy

Playoffs

Bracket

Awards

The NHL Awards took place in Toronto, Ontario

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Leading goaltenders

Regular season

Coaches

Eastern Conference

Boston Bruins: Pat Burns
Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff
Carolina Hurricanes: Paul Maurice
Florida Panthers: Bryan Murray
Montreal Canadiens: Alain Vigneault
New Jersey Devils: Jacques Lemaire
New York Islanders: Rick Bowness
New York Rangers: Colin Campbell
Ottawa Senators: Jacques Martin
Philadelphia Flyers: Wayne Cashman and Roger Neilson
Pittsburgh Penguins: Kevin Constantine
Tampa Bay Lightning: Terry Crisp
Washington Capitals: Ron Wilson

Western Conference

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim: Pierre Page
Calgary Flames: Brian Sutter
Chicago Blackhawks: Craig Hartsburg
Colorado Avalanche: Marc Crawford
Dallas Stars: Ken Hitchcock
Detroit Red Wings: Scotty Bowman
Edmonton Oilers: Ron Low
Los Angeles Kings: Larry Robinson
Phoenix Coyotes: Jim Schoenfeld
San Jose Sharks: Darryl Sutter
St. Louis Blues: Joel Quenneville
Toronto Maple Leafs: Mike Murphy
Vancouver Canucks: Mike Keenan

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1997–98 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Matt Cullen, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Joe Thornton, Boston Bruins
Sergei Samsonov, Boston Bruins
Derek Morris, Calgary Flames
Olli Jokinen, Los Angeles Kings
Sheldon Souray, New Jersey Devils
Zdeno Chara, New York Islanders
Marc Savard, New York Rangers
Chris Phillips, Ottawa Senators
Marian Hossa, Ottawa Senators
Daniel Briere, Phoenix Coyotes
Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks
Mattias Ohlund, Vancouver Canucks

Last games

The following is a list of players of note who played their last game in the NHL in 1997–98 (listed with their last team):

Brent Sutter, Chicago Blackhawks
Jari Kurri, Colorado Avalanche
Slava Fetisov, Detroit Red Wings
Kevin Lowe, Edmonton Oilers
Andy Moog, Montreal Canadiens
Pat LaFontaine, New York Rangers
Joel Otto, Philadelphia Flyers
Mike Gartner, Phoenix Coyotes
Al Iafrate, San Jose Sharks
Kelly Hrudey, San Jose Sharks
Jeff Brown, Washington Capitals
Brian Bradley, Tampa Bay Lightning
Norm Maciver, Phoenix Coyotes

Broadcasting

Canada

This was the tenth and final season that the league's Canadian national broadcast rights were split between TSN and Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. During the regular season, Saturday night games aired on CBC, while TSN primarily had Monday and Thursday night games. Coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs was primarily on CBC, with TSN airing first round all-U.S. series.

The league then signed a new deal with the fledgling CTV Sportsnet, replacing TSN as the national cable television partner.

United States

This was the fourth season of the league's five-year U.S. national broadcast rights deals with Fox and ESPN. Both ESPN and ESPN2 aired weeknight games throughout the regular season. Fox had the All-Star Game, and the network's weekly regional telecasts then expanded from six to 11 weekend afternoons between January and April. During the first two rounds of the playoffs, ESPN and ESPN2 aired selected games, while Fox had Sunday regional telecasts. Each U.S. team's regional broadcaster produced local coverage of first and second round games (except for those games on Fox). Fox's Sunday telecasts continued into the Conference Finals, while ESPN had the rest of the third round games. The Stanley Cup Finals were also split between Fox and ESPN.

References

Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Hockey. Kingston, NY: Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X.
Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Toronto, ON: Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5.
Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000). Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9.
Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley; Hughes, Morgan; Romain, Joseph; Duplacey, James (2003). The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International Inc. ISBN 0-7853-9624-1.

Notes

External links

Hockey Database
NHL.com

Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: 1997–98 NHL season by Wikipedia (Historical)

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