1995-96 NHL Regular Season
With
Quebec moving to
Colorado, the
Avalanche have left the Northeast division and the eastern conference. They join the Pacific division in the Western Conference. Both conferences now have 13 teams.
What an incredible start to the season for
Wayne Gretzky and the
Hartford Whalers. On November 1st,
Hartford is 9-0, allowing just 13 goals again.
Gretzky has 10 goals and 17 assists, winning player of the month. Now I’m sure I jinxed both of them, but I’m very impressed.
Gretzky is playing some of the best hockey of his life!
Lets see how long the
Whalers can extend this. They win back to back game’s with the
Senators, followed by a mini tour of the Atlantic division. Another win over
Ottawa is their 16th in a row! On November 19th, they finally lose.
Wayne Gretzky has broken the 2000 point barrier. Now that was obviously going to happen, I just have to point it out. He’s not stopping at 2000. I don’t know how long he will play, or how long he can play at a high level, but I’ve seen no signs of regression. He’s dominating the league right now like he did in his early 20’s!
2000 points!
Huge blow to the
Oilers in early December.
Brian Leetch ruptures a disk in his back, ending his season.
Edmonton is a team that has the talent to win a cup, but haven’t reached the finals yet. Without
Leetch, who had 19 points in 22 games, I don’t see it happening this year for them.
Leetch's season is over.
At Christmas, the
Mighty Ducks has surpassed, and even tripled last years win total. They have 6 victories, in 40 games! That is improvement, even if they are still terrible. 18 year old top draft pick
Zdeno Chara has played in every game, getting 18 mins a night. He’s got 7 points, 57 pim’s, and a -27 rating. He is putting up a 63 game rating though, so I think he’s doing well for a 18 year old.
18 year old defenseman are rare in the league!
Brett Hull has 46 goals in 45 games. Is this the year!!
Hull scores against the
Kings giving him 47. He gets two goals against
Washington giving him 49 goals, with 3 games before the 50 mark. Against
Hartford, on Jan 27th,
Brett Hull scores 28 seconds into the third period. His 50th goal in his 48th game!! He did it!!!
Brett Hull accomplishes one of the most difficult goal scoring feats possible!
50 in 50!
The
Whalers are having an amazing season, and they just picked up a living legend.
35 year old
Dino Ciccarelli joins the
Whalers quest for a 2nd Stanley Cup. They playoff tested scorer just recorded his 1500th point earlier in the year. He had 28 points in 40 games with
Dallas, which is a slower pace then he’s used to, but he is slowing down. It’s natural.
Ciccarelli is 4th all time in goals, and 10th in points. He joins fellow top 10 point scorers
Wayne Gretzky and
Mark Messier. 29 year old
Shayne Corson has had his moments. He hit a career high 74 points in 1993. I’d describe him as a poor man’s
Dino Ciccarelli. They play a similar game, and
Corson is capable of scoring. He’s been a reliable 20 goal scorer. It’s probably a fair trade from a talent perspective.
Whalers making a move to help them in the spring!
After only getting 6 goals and 12 assists last year, it would be easy to assume
Cam Neely was done. Well, it turns out that isn’t the case.
Neely has rebounded this year with a strong 22 goals and 58 points through 60 games. He’s also got 200 PIM’s already, so he’s still playing that rough style of hockey. At 30,
Cam isn’t done yet!
Neely is having a rebound season!
And I jinxed him. Right after I write that comes news that
Cam tore his ulnar collateral ligament, and will miss the rest of the season. Sorry
Cam, my fault.
Final Standings
Hartford wins a franchise record 64 games. After years of failed playoff runs, and not meeting expectations, is this the year they recapture glory?
Peter Forsberg and the
Buffalo Sabres are looking for real. Last year wasn’t a fluke, and are now looking to take that next step in the playoffs.
Anaheim wins just 2 more games after the halfway mark.
Eric Lindros had a good year, with 47 points in 67 games. Remember, he’s playing with nobody. His game ratings are good.
Can the
Avalanche repeat real life history and win a title in their first season in
Denver. They are the defending champions.
I didn’t see this coming.
Brett Hull breaks the NHL record for goals in a season with 78! He passes
Dave Andreychuk's mark of 77 set in 1986.
Hull scored 4 times in his last 3 games to get there.
Brett Hull’s 1995/96 season is without a doubt one of the greatest in NHL history!
Wayne Gretzky hits 60 goals for the 2nd time in his career, and gets to 150 points for the first time in 12 years! Who wins the Hart Trophy.
Wayne or
Brett?
Dino Ciccarelli gets 14 points in 32 games as a
Whaler. He’s playing on the teams 3rd line and providing decent scoring for that role.
Shayne Corson was disappointing in
Dallas, getting just 9 points for the
Stars.