1996-97
OFFSEASON
Four defensemen were inducted in to the Hall of Fame. Rod Langway, who won 2 Norris Trophy's in his 17 year career with Montreal; Mark Howe, who started in the WHA but also played 1176 NHL games for Hartford; Doug Wilson, who spent 18 seasons with Chicago along with former Ranger and Sabre Reijo Ruotsalainen.
Retirements this season include goaltender Reggie Lemelin, who did not make his NHL debut until age 27 but still managed to play 828 NHL games with all but the last 19 for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Lemelin was 323-382-66 with a 3.75 career GAA.
36 year old Guy Carbonneau retired after 996 games and 840 points with the Montreal Canadiens, as did 34 year old Brent Sutter, who played 1202 games for the Islanders, Vancouver and Los Angeles. Sutter finished his career with 328 goals and 883 points.
Meanwhile the Winnipeg Jets are the latest team to relocate, as they moved to Phoenix.
REGULAR SEASON
The Colorado Avalanche dominated the NHL as they finished first overall with 129 points, the highest total since 1992-93. The Avalanche were led by Joe Sakic (47-92-139) and Owen Nolan (58-53-111), who set a career high in goals. The Calgary Flames finished second in the Pacific Division behind the Avalanche and also second overall in the entire league. The Flames leader was again Brett Hull, who scored 59 goals to give him 656 for his career and at age 32 keep him on track to catch his famous fathers record of 884 careeer goals.
Wayne Gretzky inched closer to the elder Hull's mark but the 36 year old Great One had a (non-lockout) career worst 81 points this season. Gretzky did get 31 goals so he is now at 802 joining only Bobby Hull (884), Jean Ratelle (856) and Guy Lafleur (813) at such lofty heights.
Mario Lemieux seems sure to join that group soon as he ran his career goal total to 712 with a 51 goal season this year. Lemieux led the league with 147 points to win the 6th Art Ross Trophy of his career. Lemieux's Penguins finished second to Montreal in the Northeast Division as the Habs won their first division title in a decade. The Canadiens were led by Patrick Roy, who at the age of 31 enjoyed arguably the best season of his career (47-25-4, 2.60).
MILESTONES
Wayne Gretzky of Edmonton scored his 800th goal
Mark Messier of Edmonton earned his 1500th point
Dale Hawerchuk of Phoenix eaned his 1500th point
Ray Bourque of Boston scored his 1500th point and 400th goal
Joe Mullen of St Louis scored his 1500th point, 700th goal and 750th assist
Larry Murphy of Los Angeles earned his 1200th point
Al MacInnis of Calgary earned his 1200th point
Doug Gilmour of St Louis earned his 1200th point and 750th assist
Brett Hull of Calgary scored his 600th goal
Gary Roberts of Calgary scored his 500th goal
Pat Verbeek of Vancouver scored his 400th goal and 500th assist
Craig Janney of Boston scored his 400th goal
John MacLean of New Jersey scored his 400th goal
Claude Lemieux of Vancouver scored his 300th goal
Trevor Linden of Vancouver scored his 300th goal
Jaromir Jagr of Pittsburgh scored his 300th goal
Dave Andreychuk of Buffalo earned his 750th assist
1250 GAMES
Ray Bourque Boston
Dino Ciccarelli Minnesota
Glenn Anderson Toronto
Dirk Graham Hartford
Joe Mullen St Louis
Paul Coffey Edmonton
Troy Murray Chicago
Jari Kurri Edmonton
Wayne Gretzky Edmonton
1000 GAMES
Kelly Miller NY Rangers
Murray Craven Detroit
John MacLean New Jersey
Scott Stevens Washington
Frank Musil Dallas
Ken Daneyko New Jersey
Pat LaFontaine New York Islanders
Craig Ludwig Anaheim
Kevin Dineen Dallas
Grant Fuhr Edmonton
Doug Gilmour St Louis
Brian Skrudland Montreal
Ulf Samuelsson Hartford
Ray Bourque had 7 points (2G 5A) in Boston's 10-4 win over Ottawa. Bourque, who has been playing forward for the Bruins for most of his career, had 44 goals and 111 points this season.
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
ATLANTIC DIVISION GP W L T PTS
New York Rangers 82 47 25 10 104
New Jersey Devils 82 42 26 14 98
New York Islanders 82 44 31 7 95
Philadelphia Flyers 82 41 32 9 91
Washington Capitals 82 39 31 12 90
Tampa Bay Lightning 82 20 55 7 47
Florida Panthers 82 17 59 6 40
NORTHEAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Montreal Canadiens 82 52 27 3 107
Pittsburgh Penguins 82 48 29 5 101
Boston Bruins 82 47 29 6 100
Buffalo Sabres 82 38 39 5 81
Hartford Whalers 82 33 44 5 71
Ottawa Senators 82 29 48 5 63
CENTRAL DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Detroit Red Wings 82 45 30 7 97
Chicago Black Hawks 82 42 35 5 89
Toronto Maple Leafs 82 40 34 8 88
St Louis Blues 82 34 39 9 77
Dallas Stars 82 31 44 7 69
Phoenix Coyotes 82 23 49 10 56
PACIFIC DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Colorado Avalanche 82 59 19 4 129
Calgary Flames 82 52 21 9 113
Anaheim Mighty Ducks 82 42 32 8 92
Edmonton Oilers 82 30 44 8 68
Vancouver Canucks 82 29 47 6 64
Los Angeles Kings 82 27 48 7 61
San Jose Sharks 82 19 53 10 48
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Mario Lemieux PIT 82 51 96 147
Joe Sakic COL 82 47 92 139
Jaromir Jagr PIT 82 71 59 130
Theo Fleury CGY 82 47 83 130
Brett Hull CGY 82 59 64 123
Owen Nolan COL 80 58 53 111
Ray Bourque BOS 82 44 67 111
Craig Janney BOS 82 41 63 104
Ron Francis HAR 77 50 50 100
Luc Robitaille LA 82 46 54 100
Pierre Turgeon BUF 82 31 69 100
Pat LaFontaine NYI 82 36 61 97
Phil Housley BUF 82 19 77 96
Doug Gilmour STL 82 27 67 94
Brian Leetch NYR 80 23 70 93
Valeri Kamensky COL 82 29 63 92
Sergei Federov DET 82 29 62 91
Brendan Morrison NJ 82 34 56 90
Vincent Damphousse TOR 80 31 59 90
Zigmund Palffy NYI 82 31 59 90
GOALIE WIN LEADERS TM W-L-T GAA SAVE%
Patrick Roy MON 47-25-4 2.60 .908
Tom Barrasso BOS 43-22-8 2.37 .894
John Vanbiesbrouck NYR 40-20-12 2.48 .902
Dominik Hasek CHI 35-29-6 2.69 .902
Eddie Belfour ANA 34-32-8 2.63 .906
Ron Tugnutt COL 32-10-3 2.54 .892
Jon Casey PIT 28-8-1 2.32 .899
Darren Puppa CGY 28-10-3 2.37 .901
Stephane Fiset COL 27-7-2 1.85 .918
Andy Moog BUF 26-20-5 3.12 .890
PLAYOFFS
It was an exciting opening round of the playoffs as half of the 8 series went the distance. Montreal swept Washington in 4 straight games but the other 3 Eastern Series all went the full 7 games. The Islanders knocked off Lemieux's Penguins, the Devils beat Boston and the Rangers tripped up Philadelphia.
The only series in the West to go 7 so Anaheim surprise Chicago. Other winners were Detroit over St Louis in 5, Colorado topped Dallas in 6 while Calgary swept Toronto.
The next round featured two unbelievable upsets in the west. The Detroit Red Wings, led by Steve Yzerman's 9 points in the series, upset Calgary in 5 games while the Anaheim Ducks shocked Colorado in six. The East stayed to script a little better with the top two seeds advancing: Montreal with a win over the Islanders in 5 games while the New York Rangers dropped New Jersey in seven. After the Rangers had lost Game Five to fall behind 3 games to two, Ranger star Brian Leetch made headlines by guaranteeing his club would win the series and then backed his words up with 2 goals in a 5-2 Game Six win and 3 assists in another 5-2 victory in Game Seven.
CONFERENCE FINALS
Instead of Calgary-Colorado fans were treated to an Anaheim-Detroit Western Conference Final. The young Ducks were coming off an upset of the mighty Avalanche but advanced to their first conference final without defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky (19-52-71), who suffered a leg injury ih the final game against Colorado. Without his presence quarterbacking the powerplay the Ducks went out meekly in the conference final round, exiting in 5 games against Detroit. Steve Yzerman continued his hot play for the Wings as he enters the finals with a team leading 14 goals and 24 points in 15 playoff contests.
The top playoff point getter is the Rangers' Leetch, who found his team again trailing a series 3 games to two. Leetch made no promise of victory this time but did get 2 assists to run his playoff point total to 32 in a Game Six win for New York. However, the Canadiens would claim the series two nights later in Montreal by taking the 7th game 2-1 as Patrick Roy had a 38 save masterpiece and Darcy Tucker got the series winner with 7 minutes remaining in regulation.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
It has been quite some time since we have had an Original Six final, all the way back to 1981-82 when the Rangers beat Toronto. The Canadiens and Red Wings meet for the 8th time but the first since Detroit won in 1959. Montreal leads all time with 21 Stanley Cup titles including their most recent one coming just over a decade ago in 1986. The Wings have had recent success with 2 of their 6 Cup wins in the past decade: 1988 over Pittsburgh and 1991 over Hartford.
Detroit certainly has the offensive edge led by Steve Yzerman (14-10-24), Sergei Federov (6-11-17) and a deep supporting cast including Adam Oates, Keith Primeau, Petr Klima, Joe Murphy and defenseman Nik Lidstrom. Most of Montreal's playoff offense has come from the line of Saku Koivu (10-15-25), John LeClair (8-10-18) and Mike Keane (2-13-15) with only Eric Daze (8-3-11) and defenseman Eric Desjardins (5-6-11) adding much more to the offense. Veteran captain Chris Chelios (2-8-10) has not had the playoff one would have expected from the team's regular season scoring leader. The big equalizer for Montreal is in net where Patrick Roy has been outstanding. Detroit has relied on Jeff Hackett with Chris Osgood also seeing some playoff action.
The series opens at the Bell Centre and the visiting Wings make a statement, chasing Roy in an 8-2 Red Wing rout in Game One. Adam Graves gets two goals to lead the Wings with Joe Murphy, Darren McCarty, Nik Lidstrom, Martin Lapointe, Anders Ericksson and Mike Rathje rounding out the offense. Yzerman and Federov each earn 2 assists. Eric Daze and John LeClair reply for Montreal.
Patrick Roy has another rough start in Game Two as Montreal falls behind 3-0 but he settles down and the Canadiens rally for a 6-4 victory to even the series. Six different Canadiens score as Andrew Cassels, Eric Desjardins, Mike Keane, Saku Koivu, Michael Peca and Brian Skrudland all beat Hackett in the Detroit net. The Wings goals come from Klima, Lapointe, McCarty and Joby Messier.
The octopus are out in full force as the Wings win Game Three 4-3 in overtime but suffer a big loss in the process. The loss is in the form of Sergei Federov, who leaves the game in the second period with a broken hand that ends his season. The Wings get the game winner at 8:21 in overtime after Keith Primeau converts a pass from Steve Yzerman. Yzerman had tied the game with less than 3 minutes remaining in regulation when he scored his second goal of the contest. Adam Graves had the other Detroit goal while Mike Keane, Steve Chiasson and Sergei Krivokrasov were the Montreal marksmen. Both Hackett and Roy were very good in net as Detroit outshot the Habs 39-35.
Game Four is a goaltender's duel that Roy and Hackett keep scoreless until the 8 minute mark of the third period. Detroit strikes first as Adam Oates gets a powerplay goal but Montreal ties the game up just over 2 minutes later when Craig Rivet notches his first-ever playoff goal. It looks like we are headed to overtime for the second straight game until Mike Peca takes a slashing penalty to put the Canadiens down a man with 1:15 remaining in regulation. It takes the Wings just 20 seconds of powerplay time to wrap up the 2-1 victory thanks to a Murray Craven goal with Yzerman and Lidstrom drawing the assists. The victory gives Detroit a 3 games to one series lead heading back to Montreal.
Jeff Hackett was injured prior to Game Five so Chris Osgood takes over between the pipes for the Wings. Osgood makes 27 saves and the Wings get 2 goals and an assist from Adam Oates to win the Cup with a 4-1 victory in the fifth game. Martin Lapointe gets 2 assists in the win while Joel Bouchard and Vyacheslav Kozlov also score for the Wings. Shayne Corson gets the lone Montreal goal.
Steve Yzerman, with a playoff leading 16 goals and 30 points, is named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP for the second time in his career.
Code:
PLAYOFF SCORING LEADERS GP G A PTS
Brian Leetch NYR 21 7 25 32
Steve Yzerman DET 20 16 14 30
Saku Koivu MON 21 11 17 28
Doug Weight NYR 21 8 16 24
Tony Amonte NYR 21 14 9 23
Adam Oates DET 20 8 15 23
John LeClair MON 21 9 13 22
Joe Sakic COL 12 6 14 20
Sergei Federov DET 18 6 13 19
Petr Klima DET 20 6 13 19
Keith Primeau DET 20 6 13 19
Mike Keane MON 21 4 15 19
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh (82GP 51-96-147)
VEZINA TROPHY: Patrick Roy Montreal (47-25-4 2.60)
NORRIS TROPHY: Nicklas Lidstrom Detroit (82GP 19-58-77)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh (82GP 51-96-147)
CALDER TROPHY: Dmitri Starostenko Montreal (82GP 19-31-50)
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Patrick Roy Montreal Eddie Belfour Anaheim
D Nik Lidstrom Detroit Brian Leetch NY Rangers
D Phil Housley Buffalo Chris Chelios Montreal
C Mario Lemieux Pittsbugh Joe Sakic Colorado
LW Luc Robitaille Los Angeles Valeri Kamensky Colorado
RW Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh Brett Hull Calgary