1996–97 NHL season

The 1996–97 NHL season was the 80th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Winnipeg Jets relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, becoming the Phoenix Coyotes. The Stanley Cup winners were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Philadelphia Flyers in four games and won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 42 years.

The regular season saw a decline in scoring and rise in the number of shutouts to an all-time record of 127. This trend continued into the playoffs, during which an all-time record of 18 shutouts were recorded. Only two players, Mario Lemieux and Teemu Selanne, reached the 100-point plateau during the regular season (compared with 12 who reached the plateau in 1995–96). Many regulatory factors, including ruling changes that resulted in fewer power plays, more calls of the skate-in-the-crease rule, fewer shots on goal and more injuries to star players than the season before, contributed to the reduction in scoring and skyrocketing in shutouts.

This was the first time in 30 years—and in the entire expansion era—that the Boston Bruins had a losing record and missed the playoffs, ending a still-unsurpassed North American professional sports streak of 29-straight seasons in the playoffs.

League business

Franchise relocation

This was the first season for the Phoenix Coyotes, who had relocated from Winnipeg and had previously been known as the first incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets. They would remain in the Central Division.

On March 26, 1997, the Hartford Whalers announced that they would move from Connecticut following the 1996–97 season. On May 5, they announced that starting in the 1997–98 NHL season, they would be known as the Carolina Hurricanes.

Entry draft

The 1996 NHL entry draft was held at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 22. Chris Phillips was selected first overall by the Ottawa Senators.

Rule changes

The maximum stick length was increased from the 60-inch limit set in 1985–86 to 63 inches.
Offside rules were clarified, requiring all players to clear their opponents' zone before they can shoot the puck back into that zone.

A large-scale on-ice brawl occurred during the Colorado Avalanche–Detroit Red Wings game on March 26. The game featured 18 fighting major penalties and 144 minutes in penalties.

Final standings

;Eastern Conference

;Western Conference

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points

Playoffs

Bracket

The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs, with the two division winners seeded 1–2 based on regular season records, and the six remaining teams seeded 3–8. In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). The NHL used "re-seeding" instead of a fixed bracket playoff system. During the first three rounds, the highest remaining seed in each conference was matched against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed played the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth. The higher-seeded team was awarded home-ice advantage. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Awards

The NHL Awards presentation took place on June 19, 1997.

{| class="wikitable"

| Presidents' Trophy: || Colorado Avalanche

| Prince of Wales Trophy: (Eastern Conference playoff champion) || Philadelphia Flyers

| Clarence S. Campbell Bowl: (Western Conference playoff champion) || Detroit Red Wings

| Art Ross Trophy: || Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins

| Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy: || Tony Granato, San Jose Sharks

| Calder Memorial Trophy: || Bryan Berard, New York Islanders

| Conn Smythe Trophy: || Mike Vernon, Detroit Red Wings

| Frank J. Selke Trophy: || Michael Peca, Buffalo Sabres

| Hart Memorial Trophy: || Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres

| Jack Adams Award: || Ted Nolan, Buffalo Sabres

| James Norris Memorial Trophy: || Brian Leetch, New York Rangers

| King Clancy Memorial Trophy: || Trevor Linden, Vancouver Canucks

| Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: || Paul Kariya, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

| Lester B. Pearson Award: || Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres

| NHL Plus-Minus Award: || John LeClair, Philadelphia Flyers

| Vezina Trophy: || Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres

| William M. Jennings Trophy: || Martin Brodeur/Mike Dunham, New Jersey Devils

All-Star teams

{| class="wikitable"

! First Team !!   Position   !! Second Team

|Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres

| align=center | G

|Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils

|Brian Leetch, New York Rangers

| align=center | D

|Chris Chelios, Chicago Blackhawks

|Sandis Ozolinsh, Colorado Avalanche

| align=center | D

|Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils

|Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins

| align=center | C

|Wayne Gretzky, New York Rangers

|Teemu Selanne, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

| align=center | RW

|Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins

|Paul Kariya, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

| align=center | LW

|John LeClair, Philadelphia Flyers

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

! Regular season !! Playoffs

|- style="vertical-align:top"

{| class="wikitable"

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Mario Lemieux || Pittsburgh || 76 || 50 || 72 || 122

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Teemu Selanne || Anaheim || 78 || 51 || 58 || 109

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Paul Kariya || Anaheim || 69 || 44 || 55 || 99

|- align="center"

| align="left" | John LeClair || Philadelphia || 82 || 50 || 47 || 97

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Wayne Gretzky || NY Rangers || 82 || 25 || 72 || 97

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Jaromir Jagr || Pittsburgh || 63 || 47 || 48 || 95

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Mats Sundin || Toronto || 82 || 41 || 53 || 94

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Zigmund Palffy || NY Islanders || 80 || 48 || 42 || 90

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Ron Francis || Pittsburgh || 81 || 27 || 63 || 90

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Brendan Shanahan || Hartford/ Detroit || 81 || 47 || 41 || 88

Source: NHL.

{| class="wikitable"

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Eric Lindros || Phi || 19 || 12 || 14 || 26

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Joe Sakic || Col || 17 || 8 || 17 || 25

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Claude Lemieux || Col || 17 || 13 || 10 || 23

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Valeri Kamensky || Col || 17 || 8 || 14 || 22

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Rod Brind'Amour || Phi || 19 || 13 || 8 || 21

|- align="center"

| align="left" | John LeClair || Phi || 19 || 9 || 12 || 21

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Wayne Gretzky || NYR || 15 || 10 || 10 || 20

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Sergei Fedorov || Det || 20 || 8 || 12 || 20

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Brendan Shanahan || Det || 20 || 9 || 8 || 17

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Peter Forsberg || Col || 14 || 5 || 12 || 17

|- align="center"

| align="left" | Sandis Ozolinsh || Col || 17 || 4 || 13 || 17

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

Leading goaltenders

Regular season

{| class="wikitable"

! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="32%" | Player

! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="22%" | Team

! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="6%" | GP

! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="11%" | MIN

! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="8.5%" | GA

! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="6%" | SO

! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="9.5%" | GAA

! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="15" | SV%

| Martin Brodeur || New Jersey || 67 || 3838 || 120 || 10 || 1.88 || .927

| Andy Moog || Dallas || 48 || 2738 || 98 || 3 || 2.15 || .913

| Jeff Hackett || Chicago || 41 || 2473 || 89 || 2 || 2.16 || .927

| Dominik Hasek || Buffalo || 67 || 4037 || 153 || 5 || 2.27 || .930

| John Vanbiesbrouck || Florida || 57 || 3347 || 128 || 2 || 2.29 || .919

| Chris Osgood || Detroit || 47 || 2769 || 106 || 6 || 2.30 || .910

| Patrick Roy || Colorado || 62 || 3698 || 143 || 7 || 2.32 || .923

| Mark Fitzpatrick || Florida || 30 || 1680 || 66 || 0 || 2.36 || .914

| Mike Vernon || Detroit || 33 || 1952 || 79 || 0 || 2.43 || .899

| Garth Snow || Philadelphia || 35 || 1884 || 79 || 2 || 2.52 || .903