The 1997–98 NHL season was the 81st regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL). For the first time, there was a break in the regular season to allow NHL players join their respective national hockey teams competing at the Winter Olympics. The Hartford Whalers relocated to North Carolina, becoming the Carolina Hurricanes. The Stanley Cup champions were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Washington Capitals in four games.
League business
Approval of four expansion teams
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.
To accommodate the incoming expansion teams, 1997–98 became 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, with the Toronto Maple Leafs moving from the Western to Eastern Conference, among others.
Franchise relocation
The Hartford Whalers relocated to North Carolina, becoming the Carolina Hurricanes. They would remain in the Northeast Division until realignment the following season. It would be another 14 years before another NHL team would relocate.
Entry draft
The 1997 NHL entry draft was held at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 21. Joe Thornton was selected first overall by the Boston Bruins.
Rule changes
Due to the retirement of Craig MacTavish after the 1996–97 season, all NHL players were now required to wear helmets. MacTavish was the last helmetless player remaining in the league to be grandfathered in to 1979–80 rules requiring incoming players to wear helmets.
Arena changes
- The relocated Carolina Hurricanes moved from Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut to Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, while their new arena in Raleigh, North Carolina was under construction.
- The Washington Capitals moved from US Airways Arena in Landover, Maryland to the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. on December 5, 1997, with MCI acquiring the naming rights.
Regular season
First international regular season games
The Vancouver Canucks and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim opened the season with a two-game series at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan, on October 3 and 4, 1997, the first time the NHL played regular games outside of North America.
Olympics and new All-Star Game format
This was the first time that the NHL took a break during the regular season to allow NHL players join their respective national hockey teams competing at the Winter Olympics. The league's break lasted 17 days from February 8 to 24 while NHL players participated at the men's hockey event at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
As a preview for the NHL's first Olympic participation, a new format was introduced at the 1998 All-Star Game at General Motors Place in Vancouver, the home to the Vancouver Canucks, on January 18. The league had the all-star teams consist of a team of North Americans playing against a team of players from the rest of the world.
Highlights
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.
Jari Kurri reached 600 goals in his career, finishing with 601.
For the first time since 1968–69 season, the Chicago Blackhawks missed the playoffs.
Final standings
;Eastern Conference
;Western Conference
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 took place in Toronto, Ontario
{| class="wikitable"
| Presidents' Trophy: || Dallas Stars
|-
| Prince of Wales Trophy: <br><small>(Eastern Conference playoff champion)</small> || Washington Capitals
|-
| Clarence S. Campbell Bowl: <br><small>(Western Conference playoff champion)</small> || Detroit Red Wings
|-
| Art Ross Trophy: || Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins
|-
| Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy: || Jamie McLennan, St. Louis Blues
|-
| Calder Memorial Trophy: || Sergei Samsonov, Boston Bruins
|-
| Frank J. Selke Trophy: || Jere Lehtinen, Dallas Stars
|-
| Hart Memorial Trophy: || Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres
|-
| Conn Smythe Trophy: || Steve Yzerman, Detroit Red Wings
|-
| Jack Adams Award: || Pat Burns, Boston Bruins
|-
| James Norris Memorial Trophy: || Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings
|-
| King Clancy Memorial Trophy: || Kelly Chase, St. Louis Blues
|-
| Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: || Ron Francis, Pittsburgh Penguins
|-
| Lester B. Pearson Award: || Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres
|-
| NHL Foundation Player Award: || Kelly Chase, St. Louis Blues
|-
| NHL Plus-Minus Award: || Chris Pronger, St. Louis Blues
|-
| Vezina Trophy: || Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres
|-
| William M. Jennings Trophy: || Martin Brodeur, 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
|-
|Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
| align=center | D
|Chris Pronger, St. Louis Blues
|-
|Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings
| align=center | D
|Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey Devils
|-
|Peter Forsberg, Colorado Avalanche
| align=center | C
|Wayne Gretzky, New York Rangers
|-
|Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins
| align=center | RW
|Teemu Selanne, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
|-
|John LeClair, Philadelphia Flyers
| align=center | LW
|Keith Tkachuk, Phoenix Coyotes
|}
Player statistics
Scoring leaders
{|
|-
! Regular season !! Playoffs
|- valign="top"
|
{| class="wikitable"
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="37.5%" | Player
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30%"| Team
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%" | GP
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%" | G
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%" | A
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="10%" | PTS
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Jaromir Jagr || Pittsburgh || 77 || 35 || 67 || 102
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Peter Forsberg || Colorado || 72 || 25 || 66 || 91
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Pavel Bure || Vancouver || 82 || 51 || 39 || 90
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Wayne Gretzky || NY Rangers || 82 || 23 || 67 || 90
|- align="center"
| align="left" | John LeClair || Philadelphia || 82 || 51 || 36 || 87
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Zigmund Palffy || NY Islanders || 82 || 45 || 42 || 87
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Ron Francis || Pittsburgh || 81 || 25 || 62 || 87
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Teemu Selanne || Anaheim || 73 || 52 || 34 || 86
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Jason Allison || Boston || 81 || 33 || 50 || 83
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Jozef Stumpel || Los Angeles || 77 || 21 || 58 || 79
|- align="center"
| align="left" |Peter Bondra || Washington || 76 ||52|| 26|| 78
|}
Source: NHL.
|
{| class="wikitable"
! Player !! Team !! GP !! G !! A !! Pts
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Steve Yzerman || Detroit || 22 || 6 || 18 || 24
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Sergei Fedorov || Detroit || 22 || 10 || 10 || 20
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Tomas Holmstrom || Detroit || 22 || 7 || 12 || 19
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Nicklas Lidstrom || Detroit || 22 || 6 || 13 || 19
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Joe Juneau || Washington || 21 || 7 || 10 || 17
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Adam Oates || Washington || 21 || 6 || 11 || 17
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Martin Lapointe || Detroit || 21 || 9 || 6 || 15
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Larry Murphy || Detroit || 22 || 3 || 12 || 15
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Vyacheslav Kozlov || Detroit || 22 || 6 || 8 || 14
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Mike Modano || Dallas || 17 || 4 || 10 || 14
|}
|}
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%
|-
| Ed Belfour || Dallas || 65 || 3581 || 112 || 9 || 1.88 || .916
|-
| Martin Brodeur || New Jersey || 70 || 4128 || 130 || 10 || 1.89 || .917
|-
| Tom Barrasso || Pittsburgh || 63 || 3542 || 122 || 7 || 2.07 || .922
|-
| Dominik Hasek || Buffalo || 72 || 4220 || 147 || 13 || 2.09 || .932
|-
| Ron Hextall || Philadelphia || 46 || 2688 || 97 || 4 || 2.17 || .911
|-
| Trevor Kidd || Carolina || 47 || 2685 || 97 || 3 || 2.17 || .922
|-
| Jamie McLennan || St. Louis || 30 || 1658 || 60 || 2 || 2.17 || .903
|-
| Jeff Hackett || Chicago || 58 || 3441 || 126 || 8 || 2.20 || .917
|-
| Olaf Kolzig || Washington || 64 || 3788 || 139 || 5 || 2.20 || .920
|-
| Chris Osgood || Detroit || 64 || 3807 || 140 || 6 || 2.21 || .913
|}