1997–98 New York Rangers season
1997–98 New York Rangers | |
---|---|
Division | 5th Atlantic |
Conference | 11th Eastern |
1997–98 record | 25–39–18 |
Home record | 14–18–9 |
Road record | 11–21–9 |
Goals for | 197 |
Goals against | 231 |
Team information | |
General manager | Neil Smith |
Coach | Colin Campbell (Oct–Feb) John Muckler (Feb–Apr) |
Captain | Brian Leetch |
Arena | Madison Square Garden |
Average attendance | 18,189 |
Minor league affiliate(s) | Hartford Wolf Pack Charlotte Checkers |
Team leaders | |
Goals | Adam Graves/Wayne Gretzky/ Alexei Kovalev/Pat LaFontaine (23) |
Assists | Wayne Gretzky (67) |
Points | Wayne Gretzky (90) |
Penalty minutes | Darren Langdon (197) |
Plus/minus | Tim Sweeney (+7) |
Wins | Mike Richter (21) |
Goals against average | Dan Cloutier (2.50) |
The 1997–98 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 72nd season. The Rangers posted a 25–39–18 record in the regular season and finished in fifth place in the Atlantic Division.[1] New York missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since the 1992–93 season.[2]
The Rangers fired head coach Colin Campbell during the season and replaced him with former Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup-winning coach John Muckler.[3] This was also the first season since the 1990–91 campaign that the Rangers did not have Mark Messier; after a contentious negotiating period, the Rangers elected not to re-sign Messier and he instead joined the Vancouver Canucks.[4]
Regular season
[edit]The Rangers were the only team in the league not to score a short-handed goal.[5]
Final standings
[edit]No. | CR | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | New Jersey Devils | 82 | 48 | 23 | 11 | 225 | 166 | 107 |
2 | 3 | Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 42 | 29 | 11 | 242 | 193 | 95 |
3 | 4 | Washington Capitals | 82 | 40 | 30 | 12 | 219 | 202 | 92 |
4 | 10 | New York Islanders | 82 | 30 | 41 | 11 | 212 | 225 | 71 |
5 | 11 | New York Rangers | 82 | 25 | 39 | 18 | 197 | 231 | 68 |
6 | 12 | Florida Panthers | 82 | 24 | 43 | 15 | 203 | 256 | 63 |
7 | 13 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 17 | 55 | 10 | 151 | 269 | 44 |
R | Div | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | New Jersey Devils | ATL | 82 | 48 | 23 | 11 | 225 | 166 | 107 |
2 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NE | 82 | 40 | 24 | 18 | 228 | 188 | 98 |
3 | Philadelphia Flyers | ATL | 82 | 42 | 29 | 11 | 242 | 193 | 95 |
4 | Washington Capitals | ATL | 82 | 40 | 30 | 12 | 219 | 202 | 92 |
5 | Boston Bruins | NE | 82 | 39 | 30 | 13 | 221 | 194 | 91 |
6 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 82 | 36 | 29 | 17 | 211 | 187 | 89 |
7 | Montreal Canadiens | NE | 82 | 37 | 32 | 13 | 235 | 208 | 87 |
8 | Ottawa Senators | NE | 82 | 34 | 33 | 15 | 193 | 200 | 83 |
9 | Carolina Hurricanes | NE | 82 | 33 | 41 | 8 | 200 | 219 | 74 |
10 | New York Islanders | ATL | 82 | 30 | 41 | 11 | 212 | 225 | 71 |
11 | New York Rangers | ATL | 82 | 25 | 39 | 18 | 197 | 231 | 68 |
12 | Florida Panthers | ATL | 82 | 24 | 43 | 15 | 203 | 256 | 63 |
13 | Tampa Bay Lightning | ATL | 82 | 17 | 55 | 10 | 151 | 269 | 44 |
Divisions: ATL – Atlantic, NE – Northeast
bold – Qualified for playoffs
Schedule and results
[edit]1997–98 regular season[7] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 3–6–5 (home: 2–3–3; road: 1–3–2)
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November: 5–5–4 (home: 2–2–2; road: 3–3–2)
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December: 4–7–3 (home: 3–4–1; road: 1–3–2)
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January: 4–4–3 (home: 3–2–2; road: 1–2–1)
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February: 2–3–1 (home: 0–1–0; road: 2–2–1)
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March: 4–9–2 (home: 3–4–1; road: 1–5–1)
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April: 3–5–0 (home: 1–2–0; road: 2–3–0)
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Legend:
Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
Player statistics
[edit]Scoring
[edit]- Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left Wing; RW = Right Wing
- † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Rangers only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Rangers only.
No. | Player | Pos | Regular season | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | |||
99 | Wayne Gretzky | C | 82 | 23 | 67 | 90 | −11 | 28 |
16 | Pat LaFontaine | C | 67 | 23 | 39 | 62 | −16 | 36 |
27 | Alexei Kovalev | LW | 73 | 23 | 30 | 53 | −22 | 44 |
2 | Brian Leetch | D | 76 | 17 | 33 | 50 | −36 | 32 |
24 | Niklas Sundstrom | RW | 70 | 19 | 28 | 47 | 0 | 24 |
17 | Kevin Stevens | LW | 80 | 14 | 27 | 41 | −7 | 130 |
9 | Adam Graves | LW | 72 | 23 | 12 | 35 | −30 | 41 |
37 | Tim Sweeney | RW | 56 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 7 | 26 |
33 | Bruce Driver | D | 75 | 5 | 15 | 20 | −3 | 46 |
12 | Mike Keane‡ | RW | 70 | 8 | 10 | 18 | −12 | 47 |
5 | Ulf Samuelsson | D | 73 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 1 | 122 |
20 | Brian Skrudland‡ | C | 59 | 5 | 6 | 11 | −4 | 39 |
32 | Mike Eastwood‡ | C | 48 | 5 | 5 | 10 | −2 | 16 |
25 | Alexander Karpovtsev | D | 47 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −1 | 38 |
18 | Bill Berg | C | 67 | 1 | 9 | 10 | −15 | 55 |
26 | Jeff Finley | D | 63 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −3 | 55 |
15 | Darren Langdon | LW | 70 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 197 |
10 | Marc Savard | C | 28 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −4 | 4 |
28 | P. J. Stock† | C | 38 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 114 |
23 | Jeff Beukeboom | D | 63 | 0 | 5 | 5 | −25 | 195 |
39 | Vladimir Vorobiev | RW | 15 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −10 | 6 |
21 | Johan Lindbom | LW | 38 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 28 |
6 | Doug Lidster | D | 36 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 24 |
29 | Eric Cairns | D | 39 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −3 | 92 |
36 | Daniel Goneau | LW | 11 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −4 | 4 |
14 | Geoff Smith | D | 15 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −4 | 6 |
8 | Ryan VandenBussche‡ | RW | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 38 |
4 | Maxim Galanov | D | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
35 | Mike Richter | G | 72 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
30 | Sylvain Blouin | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
34 | Dan Cloutier | G | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | |
12 | Bob Errey† | RW | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −5 | 7 |
14 | Peter Ferraro† | RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 2 |
31 | Jason Muzzatti‡ | G | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
36 | Pierre Sevigny | LW | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
8 | Brad Smyth† | RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
38 | Ronnie Sundin | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
32 | Harry York† | C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
Goaltending
[edit]- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Rangers only.
No. | Player | Regular season | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI | ||
35 | Mike Richter | 72 | 21 | 31 | 15 | 1888 | 184 | 2.66 | .903 | 0 | 4143 |
34 | Dan Cloutier | 12 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 248 | 23 | 2.50 | .907 | 0 | 551 |
31 | Jason Muzzatti‡ | 6 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 156 | 17 | 3.26 | .891 | 0 | 313 |
Awards and records
[edit]Awards
[edit]Typ | Award/honor | Recipient | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
League (annual) |
NHL Second All-Star Team | Wayne Gretzky (Center) | [9] |
League (in-season) |
NHL All-Star Game selection | Wayne Gretzky | [10] |
Brian Leetch[a] | |||
Team | Ceil Saidel Memorial Award | Adam Graves | [12] |
Frank Boucher Trophy | Wayne Gretzky | [12] | |
Good Guy Award | Alexei Kovalev | [12] | |
Lars-Erik Sjoberg Award | Marc Savard | [12] | |
Players' Player Award | Darren Langdon | [12] | |
Rangers MVP | Wayne Gretzky | [12] | |
Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award | Wayne Gretzky | [12] |
Milestones
[edit]Milestone | Player | Date | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
1,000th point | Pat LaFontaine | January 22, 1998 | [13] |
Draft picks
[edit]New York's picks at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the Civic Arena.[14][15]
Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 19 | Stefan Cherneski | RW | ![]() |
Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL) |
2 | 46 | Wes Jarvis | D | ![]() |
Kitchener Rangers (OHL) |
3 | 73 | Burke Henry | D | ![]() |
Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL) |
4 | 93 | Tomi Kallarsson | D | ![]() |
HPK Junior (Finland) |
5 | 126 | Jason McLean | G | ![]() |
Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL) |
5 | 134 | Johan Lindbom | RW | ![]() |
HV71 (SEL) |
6 | 136 | Mike York | C | ![]() |
Michigan State University (NCAA) |
6 | 154 | Shawn Degagne | G | ![]() |
Kitchener Rangers (OHL) |
7 | 175 | Johan Holmqvist | G | ![]() |
Brynäs IF (SEL) |
7 | 182 | Mike Mottau | D | ![]() |
Boston College (NCAA) |
8 | 210 | Andrew Proskurnicki | LW | ![]() |
Sarnia Sting (OHL) |
9 | 236 | Richard Miller | D | ![]() |
Providence College (NCAA) |
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "1997–98 New York Rangers Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved January 26, 2010.
- ^ Sandomir, Richard (April 8, 1998). "Hockey; For Garden, No Playoffs Means No Payoff". The New York Times. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
- ^ "Veteran Muckler Hired To Coach N.Y. Rangers". The Philadelphia Inquirer. February 20, 1998. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
- ^ Diamos, Jason (July 29, 1997). "A Bad Feeling Chases Messier Out of New York". The New York Times. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
- ^ "1997–98 NHL Season Summary". Hockey Reference. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
- ^ "1997–1998 Conference Standings". National Hockey League. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
- ^ "1997–98 New York Rangers Schedule and Results". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- ^ "New York Rangers 1997-98 roster and statistics". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- ^ "Postseason All-Star Teams". records.nhl.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- ^ "1998 NHL All-Star Game Rosters". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ "NHL All-Star Game Starting Lineups by Year (since 1986)". NHL.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g 2014–15 New York Rangers Media Guide. New York Rangers. 2014. pp. 349–352.
- ^ "Flyers get victory, spoil LaFontaine feat". Deseret News. Associated Press. January 23, 1998. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- ^ "1997 NHL Entry Draft". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
- ^ "NHL Draft History". National Hockey League. Archived from the original on January 28, 2001. Retrieved July 14, 2012.