1996–97 New York Rangers season

The 1996–97 New York Rangers season was the Rangers' 71st season. The highlight of the season was that it was Wayne Gretzky’s first season in New York.

The Rangers qualified for the playoffs as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, and advanced all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals where they were defeated by the Philadelphia Flyers. This marked the last playoff appearance for the Rangers until the 2005-06 season.

Regular season

The Rangers had the fewest power-play opportunities during the regular season (287), but the best power-play percentage (21.95%).^[1]

Final standings

Atlantic Division
No.	CR		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	1	New Jersey Devils	82	45	23	14	231	182	104
2	3	Philadelphia Flyers	82	45	24	13	274	217	103
3	4	Florida Panthers	82	35	28	19	221	201	89
4	5	New York Rangers	82	38	34	10	258	231	86
5	9	Washington Capitals	82	33	40	9	214	231	75
6	11	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	32	40	10	217	247	74
7	12	New York Islanders	82	29	41	12	240	250	70

Eastern Conference^[2]
R		Div	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	New Jersey Devils	ATL	82	45	23	14	231	182	104
2	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	40	30	12	237	208	92
3	Philadelphia Flyers	ATL	82	45	24	13	274	217	103
4	Florida Panthers	ATL	82	35	28	19	221	201	89
5	New York Rangers	ATL	82	38	34	10	258	231	86
6	Pittsburgh Penguins	NE	82	38	36	8	285	280	84
7	Ottawa Senators	NE	82	31	36	15	226	234	77
8	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	31	36	15	249	276	77

9	Washington Capitals	ATL	82	33	40	9	214	231	75
10	Hartford Whalers	NE	82	32	39	11	226	256	75
11	Tampa Bay Lightning	ATL	82	32	40	10	217	247	74
12	New York Islanders	ATL	82	29	41	12	240	250	70
13	Boston Bruins	NE	82	26	47	9	234	300	61

Divisions: ATL – Atlantic, NE – Northeast

bold – Qualified for playoffs

Schedule and results

1996-97 Game Log

October: 5-6-3 (Home: 4-3-1; Road: 1-3-0)

November: 4-7-1 (Home: 0-3-0; Road: 4-4-1)

December: 11-3-1 (Home: 7-1-1; Road: 4-2-0)

January: 5-4-2 (Home: 3-3-2; Road: 2-1-0)

February: 3-6-2 (Home: 1-1-1; Road: 2-5-1)

March: 7-6-0 (Home: 4-2-0; Road: 3-4-0)

April: 3-2-1 (Home: 2-1-1; Road: 1-1-0)

Playoffs

Main article: 1997 Stanley Cup playoffs

Key: Win Loss

1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Conference Quarter-finals: vs. (4) Florida Panthers - New York Rangers win series 4-1
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	April 17	New York Rangers	0 - 3	Florida Panthers		Florida leads series 1-0
2	April 20	New York Rangers	3 - 0	Florida Panthers		Series tied 1-1
3	April 22	Florida Panthers	3 - 4	New York Rangers	OT	New York Rangers lead series 2-1
4	April 23	Florida Panthers	2 - 3	New York Rangers		New York Rangers lead series 3-1
5	April 25	New York Rangers	3 - 2	Florida Panthers	OT	New York Rangers win series 4-1

Conference Semi-finals: vs. (1) New Jersey Devils - New York Rangers win series 4-1
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	May 2	New York Rangers	0 - 2	New Jersey Devils		New Jersey leads series 1-0
2	May 4	New York Rangers	2 - 0	New Jersey Devils		Series tied 1-1
3	May 6	New Jersey Devils	2 - 3	New York Rangers		New York Rangers lead series 2-1
4	May 8	New Jersey Devils	0 - 3	New York Rangers		New York Rangers lead series 3-1
5	May 11	New York Rangers	2 - 1	New Jersey Devils	OT	New York Rangers win series 4-1

Conference Finals: vs. (3) Philadelphia Flyers - Philadelphia wins series 4-1
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	May 16	New York Rangers	1 - 3	Philadelphia Flyers		Philadelphia leads series 1-0
2	May 18	New York Rangers	5 - 4	Philadelphia Flyers		Series tied 1-1
3	May 20	Philadelphia Flyers	6 - 3	New York Rangers		Philadelphia leads series 2-1
4	May 23	Philadelphia Flyers	3 - 2	New York Rangers		Philadelphia leads series 3-1
5	May 25	New York Rangers	2 - 4	Philadelphia Flyers		Philadelphia wins series 4-1

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	82	25	72	97	12	28
Messier, MarkMark Messier	71	36	48	84	12	88
Leetch, BrianBrian Leetch	82	20	58	78	31	40
Graves, AdamAdam Graves	82	33	28	61	10	66
Sundstrom, NiklasNiklas Sundstrom	82	24	28	52	23	20
Robitaille, LucLuc Robitaille	69	24	24	48	16	48
Karpovtsev, AlexanderAlexander Karpovtsev	77	9	29	38	1	59
Kovalev, AlexeiAlexei Kovalev	45	13	22	35	11	42
Driver, BruceBruce Driver	79	5	25	30	8	48
Flatley, PatrickPatrick Flatley	68	10	12	22	6	26
Nemchinov, SergeiSergei Nemchinov^‡	63	6	13	19	5	12
Samuelsson, UlfUlf Samuelsson	73	6	11	17	3	138
Noonan, BrianBrian Noonan^†^‡	44	6	9	15	-7	28
Berg, BillBill Berg	67	8	6	14	2	37
Goneau, DanielDaniel Goneau	41	10	3	13	-5	10
Beukeboom, JeffJeff Beukeboom	80	3	9	12	22	167
Vorobiev, VladimirVladimir Vorobiev	16	5	5	10	4	6
Langdon, DarrenDarren Langdon	60	3	6	9	-1	195
Eastwood, MikeMike Eastwood^†	27	1	7	8	2	10
Lidster, DougDoug Lidster	48	3	4	7	10	24
Courtnall, RussRuss Courtnall^†	14	2	5	7	-3	2
Oliver, DavidDavid Oliver^†	14	2	1	3	3	4
Tikkanen, EsaEsa Tikkanen^†	14	1	2	3	0	6
Ferraro, ChrisChris Ferraro	12	1	1	2	1	6
Dube, ChristianChristian Dube	27	1	1	2	-4	4
VandenBussche, RyanRyan VandenBussche	11	1	0	1	-2	30
More, JaysonJayson More^‡	14	0	1	1	0	25
Cairns, EricEric Cairns	40	0	1	1	-7	147
Churla, ShaneShane Churla	45	0	1	1	-10	106
Nielsen, JeffJeff Nielsen	2	0	0	0	-1	2
Ferraro, PeterPeter Ferraro	2	0	0	0	0	0
Eakins, DallasDallas Eakins^†	3	0	0	0	-1	6
Blouin, SylvainSylvain Blouin	6	0	0	0	-1	18
Momesso, SergioSergio Momesso^‡	9	0	0	0	-2	11

Playoffs
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	15	10	10	20	2
Tikkanen, EsaEsa Tikkanen	15	9	3	12	26
Messier, MarkMark Messier	15	3	9	12	6
Robitaille, LucLuc Robitaille	15	4	7	11	4
Leetch, BrianBrian Leetch	15	2	8	10	6
Courtnall, RussRuss Courtnall	15	3	4	7	0
Lidster, DougDoug Lidster	15	1	5	6	8
Sundstrom, NiklasNiklas Sundstrom	9	0	5	5	2
Karpovtsev, AlexanderAlexander Karpovtsev	13	1	3	4	20
Eastwood, MikeMike Eastwood	15	1	2	3	22
Graves, AdamAdam Graves	15	2	1	3	12
Samuelsson, UlfUlf Samuelsson	15	0	2	2	30
Beukeboom, JeffJeff Beukeboom	15	0	1	1	34
Driver, BruceBruce Driver	15	0	1	1	2
Eakins, DallasDallas Eakins	4	0	0	0	4
Ferraro, PeterPeter Ferraro	2	0	0	0	0
Gernander, KenKen Gernander	9	0	0	0	0
Churla, ShaneShane Churla	15	0	0	0	20
Cairns, EricEric Cairns	3	0	0	0	0
Dube, ChristianChristian Dube	3	0	0	0	0
Oliver, DavidDavid Oliver	3	0	0	0	0
Langdon, DarrenDarren Langdon	10	0	0	0	2
Berg, BillBill Berg	3	0	0	0	2
Flatley, PatrickPatrick Flatley	11	0	0	0	14

Goaltenders

Regular Season
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO
Richter, MikeMike Richter	61	3598	33	22	6	161	2.68	1945	.917	4
Healy, GlennGlenn Healy	23	59	5	12	4	59	2.61	632	.907	1

Playoffs
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO
Richter, MikeMike Richter	15	939	9	6	33	2.11	488	.932	3

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.
^‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

^[3]

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Draft picks

New York's picks at the 1996 NHL Entry Draft in St. Louis, Missouri at the Kiel Center.

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	22	Jeff Brown	D	Canada	Sarnia Sting (OHL)
2	48	Daniel Goneau	LW	Canada	Granby Predateurs (QMJHL)
3	76	Dmitri Subbotin	LW	Russia	HC CSKA Moscow (Russia)
5	131	Colin Pepperall	LW	Canada	Niagara Falls Thunder (OHL)
6	158	Ola Sandberg	D	Sweden	Djurgardens IF (SEL)
7	185	Jeff Dessner	D	United States	Taft H.S. (Connecticut)
8	211	Ryan McKie	D	Canada	London Knights (OHL)
9	237	Ronnie Sundin	D	Sweden	Frolunda HC (SEL)

Awards and records

James Norris Memorial Trophy: Brian Leetch

References

Rangers on Hockey Database

↑ http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1997.html
↑ "1996-1997 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
↑ "1996-97 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-08-01.

1996–97 NHL season

Northeast Division	Boston Buffalo Hartford Montreal Ottawa Pittsburgh

Atlantic Division	Florida New Jersey NY Islanders NY Rangers Philadelphia Tampa Bay Washington

Central Division	Chicago Dallas Detroit Phoenix St. Louis Toronto

Pacific Division	Anaheim Calgary Colorado Edmonton Los Angeles San Jose Vancouver

See also	Draft Red Wings–Avalanche brawl Legion of Doom Stanley Cup Playoffs Stanley Cup Finals

New York Rangers

Founded in 1926
Based in New York City, New York

Franchise

History

Personnel

Owners: The Madison Square Garden Company (James Dolan, chairman)
President: Glen Sather
General manager: Jeff Gorton
Head coach: Alain Vigneault
Team captain: Ryan McDonagh
Current roster

Arenas

Rivalries

Affiliates

AHL: Hartford Wolf Pack

ECHL: Greenville Swamp Rabbits

General managers

Head coaches

Media

Networks

TV	MSG Network

Radio	WEPN-FM

Broadcasters

TV	Sam Rosen Joe Micheletti

Radio	Kenny Albert Dave Maloney

Culture and lore

New York Rangers seasons

1920s	1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30

1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40

1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50

1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60

1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70

1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80

1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90

1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00

2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10

2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

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