1996–97 Phoenix Coyotes season
1996–97 Phoenix Coyotes | |
---|---|
Division | 3rd Central |
Conference | 5th Western |
1996–97 record | 38–37–7 |
Home record | 15–19–7 |
Road record | 23–18–0 |
Goals for | 240 |
Goals against | 243 |
Team information | |
General manager | John Paddock (Oct–Dec) Bobby Smith (Dec–Apr) |
Coach | Don Hay |
Captain | Keith Tkachuk |
Arena | America West Arena |
Average attendance | 15,585 |
Minor league affiliate(s) | Springfield Falcons Mississippi Sea Wolves |
Team leaders | |
Goals | Keith Tkachuk (52) |
Assists | Oleg Tverdovsky (45) |
Points | Keith Tkachuk (86) |
Penalty minutes | Keith Tkachuk (228) |
Plus/minus | Jayson More (+10) |
Wins | Nikolai Khabibulin (30) |
Goals against average | Nikolai Khabibulin (2.83) |
The 1996–97 Phoenix Coyotes season was the team's first of 28 seasons in Arizona in the National Hockey League (NHL) since relocating from Winnipeg the season prior. The franchise's 25th season since its founding in 1972, and 18th season in the National Hockey League since 1979.
Off-season
[edit]The Winnipeg Jets team was sold to Phoenix businessmen Steven Gluckstern and Richard Burke, and in 1996, the club moved to Arizona and became the Phoenix Coyotes.
In the summer that the move took place, the franchise saw the exit of Jets stars like Teemu Selanne and Alexei Zhamnov, while the team added established superstar Jeremy Roenick from the Chicago Blackhawks.
Regular season
[edit]Roenick teamed up with power wingers Keith Tkachuk and Rick Tocchet to form a dynamic 1–2–3 offensive punch that led the Coyotes through their first years in Arizona. Also impressive were young players like Shane Doan (who became the last remaining active original Jet in the NHL), Oleg Tverdovsky and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, whom the fans nicknamed the "Bulin Wall."
Forward Keith Tkachuk was renamed captain, replacing Kris King.
Final standings
[edit]No. | CR | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Dallas Stars | 82 | 48 | 26 | 8 | 252 | 198 | 104 |
2 | 3 | Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 38 | 26 | 18 | 253 | 197 | 94 |
3 | 5 | Phoenix Coyotes | 82 | 38 | 37 | 7 | 240 | 243 | 83 |
4 | 6 | St. Louis Blues | 82 | 36 | 35 | 11 | 236 | 239 | 83 |
5 | 8 | Chicago Blackhawks | 82 | 34 | 35 | 13 | 223 | 210 | 81 |
6 | 11 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 30 | 44 | 8 | 230 | 273 | 68 |
Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.
R | Div | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | p – Colorado Avalanche | PAC | 82 | 49 | 24 | 9 | 277 | 205 | 107 |
2 | Dallas Stars | CEN | 82 | 48 | 26 | 8 | 252 | 198 | 104 |
3 | Detroit Red Wings | CEN | 82 | 38 | 26 | 18 | 253 | 197 | 94 |
4 | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | PAC | 82 | 36 | 33 | 13 | 245 | 233 | 85 |
5 | Phoenix Coyotes | CEN | 82 | 38 | 37 | 7 | 240 | 243 | 83 |
6 | St. Louis Blues | CEN | 82 | 36 | 35 | 11 | 236 | 239 | 83 |
7 | Edmonton Oilers | PAC | 82 | 36 | 37 | 9 | 252 | 247 | 81 |
8 | Chicago Blackhawks | CEN | 82 | 34 | 35 | 13 | 223 | 210 | 81 |
9 | Vancouver Canucks | PAC | 82 | 35 | 40 | 7 | 257 | 273 | 77 |
10 | Calgary Flames | PAC | 82 | 32 | 41 | 9 | 214 | 239 | 73 |
11 | Toronto Maple Leafs | CEN | 82 | 30 | 44 | 8 | 230 | 273 | 68 |
12 | Los Angeles Kings | PAC | 82 | 28 | 43 | 11 | 214 | 268 | 67 |
13 | San Jose Sharks | PAC | 82 | 27 | 47 | 8 | 211 | 278 | 62 |
Divisions: CEN – Central, PAC – Pacific
bold – Qualified for playoffs; p – Won Presidents' Trophy
Playoffs
[edit]In their first year, the Coyotes managed to make the playoffs. However, they lost to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 4 games to 3 in round one.
Schedule and results
[edit]Regular season
[edit]1996–97 regular season[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 4–6–1 (home: 2–3–1; road: 2–3–0)
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November: 4–6–3 (home: 3–4–3; road: 1–2–0)
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December: 9–5–0 (home: 3–2–0; road: 6–3–0)
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January: 5–7–0 (home: 2–3–0; road: 3–4–0)
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February: 6–7–0 (home: 3–4–0; road: 3–3–0)
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March: 7–4–2 (home: 1–3–2; road: 6–1–0)
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April: 3–2–1 (home: 1–0–1; road: 2–2–0)
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Legend:
Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
Playoffs
[edit]1997 Stanley Cup playoffs[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Western Conference Quarterfinals vs. (4) Mighty Ducks of Anaheim – Mighty Ducks win 4–3
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Legend:
Win Loss |
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 Coyotes only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Coyotes only.
No. | Player | Pos | Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | |||
7 | Keith Tkachuk | LW | 81 | 52 | 34 | 86 | −1 | 228 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 7 |
97 | Jeremy Roenick | C | 72 | 29 | 40 | 69 | −7 | 115 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
22 | Mike Gartner | RW | 82 | 32 | 31 | 63 | −11 | 38 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 4 |
20 | Oleg Tverdovsky | D | 82 | 10 | 45 | 55 | −5 | 30 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
15 | Craig Janney | C | 77 | 15 | 38 | 53 | −1 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
77 | Cliff Ronning | C | 69 | 19 | 32 | 51 | −9 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 12 |
11 | Dallas Drake | RW | 63 | 17 | 19 | 36 | −11 | 52 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 2 |
27 | Teppo Numminen | D | 82 | 2 | 25 | 27 | −3 | 28 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
34 | Darrin Shannon | LW | 82 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 4 | 41 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
21 | Bob Corkum | C | 80 | 9 | 11 | 20 | −7 | 40 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −1 | 4 |
4 | Dave Manson‡ | D | 66 | 3 | 17 | 20 | −25 | 164 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
14 | Mike Stapleton | C | 55 | 4 | 11 | 15 | −4 | 36 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 14 |
17 | Kris King | LW | 81 | 3 | 11 | 14 | −7 | 185 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 17 |
5 | Deron Quint | D | 27 | 3 | 11 | 14 | −4 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
44 | Norm Maciver | D | 32 | 4 | 9 | 13 | −11 | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
19 | Shane Doan | RW | 63 | 4 | 8 | 12 | −3 | 49 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
26 | Jeff Finley | D | 65 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −8 | 40 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
8 | Jim Johnson | D | 55 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 74 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
23 | Igor Korolev | C | 41 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −5 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
33 | Jim McKenzie | LW | 65 | 5 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 200 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
18 | Chad Kilger | LW | 24 | 4 | 3 | 7 | −5 | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
6 | Jay More† | D | 23 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 37 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
10 | Brad McCrimmon | D | 37 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
32 | Mike Eastwood‡ | C | 33 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −3 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
4 | Gerald Diduck† | D | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
35 | Nikolai Khabibulin | G | 72 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
32 | Jocelyn Lemieux† | RW | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
43 | Darcy Wakaluk | G | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
36[a] | Murray Baron† | D | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
24 | Kevin Dahl | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
1 | Parris Duffus | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
6 | Dallas Eakins‡ | D | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
47 | Tavis Hansen | RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
28 | Mike Hudson† | C | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
39[b] | Pat Jablonski† | G | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
38 | Jason Simon | LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
3 | Brent Thompson | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
36 | Juha Ylonen | C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Goaltending
[edit]- † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Coyotes only.
No. | Player | Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI | GP | W | L | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI | ||
35 | Nikolai Khabibulin | 72 | 30 | 33 | 6 | 2094 | 193 | 2.83 | .908 | 7 | 4091 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 222 | 15 | 2.11 | .932 | 1 | 426 |
43 | Darcy Wakaluk | 16 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 386 | 39 | 2.99 | .899 | 1 | 782 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
1 | Parris Duffus | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 2.08 | .875 | 0 | 29 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
39[b] | Pat Jablonski† | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 2.04 | .917 | 0 | 59 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Awards and records
[edit]Awards
[edit]Type | Award/honor | Recipient | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
League (in-season) |
NHL All-Star Game selection | Keith Tkachuk[c] | [4] |
Oleg Tverdovsky | |||
Team | Hardest Working Player Award | Dallas Drake | [5] |
Leading Scorer Award | Keith Tkachuk | [5] | |
Man of the Year Award | Kris King | [5] | |
Team MVP Award | Keith Tkachuk | [5] | |
Three-Star Award | Keith Tkachuk | [5] |
Milestones
[edit]Milestone | Player | Date | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
First game | Juha Ylonen | February 12, 1997 | [6] |
Parris Duffus | February 27, 1997 |
Transactions
[edit]Trades
[edit]June 22, 1996 | To Toronto Maple Leafs 4th round pick in 1996 (Vladimir Antipov) |
To Phoenix Coyotes Mike Gartner |
July 1, 1996 | To Calgary Flames 3rd round pick in 1997 (Erik Andersson) |
To Phoenix Coyotes Compensation for head coach Don Hay |
August 16, 1996 | To Chicago Blackhawks Alexei Zhamnov Craig Mills 1st round pick in 1997 (Ty Jones) |
To Phoenix Coyotes Jeremy Roenick |
February 6, 1997 | To New York Rangers Mike Eastwood Dallas Eakins |
To Phoenix Coyotes Jay More |
March 18, 1997 | To Montreal Canadiens Dave Manson Steve Cheredaryk |
To Phoenix Coyotes Murray Baron Pat Jablonski Chris Murray |
Waivers
[edit]September 30, 1996 | From Philadelphia Flyers Bob Corkum |
Free agents
[edit]Joining the Coyotes:
Leaving the Coyotes:
Player | New Team |
Dominic Roussel | Philadelphia Flyers |
Ed Olczyk | Los Angeles Kings |
Craig Martin | Florida Panthers |
Iain Fraser | San Jose Sharks |
Denis Chasse | Ottawa Senators |
Draft picks
[edit]Phoenix's draft picks at the 1996 NHL entry draft held at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri.[7]
Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 11 | Dan Focht (D) | Canada | Tri-City Americans (WHL) |
1 | 24 | Daniel Briere (C) | Canada | Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL) |
3 | 62 | Per-Anton Lundstrom (D) | Sweden | MODO (Sweden) |
5 | 119 | Richard Lintner (D) | Slovakia | Dukla Trencin Jr. (Slovakia) |
6 | 139 | Robert Esche (G) | United States | Detroit Whalers (OHL) |
7 | 174 | Trevor Letowski (RW) | Canada | Sarnia Sting (OHL) |
8 | 200 | Nick Lent (RW) | United States | Omaha Lancers (USHL) |
9 | 226 | Marc-Etienne Hubert (C) | Canada | Laval Titan College Francais (QMJHL) |
Notes
[edit]- ^ Baron wore number 2 in his first three games.
- ^ a b Jablonski wore number 46 in his first game.
- ^ Tkachuk was an injury replacement for Mike Modano of the Dallas Stars.[3]
References
[edit]- "Phoenix Coyotes 1996-97 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
- "1996-97 Phoenix Coyotes Roster, Stats, Injuries, Scores, Results, Shootouts". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
- ^ "1996-1997 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
- ^ a b "1996-97 Phoenix Coyotes Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
- ^ "SPORTS BRIEFS". Deseret News. January 16, 1997. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
- ^ "1997 NHL All-Star Game Rosters". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Arizona Coyotes 2014–2015 Media Guide, p.290
- ^ "1996-97 NHL Debuts". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
- ^ "1996 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 27, 2023.