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1996–97 Ottawa Senators season
NHL hockey team season
NHL hockey team season
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| League | NHL |
| Season | 1996–97 |
| year | 1996 |
| Team | Ottawa Senators |
| Conference | Eastern |
| ConferenceRank | 7th |
| Division | Northeast |
| DivisionRank | 3rd |
| Record | 31–36–15 |
| HomeRecord | 16–17–8 |
| RoadRecord | 15–19–7 |
| GoalsFor | 226 |
| GoalsAgainst | 234 |
| GeneralManager | Pierre Gauthier |
| Coach | Jacques Martin |
| Captain | Randy Cunneyworth |
| AltCaptain | Steve Duchesne |
| Alexei Yashin | |
| Arena | Corel Centre |
| Attendance | 15,377 (83.1% capacity) |
| MinorLeague | Worcester IceCats |
| Raleigh IceCaps | |
| GoalsLeader | Alexei Yashin (35) |
| AssistsLeader | Daniel Alfredsson (47) |
| PointsLeader | Alexei Yashin (75) |
| PlusMinusLeader | Frantisek Musil (+6) |
| PIMLeader | Denny Lambert (217) |
| WinsLeader | Ron Tugnutt (17) |
| GAALeader | Damian Rhodes (2.72) |
Alexei Yashin Raleigh IceCaps
The 1996–97 Ottawa Senators season was the fifth season of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). This season saw great improvement by the club, as the team finished out of last place in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the first time in team history, and went on to qualify for the 1997 Stanley Cup playoffs as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. In the playoffs, the Senators lost in the first round (Conference Quarterfinals) to the Buffalo Sabres. This was the first of eleven consecutive playoff appearances for the Senators.
Team business
Off-season
--
Regular season
Ottawa got off to a slow start, with a 7–12–6 record in their first 25 games, but as the season would go on, the team got better, finishing with a .500 record in their remaining 57 games and earned 45 points in the last 41 games of the regular season. The Senators went 10–4–2 in their final 16 games of the season, including a 1–0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in the final game of the season to earn a playoff berth.
Alexei Yashin and Daniel Alfredsson led the club offensively, while Ron Tugnutt and Damian Rhodes provided very solid goaltending for the team throughout the season.
Final standings
Playoffs
The Ottawa Senators ended the 1996–97 regular season as the Eastern Conference's seventh seed. The Senators faced the Buffalo Sabres, and nearly pulled off the upset against their heavily favoured opponent, losing to the Sabres in overtime in the seventh game of the series, a game which included an own-goal by Alexei Yashin when the puck went past Tugnutt after the Sens won a faceoff in their zone.
Schedule and results
Regular season
|- |1||October 5, 1996||3–3 OT|| align="left"| @ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) ||0–0–1||20,639 || |- |2||October 9, 1996||3–3 OT|| align="left"| New York Islanders (1996–97) ||0–0–2||15,352 || |- |3||October 11, 1996||3–2 || align="left"| Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) ||1–0–2||12,337 || |- |4||October 12, 1996||2–3 || align="left"| @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) ||1–1–2||15,472 || |- |5||October 18, 1996||2–2 OT|| align="left"| @ New Jersey Devils (1996–97) ||1–1–3||14,710 || |- |6||October 19, 1996||6–3 || align="left"| Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) ||2–1–3||18,201 || |- |7||October 23, 1996||2–5 || align="left"| @ Florida Panthers (1996–97) ||2–2–3||14,703 || |- |8||October 24, 1996||5–2 || align="left"| @ Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) ||3–2–3||16,286 || |- |9||October 26, 1996||1–5 || align="left"| @ Dallas Stars (1996–97) ||3–3–3||15,118 || |- |10||October 30, 1996||2–2 OT|| align="left"| Los Angeles Kings (1996–97) ||3–3–4||13,053 ||
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| Legend:
Playoffs
|- | 1 || April 17, 1997 || 1–3 || align="left"| @ Buffalo Sabres || Sabres lead 1–0 || 18,595 || |- | 2 || April 19, 1997 || 3–1 || align="left"| @ Buffalo Sabres || Series tied 1–1 || 18,595 || |- | 3 || April 21, 1997 || 2–3 || align="left"| Buffalo Sabres || Sabres lead 2–1 || 18,500 || |- | 4 || April 23, 1997 || 1–0 OT|| align="left"| Buffalo Sabres || Series tied 2–2 || 18,500 || |- | 5 || April 25, 1997 || 4–1 || align="left"| @ Buffalo Sabres || Senators lead 3–2 || 18,595 || |- | 6 || April 27, 1997 || 0–3 || align="left"| Buffalo Sabres || Series tied 3–3 || 18,500 || |- | 7 || April 29, 1997 || 2–3 OT|| align="left"| @ Buffalo Sabres || Sabres win 4–3 || 18,595 ||
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| Legend:
Player statistics
Scoring
- Position abbreviations: C = Centre; D = Defence; 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 Senators only.*
-
- = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Senators only.*
| No. | Player | Pos | Regular season | Playoffs | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | C | 82 | 35 | 40 | 75 | −7 | 44 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −2 | 2 | |||
| 11 | RW | 76 | 24 | 47 | 71 | 5 | 30 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 7 | −1 | 6 | |||
| 91 | C | 82 | 26 | 25 | 51 | −33 | 33 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −5 | 2 | |||
| 28 | D | 78 | 19 | 28 | 47 | −9 | 38 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −3 | 0 | |||
| 7 | LW | 76 | 12 | 24 | 36 | −7 | 99 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −3 | 10 | |||
| 10 | RW | 79 | 12 | 19 | 31 | −6 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 15 | RW | 65 | 11 | 20 | 31 | −5 | 18 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −1 | 8 | |||
| 6 | D | 82 | 6 | 24 | 30 | 1 | 41 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −4 | 2 | |||
| 16 | C | 57 | 12 | 16 | 28 | 2 | 19 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 17 | LW | 68 | 18 | 8 | 26 | −1 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 2 | |||
| 22 | C | 80 | 11 | 14 | 25 | −8 | 35 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 4 | |||
| 25 | RW | 67 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 4 | 49 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 33 | D | 75 | 4 | 17 | 21 | −8 | 67 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 4 | |||
| 27 | D | 76 | 3 | 18 | 21 | −14 | 76 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 6 | |||
| 42 | LW | 80 | 4 | 16 | 20 | −4 | 217 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |||
| 76 | C | 53 | 5 | 13 | 18 | −4 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 4 | |||
| 2 | D | 66 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 91 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 | |||
| 38 | LW | 22 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 9 | |||||||||
| 23 | D | 25 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −5 | 10 | |||||||||
| 20 | RW | 22 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 19 | |||||||||
| 3 | D | 57 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 58 | |||||||||
| 14 | C | 34 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −1 | 8 | |||||||||
| 1 | G | 50 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 44 | D | 21 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −4 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |||
| 26 | LW | 26 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | |||
| 31 | G | 37 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 21 | LW | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 25 | |||||||||
| 29 | D | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 7 | |||||||||
| 35 | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 4 | D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
| 94 | D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Goaltending
| No. | Player | Regular season | Playoffs | GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI | GP | W | L | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 37 | 17 | 15 | 1 | 882 | 93 | 2.80 | .895 | 3 | 1991 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 169 | 14 | 1.98 | .917 | 1 | 425 | |||
| 1 | 50 | 14 | 20 | 14 | 1213 | 133 | 2.72 | .890 | 1 | 2934 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 35 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 4 | 4.64 | .778 | 0 | 52 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Awards and records
Awards
| Type | Award/honour | Recipient | Ref | League | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in-season) | Team | ||||
| [NHL All-Star Game](1997-national-hockey-league-all-star-game) selection | Daniel Alfredsson | ||||
| NHL Rookie of the Month | Wade Redden (April) | ||||
| Molson Cup | Alexei Yashin |
Milestones
| Milestone | Player | Date | Ref | First game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andreas Dackell | October 5, 1996 | |||
| Bruce Gardiner | ||||
| Wade Redden | ||||
| Jason Zent | December 19, 1996 |
Transactions
May 1996
| May 21 | Traded Michel Picard to the Washington Capitals for cash considerations. |
|---|
Source
June 1996
| June 22 | Acquired Shawn McEachern from the Boston Bruins for Trent McCleary and a 3rd round pick in the [1996 NHL entry draft](1996-nhl-entry-draft) - (Eric Naud). |
|---|
Source
July 1996
| July 29 | Signed free agent Denny Lambert from the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to a one-year, $275,000 (CAD) contract. |
|---|---|
| Signed free agent Phil Crowe from the Philadelphia Flyers to a one-year contract. |
Source
August 1996
| August 14 | Signed free agent Ron Tugnutt from the Washington Capitals to a one-year, $280,000 (CAD) contract. |
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Source
September 1996
| September 13 | Signed free agent Dave Hannan from the Colorado Avalanche to a one-year, $250,000 contract. |
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Source
October 1996
| October 10 | Lost free agent Dave Archibald to the New York Islanders on a one-year, $325,000 contract. |
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Source
November 1996
| November 27 | Acquired Christer Olsson from the St. Louis Blues for Pavol Demitra. |
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Source
March 1997
| March 18 | Acquired Mike Prokopec from the Chicago Blackhawks for Denis Chassé, the rights to Kevin Bolibruck and a sixth-round pick in the [1998 NHL entry draft](1998-nhl-entry-draft) - (Chris Neil). |
|---|
Source
April 1997
| April 8 | Re-signed Randy Cunneyworth to a two-year, $1.05 million contract extension for the 1997-98 season and a club option for the 1998-99 season. |
|---|
Source
Draft picks
Ottawa's draft picks at the 1996 NHL entry draft in St. Louis, Missouri.
| Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Chris Phillips | Prince Albert Raiders (WHL) | |
| 4 | 81 | Antti-Jussi Niemi | Jokerit (SM-liiga) | |
| 6 | 136 | Andreas Dackell | Brynäs IF (Elitserien) | |
| 7 | 163 | Francois Hardy | Val-d'Or Foreurs (QMJHL) | |
| 8 | 212 | Erich Goldmann | Adler Mannheim (DEL) | |
| 9 | 216 | Ivan Ciernik | MHC Plastika Nitra (Slovakia) | |
| 9 | 239 | Sami Salo | TPS (SM-liiga) |
Farm teams
Worcester IceCats
Following the 1995-96 season, the Senators suspended the franchise of their American Hockey League affiliate, the Prince Edward Island Senators. Ottawa and the St. Louis Blues announced that they would share an AHL affiliate for the 1996-97 season, the Worcester IceCats. The club was coached by Greg Gilbert.
Worcester finished the season in first place in the New England Division, as the team had a record of 43–23–9–5, earning 100 points. In the post-season, the IceCats were upset by the Providence Bruins in the division semi-finals.
The top scoring Senators player was Mike Maneluk, who led the IceCats with 27 goals and was second in team scoring with 54 points. In the post-season, Jason Zent scored three goals and seven points.
Raleigh IceCaps
Following the 1995–96 season, the Senators ended their affiliation with the Thunder Bay Senators of the Colonial Hockey League. Ottawa and the New Jersey Devils announced they would share an ECHL affiliate for the 1996-97 season, the Raleigh IceCaps. The club was coached by Kurt Kleinendorst.
The IceCaps failed to qualify for the post-season, finishing in fifth place in the East Division with a 30–33–7 record, earning 67 points.
References
- National Hockey League Guide & Record Book 2007
References
- "1996-97 Ottawa Senators Schedule".
- "1997 NHL All-Star Game Rosters".
- "NHL Rookies of the Month".
- Ottawa Senators 2014–15 Media Guide, p.162–82
- "1996-97 NHL Debuts".
- "Transactions".
- "Transactions".
- "Transactions".
- "Transactions".
- "Transactions".
- "Transactions".
- "Transactions".
- "Transactions".
- "Transactions".
- "1996 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".
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