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1996–97 Phoenix Coyotes season
NHL hockey team season
NHL hockey team season
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| League | NHL |
| Season | 1996–97 |
| year | 1996 |
| Team | Phoenix Coyotes |
| Conference | Western |
| ConferenceRank | 5th |
| Division | Central |
| DivisionRank | 3rd |
| Record | 38–37–7 |
| HomeRecord | 15–19–7 |
| RoadRecord | 23–18–0 |
| GoalsFor | 240 |
| GoalsAgainst | 243 |
| GeneralManager | John Paddock (Oct.–Dec.) |
| Bobby Smith (Dec.–Apr.) | |
| Coach | Don Hay |
| Captain | Keith Tkachuk |
| Arena | America West Arena |
| Attendance | 15,585 |
| MinorLeague | Springfield Falcons |
| Mississippi Sea Wolves | |
| GoalsLeader | Keith Tkachuk (52) |
| AssistsLeader | Oleg Tverdovsky (45) |
| PointsLeader | Keith Tkachuk (86) |
| PIMLeader | Keith Tkachuk (228) |
| PlusMinusLeader | Jayson More (+10) |
| WinsLeader | Nikolai Khabibulin (30) |
| GAALeader | Nikolai Khabibulin (2.83) |
| prev_season | [1995–96 (Winnipeg)](1995-96-winnipeg-jets-season) |
Bobby Smith (Dec.–Apr.) Mississippi Sea Wolves
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
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
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
Playoffs
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
Regular season
|- |1||October 5, 1996||0–1 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Hartford Whalers (1996–97) ||0–1–0 || |- |2||October 7, 1996||5–2 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Boston Bruins (1996–97) ||1–1–0 || |- |3||October 10, 1996||4–1 || style="text-align:left;"| San Jose Sharks (1996–97) ||2–1–0 || |- |4||October 12, 1996||4–2 || style="text-align:left;"| Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97) ||3–1–0 || |- |5||October 14, 1996||3–6 || style="text-align:left;"| Edmonton Oilers (1996–97) ||3–2–0 || |- |6||October 18, 1996||1–3 || style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) ||3–3–0 || |- |7||October 20, 1996||1–1 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Florida Panthers (1996–97) ||3–3–1 || |- |8||October 22, 1996||1–2 || style="text-align:left;"| St. Louis Blues (1996–97) ||3–4–1 || |- |9||October 26, 1996||2–5 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97) ||3–5–1 || |- |10||October 28, 1996||5–4 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) ||4–5–1 || |- |11||October 30, 1996||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Edmonton Oilers (1996–97) ||4–6–1 ||
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Playoffs
|- | 1 || April 16, 1997 || 2–4 || align="left"| @ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim || Mighty Ducks lead 1–0 || |- | 2 || April 18, 1997 || 2–4 || align="left"| @ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim || Mighty Ducks lead 2–0 || |- | 3 || April 20, 1997 || 4–1 || align="left"| Mighty Ducks of Anaheim || Mighty Ducks lead 2–1 || |- | 4 || April 22, 1997 || 2–0 || align="left"| Mighty Ducks of Anaheim || Series tied 2–2 || |- | 5 || April 24, 1997 || 5–2 || align="left"| @ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim || Coyotes lead 3–2 || |- | 6 || April 27, 1997 || 2–3 OT|| align="left"| Mighty Ducks of Anaheim || Series tied 3–3 || |- | 7 || April 29, 1997 || 0–3 || align="left"| @ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim || Mighty Ducks win 4–3 ||
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| Legend:
Player statistics
Scoring
- 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 | LW | 81 | 52 | 34 | 86 | −1 | 228 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 7 | |||
| 97 | C | 72 | 29 | 40 | 69 | −7 | 115 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | |||
| 22 | RW | 82 | 32 | 31 | 63 | −11 | 38 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 4 | |||
| 20 | D | 82 | 10 | 45 | 55 | −5 | 30 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 15 | C | 77 | 15 | 38 | 53 | −1 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |||
| 77 | C | 69 | 19 | 32 | 51 | −9 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 12 | |||
| 11 | RW | 63 | 17 | 19 | 36 | −11 | 52 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 2 | |||
| 27 | D | 82 | 2 | 25 | 27 | −3 | 28 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 0 | |||
| 34 | LW | 82 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 4 | 41 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | |||
| 21 | C | 80 | 9 | 11 | 20 | −7 | 40 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −1 | 4 | |||
| 4 | D | 66 | 3 | 17 | 20 | −25 | 164 | |||||||||
| 14 | C | 55 | 4 | 11 | 15 | −4 | 36 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 14 | |||
| 17 | LW | 81 | 3 | 11 | 14 | −7 | 185 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 17 | |||
| 5 | D | 27 | 3 | 11 | 14 | −4 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |||
| 44 | D | 32 | 4 | 9 | 13 | −11 | 24 | |||||||||
| 19 | RW | 63 | 4 | 8 | 12 | −3 | 49 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 | |||
| 26 | D | 65 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −8 | 40 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 | |||
| 8 | D | 55 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 74 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |||
| 23 | C | 41 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −5 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 33 | LW | 65 | 5 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 200 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 18 | LW | 24 | 4 | 3 | 7 | −5 | 13 | |||||||||
| 6 | D | 23 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 37 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |||
| 10 | D | 37 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 18 | |||||||||
| 32 | C | 33 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −3 | 4 | |||||||||
| 4 | D | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | |||
| 35 | G | 72 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||
| 32 | RW | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |||
| 43 | G | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||
| 36 | D | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 24 | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| 1 | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 6 | D | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 10 | |||||||||
| 47 | RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| 28 | C | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 2 | |||||||||
| 39 | G | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 38 | LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | |||||||||
| 3 | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 7 | |||||||||
| 36 | C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Goaltending
-
- = 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 | Pat Jablonski | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 2.04 | .917 | 0 | 59 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Awards and records
Awards
| Type | Award/honor | Recipient | Ref | League | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in-season) | Team | ||||
| [NHL All-Star Game](1997-national-hockey-league-all-star-game) selection | Keith Tkachuk | ||||
| Oleg Tverdovsky | |||||
| Hardest Working Player Award | Dallas Drake | ||||
| Leading Scorer Award | Keith Tkachuk | ||||
| Man of the Year Award | Kris King | ||||
| Team MVP Award | Keith Tkachuk | ||||
| Three-Star Award | Keith Tkachuk |
Milestones
| Milestone | Player | Date | Ref | First game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juha Ylonen | February 12, 1997 | |||
| Parris Duffus | February 27, 1997 |
Transactions
Trades
| March 18, 1997 | To Montreal CanadiensDave Manson |
|---|---|
| Steve Cheredaryk | To Phoenix CoyotesMurray Baron |
| Pat Jablonski | |
| Chris Murray |
Waivers
| September 30, 1996 | From Philadelphia FlyersBob Corkum |
|---|
Free agents
Joining the Coyotes:
| Jocelyn Lemieux | Calgary Flames |
|---|
Leaving the Coyotes:
| Denis Chasse | Ottawa Senators |
|---|
Draft picks
Phoenix's draft picks at the 1996 NHL entry draft held at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | Dan Focht (D) | Tri-City Americans (WHL) | |
| 1 | 24 | Daniel Briere (C) | Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL) | |
| 3 | 62 | Per-Anton Lundstrom (D) | MODO (Sweden) | |
| 5 | 119 | Richard Lintner (D) | Dukla Trencin Jr. (Slovakia) | |
| 6 | 139 | Robert Esche (G) | Detroit Whalers (OHL) | |
| 7 | 174 | Trevor Letowski (RW) | Sarnia Sting (OHL) | |
| 8 | 200 | Nick Lent (RW) | Omaha Lancers (USHL) | |
| 9 | 226 | Marc-Etienne Hubert (C) | Laval Titan College Francais (QMJHL) |
Notes
References
References
- "1996-97 Phoenix Coyotes Schedule".
- (January 16, 1997). "SPORTS BRIEFS".
- "1997 NHL All-Star Game Rosters".
- Arizona Coyotes 2014–2015 Media Guide, p.290
- "1996-97 NHL Debuts".
- "1996 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".
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