1997–98 Carolina Hurricanes season

Offseason

In March 1997, Whalers owner Peter Karmanos announced that the team would move elsewhere after the 1996–97 season because of the team's inability to negotiate a satisfactory construction and lease package for a new arena to replace the Hartford Civic Center. In July, Karmanos announced that the Whalers would move to the Research Triangle area of North Carolina and the new Entertainment and Sports Arena in Raleigh, become the Carolina Hurricanes, and change their team colors to red and black. Due to the relatively short time frame for the move, Karmanos himself thought of and decided upon the new name for the club, rather than holding a contest as is sometimes done.

Unfortunately, the ESA would not be complete for two more years. The only arena in the Triangle with an ice plant was Dorton Arena in Raleigh, which only seated 5,100 people—too small even for temporary use. The Hurricanes decided to play home games in Greensboro, ninety minutes away from Raleigh, for their first two seasons after the move. This choice was disastrous for the franchise's attendance and reputation. With a capacity of over 21,000 people for hockey, the Greensboro Coliseum became the highest-capacity arena in the NHL, but Triangle-area fans proved unwilling to make the drive down I-40 to Greensboro, and fans from the Piedmont Triad mostly refused to support a lame-duck team that had displaced the longtime Greensboro/Carolina Monarchs minor-league franchise. Furthermore, only 29 out of 82 games were televised, and radio play-by-play coverage on WPTF was often pre-empted by North Carolina State Wolfpack basketball (for whose broadcasts WPTF was the flagship station), leaving these games totally unavailable to those who did not have a ticket. With by far the smallest season-ticket base in the NHL and attendance routinely well below the league average, Sports Illustrated ran a story titled "Natural Disaster," and ESPN anchors mocked the "Green Acres" of empty seats; in a 2006 interview, Karmanos admitted that "as it turns out, [Greensboro] was probably a mistake."

Regular season

Final standings

Schedule and results

|- |1||October 1, 1997||2–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Tampa Bay Lightning (1997–98) ||0–1–0 || 17,808 || |- |2||October 3, 1997||3–4 || style="text-align:left;"| Pittsburgh Penguins (1997–98) ||0–2–0 || 18,661 || |- |3||October 4, 1997||2–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Ottawa Senators (1997–98) ||0–3–0 || 18,500 || |- |4||October 7, 1997||3–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Los Angeles Kings (1997–98) ||0–3–1 || 6,083 || |- |5||October 10, 1997||2–1 || style="text-align:left;"| New Jersey Devils (1997–98) ||1–3–1 || 6,352 || |- |6||October 11, 1997||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1997–98) ||1–4–1 || 15,175 || |- |7||October 13, 1997||1–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ St. Louis Blues (1997–98) ||1–5–1 || 12,530 || |- |8||October 15, 1997||3–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Buffalo Sabres (1997–98) ||1–5–2 || 6,278 || |- |9||October 18, 1997||2–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Detroit Red Wings (1997–98) ||1–6–2 || 19,983 || |- |10||October 20, 1997||2–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ New York Rangers (1997–98) ||1–7–2 || 18,200 || |- |11||October 22, 1997||4–3 || style="text-align:left;"| St. Louis Blues (1997–98) ||2–7–2 || 8,185 || |- |12||October 24, 1997||3–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Colorado Avalanche (1997–98) ||2–7–3 || 16,061 || |- |13||October 26, 1997||3–2 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Chicago Blackhawks (1997–98) ||3–7–3 || 14,834 || |- |14||October 31, 1997||2–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Buffalo Sabres (1997–98) ||3–8–3 || 7,555 ||

| 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 Hurricanes only.*
• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Hurricanes only.*

Goaltending

• • = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Hurricanes only.*
• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Hurricanes only.*

Awards and records

Awards

Milestones

Transactions

The Hurricanes were involved in the following transactions during the 1997–98 season.

Trades

Free agents

|}

Draft picks

Carolina's draft picks at the 1997 NHL entry draft held at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Farm teams

The Beast of New Haven were the Hurricanes American Hockey League affiliate for the 1998–99 AHL season.

Notes

References

References

1. "NHL Average Attendance since 1989-90". Andrew's Dallas Stars Page.
2. Callaghan, Gerry. [https://archive.today/20121202234010/http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1011183/index.htm "Natural Disaster."] Sports Illustrated, October 27, 1997; Web article retrieved November 19, 2008.
3. Burnside, Scott. [https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=2470768&type=story "Karmanos: Hard-nosed owner, die-hard hockey fan."] ESPN.com, June 6, 2008; Web article retrieved February 14, 2009.
4. "1997-98 Carolina Hurricanes Schedule".
5. "Lester Patrick Trophy".
6. "1997-98 NHL Debuts".
7. "1997 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".