| 1997–98 NHL season | |
| League: | National Hockey League |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Duration: | October 1, 1997 – June 16, 1998 |
| Draft: | Draft |
| Draft Link: | 1997 NHL Entry Draft |
| Top Pick Link: | List of first overall NHL draft picks |
| Picked By: | Boston Bruins |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Season Champ Name: | Presidents' Trophy |
| Season Champs: | Dallas Stars |
| Mvp: | Dominik Hasek (Sabres) |
| Mvp Link: | Hart Memorial Trophy |
| Top Scorer: | Jaromir Jagr (Penguins) |
| Top Scorer Link: | Art Ross Trophy |
| Playoffs: | Playoffs |
| Playoffs Link: | 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs |
| Finals: | Stanley Cup |
| Finals Link: | 1998 Stanley Cup Finals |
| Finals Champ: | Detroit Red Wings |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Washington Capitals |
| Playoffs Mvp: | Steve Yzerman (Red Wings) |
| Playoffs Mvp Link: | Conn Smythe Trophy |
| Nextseason Year: | 1998–99 |
| Prevseason Year: | 1996–97 |
| No Of Games: | 82 |
| No Of Teams: | 26 |
| Tv: | CBC, TSN, SRC (Canada) ESPN, Fox (United States) |
The 1997–98 NHL season was the 81st regular season of the National Hockey League. For the first time, there was a break in the regular season to allow NHL players join their respective national hockey teams competing at the Winter Olympics. The Hartford Whalers relocated to North Carolina, becoming the Carolina Hurricanes. The Stanley Cup champions were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Washington Capitals in four games.
On June 25, 1997, the National Hockey League approved of four expansion franchises for Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus, and Saint Paul expanding the league to 30 teams by 2000. These franchises became the Nashville Predators in 1998, the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999, and the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild in 2000.
To accommodate the incoming expansion teams, 1997–98 became the last season of the four-division quasi-geographic alignment inherited from the traditional Adams/Patrick/Norris/Smythe set. The league would change the following season to a six-division, more purely geographic alignment, with the Toronto Maple Leafs moving from the Western to Eastern Conference, among others.
The Hartford Whalers relocated to North Carolina, becoming the Carolina Hurricanes. They would remain in the Northeast Division until realignment the following season. It would be another 14 years before another NHL team would relocate.
The 1997 NHL Entry Draft was held at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 21. Joe Thornton was selected first overall by the Boston Bruins.
Due to the retirement of Craig MacTavish after the 1996–97 season, all NHL players were now required to wear helmets. MacTavish was the last helmetless player remaining in the league to be grandfathered in to 1979–80 rules requiring incoming players to wear helmets.
The Vancouver Canucks and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim opened the season with a two-game series at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan, on October 3 and 4, 1997, the first time the NHL played regular games outside of North America.
This was the first time that the NHL took a break during the regular season to allow NHL players join their respective national hockey teams competing at the Winter Olympics. The league's break lasted 17 days from February 8 to 24 while NHL players participated at the men's hockey event at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
As a preview for the NHL's first Olympic participation, a new format was introduced at the 1998 All-Star Game at General Motors Place in Vancouver, the home to the Vancouver Canucks, on January 18. The league had the all-star teams consist of a team of North Americans playing against a team of players from the rest of the world.
The all-time record for most shutouts in a season, set at 127 just a year earlier,[1] was broken again as 160 shutouts were recorded, 13 of which were earned by Dominik Hasek,[2] who set a League record with 11 teams shut-out. He zeroed the New York Rangers three times, and Los Angeles, Anaheim, Tampa Bay, Boston, Calgary, Washington, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh and Edmonton once each. Only two teams, the St. Louis Blues and the Detroit Red Wings, averaged more than three goals scored per game.[3] In addition, only one player, Jaromir Jagr, reached the 100-point plateau during the regular season.[4]
Jari Kurri reached 600 goals in his career, finishing with 601.
For the first time since 1968–69 season, the Chicago Blackhawks missed the playoffs.
See main article: 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs.
The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs, with the two division winners seeded 1–2 based on regular season records, and the six remaining teams seeded 3–8. In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). The NHL used "re-seeding" instead of a fixed bracket playoff system. During the first three rounds, the highest remaining seed in each conference was matched against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed played the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth. The higher-seeded team was awarded home-ice advantage. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The NHL Awards took place in Toronto, Ontario
| Presidents' Trophy | Dallas Stars | |
| Prince of Wales Trophy
| Washington Capitals | |
| Clarence S. Campbell Bowl
| Detroit Red Wings | |
| Art Ross Trophy | Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins | |
| Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy | Jamie McLennan, St. Louis Blues | |
| Calder Memorial Trophy | Sergei Samsonov, Boston Bruins | |
| Frank J. Selke Trophy | Jere Lehtinen, Dallas Stars | |
| Hart Memorial Trophy | Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres | |
| Conn Smythe Trophy | Steve Yzerman, Detroit Red Wings | |
| Jack Adams Award | Pat Burns, Boston Bruins | |
| James Norris Memorial Trophy | Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings | |
| King Clancy Memorial Trophy | Kelly Chase, St. Louis Blues | |
| Lady Byng Memorial Trophy | Ron Francis, Pittsburgh Penguins | |
| Lester B. Pearson Award | Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres | |
| NHL Foundation Player Award | Kelly Chase, St. Louis Blues | |
| NHL Plus-Minus Award | Chris Pronger, St. Louis Blues | |
| Vezina Trophy | Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres | |
| William M. Jennings Trophy | Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils |
| First Team | Position | Second Team | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres | align=center | G | Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils | |
| Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings | align=center | D | Chris Pronger, St. Louis Blues | |
| Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings | align=center | D | Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey Devils | |
| Peter Forsberg, Colorado Avalanche | align=center | C | Wayne Gretzky, New York Rangers | |
| Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins | align=center | RW | Teemu Selanne, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | |
| John LeClair, Philadelphia Flyers | align=center | LW | Keith Tkachuk, Phoenix Coyotes |
Regular season
| Player | Team | GP | MIN | GA | SO | GAA | SV% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas | 65 | 3581 | 112 | 9 | 1.88 | .916 | ||
| New Jersey | 70 | 4128 | 130 | 10 | 1.89 | .917 | ||
| Pittsburgh | 63 | 3542 | 122 | 7 | 2.07 | .922 | ||
| Buffalo | 72 | 4220 | 147 | 13 | 2.09 | .932 | ||
| Philadelphia | 46 | 2688 | 97 | 4 | 2.17 | .911 | ||
| Carolina | 47 | 2685 | 97 | 3 | 2.17 | .922 | ||
| St. Louis | 30 | 1658 | 60 | 2 | 2.17 | .903 | ||
| Chicago | 58 | 3441 | 126 | 8 | 2.20 | .917 | ||
| Washington | 64 | 3788 | 139 | 5 | 2.20 | .920 | ||
| Detroit | 64 | 3807 | 140 | 6 | 2.21 | .913 |
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1997–98 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
The following is a list of players of note who played their last game in the NHL in 1997–98 (listed with their last team):
This was the tenth and final season that the league's Canadian national broadcast rights were split between TSN and Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. During the regular season, Saturday night games aired on CBC, while TSN primarily had Monday and Thursday night games. Coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs was primarily on CBC, with TSN airing first round all-U.S. series.
The league then signed a new deal with the fledgling CTV Sportsnet, replacing TSN as the national cable television partner.
This was the fourth season of the league's five-year U.S. national broadcast rights deals with Fox and ESPN. Both ESPN and ESPN2 aired weeknight games throughout the regular season. Fox had the All-Star Game, and the network's weekly regional telecasts then expanded from six to 11 weekend afternoons between January and April. During the first two rounds of the playoffs, ESPN and ESPN2 aired selected games, while Fox had Sunday regional telecasts. Each U.S. team's regional broadcaster produced local coverage of first and second round games (except for those games on Fox). Fox's Sunday telecasts continued into the Conference Finals, while ESPN had the rest of the third round games. The Stanley Cup Finals were also split between Fox and ESPN.
The controversial "FoxTrax" puck system was last used this season. In August 1998, the NHL signed a five-year, $600 million rights agreement with ABC Sports/ESPN, and thus Fox elected not to use the system in the subsequent "lame duck" season.