1997–98 New York Rangers season

The 1997–98 New York Rangers season was the 72nd season for the team in the National Hockey League. The Rangers posted a 25–39–18 record in the regular season and finished in fifth place in the Atlantic Division.[1] New York missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since the 1992–93 season.[2]

1997–98 New York Rangers
Division	5th Atlantic
Conference	11th Eastern
1997–98 record	25–39–18
Goals for	197
Goals against	231
Team information
General Manager	Neil Smith
Coach	Colin Campbell John Muckler
Captain	Brian Leetch
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Adam Graves/Wayne Gretzky/ Alexei Kovalev/Pat LaFontaine (23)
Assists	Wayne Gretzky (67)
Points	Wayne Gretzky (90)
Penalty minutes	Darren Langdon (197)
Wins	Mike Richter (21)
Goals against average	Dan Cloutier (2.50)

The Rangers fired head coach Colin Campbell during the season and replaced him with former Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup-winning coach John Muckler.[3] This was also the first season since the 1990–91 campaign that the Rangers did not have Mark Messier; after a contentious negotiating period, the Rangers elected not to re-sign Messier and he instead joined the Vancouver Canucks.[4]

Regular season

The Rangers were the only team in the league not to score a short-handed goal.[5]

Final standings

Atlantic Division

No.		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	New Jersey Devils	82	48	23	11	225	166	107
2	Philadelphia Flyers	82	42	29	11	242	193	95
3	Washington Capitals	82	40	30	12	219	202	92
4	New York Islanders	82	30	41	11	212	225	71
5	New York Rangers	82	25	39	18	197	231	68
6	Florida Panthers	82	24	43	15	203	256	63
7	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	17	55	10	151	269	44

Eastern Conference[6]

R		Div	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	New Jersey Devils	ATL	82	48	23	11	225	166	107
2	Pittsburgh Penguins	NE	82	40	24	18	228	188	98
3	Philadelphia Flyers	ATL	82	42	29	11	242	193	95
4	Washington Capitals	ATL	82	40	30	12	219	202	92
5	Boston Bruins	NE	82	39	30	13	221	194	91
6	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	36	29	17	211	187	89
7	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	37	32	13	235	208	87
8	Ottawa Senators	NE	82	34	33	15	193	200	83
9	Carolina Hurricanes	NE	82	33	41	8	200	219	74
10	New York Islanders	ATL	82	30	41	11	212	225	71
11	New York Rangers	ATL	82	25	39	18	197	231	68
12	Florida Panthers	ATL	82	24	43	15	203	256	63
13	Tampa Bay Lightning	ATL	82	17	55	10	151	269	44

Divisions: ATL – Atlantic, NE – Northeast

bold – Qualified for playoffs

Schedule and results

1997-98 Game Log
October: 3-6-5 (Home: 2-3-3; Road: 1-3-2) Game October Opponent Score Record 1 3 New York Islanders 2 - 2 OT 0-0-1 2 5 Los Angeles Kings 2 - 2 OT 0-0-2 3 8 @ Edmonton Oilers 3 - 3 OT 0-0-3 4 9 @ Calgary Flames 1 - 1 OT 0-0-4 5 11 @ Vancouver Canucks 6 - 3 1-0-4 6 14 Pittsburgh Penguins 1 - 0 1-1-4 7 15 @ Ottawa Senators 5 - 1 1-2-4 8 18 @ St. Louis Blues 5 - 3 1-3-4 9 20 Carolina Hurricanes 4 - 2 2-3-4 10 22 Chicago Blackhawks 1 - 0 2-4-4 11 24 Tampa Bay Lightning 4 - 3 3-4-4 12 26 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 3 - 3 OT 3-4-5 13 28 Dallas Stars 3 - 2 3-5-5 14 30 @ New York Islanders 5 - 3 3-6-5
November: 5-5-4 (Home: 2-2-2; Road: 3-3-2) Game November Opponent Score Record 15 3 Edmonton Oilers 2 - 2 OT 3-6-6 16 5 @ Colorado Avalanche 4 - 2 4-6-6 17 7 @ Dallas Stars 2 - 2 OT 4-6-7 18 12 New Jersey Devils 3 - 2 4-7-7 19 14 Pittsburgh Penguins 3 - 1 5-7-7 20 16 Colorado Avalanche 4 - 1 6-7-7 21 18 @ Florida Panthers 3 - 1 7-7-7 22 19 @ Tampa Bay Lightning 6 - 3 7-8-7 23 21 @ Carolina Hurricanes 4 - 3 8-8-7 24 22 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 4 - 3 OT 8-9-7 25 25 Vancouver Canucks 4 - 2 8-10-7 26 26 @ New York Islanders 4 - 1 8-11-7 27 28 @ Buffalo Sabres 3 - 3 OT 8-11-8 28 30 Florida Panthers 1 - 1 OT 8-11-9
December: 4-7-3 (Home: 3-4-1; Road: 1-3-2) Game December Opponent Score Record 29 2 Washington Capitals 3 - 2 OT 8-12-9 30 5 Philadelphia Flyers 4 - 4 OT 8-12-10 31 6 @ Montreal Canadiens 3 - 3 OT 8-12-11 32 8 Phoenix Coyotes 3 - 1 9-12-11 33 10 Calgary Flames 4 - 1 9-13-11 34 12 Florida Panthers 4 - 3 9-14-11 35 16 @ New Jersey Devils 4 - 3 9-15-11 36 17 @ Florida Panthers 4 - 2 10-15-11 37 20 @ Tampa Bay Lightning 2 - 2 OT 10-15-12 38 21 Buffalo Sabres 2 - 0 10-16-12 39 23 Tampa Bay Lightning 4 - 1 11-16-12 40 26 @ Buffalo Sabres 3 - 0 11-17-12 41 28 Boston Bruins 4 - 3 12-17-12 42 31 @ Tampa Bay Lightning 2 - 0 12-18-12
January: 4-4-3 (Home: 3-2-2; Road: 1-2-1) Game January Opponent Score Record 43 3 @ Washington Capitals 3 - 2 13-18-12 44 6 Carolina Hurricanes 4 - 2 14-18-12 45 8 Washington Capitals 5 - 3 14-19-12 46 12 Toronto Maple Leafs 3 - 2 15-19-12 47 14 @ New Jersey Devils 4 - 1 15-20-12 48 20 St. Louis Blues 3 - 1 16-20-12 49 22 Philadelphia Flyers 4 - 3 16-21-12 50 24 New Jersey Devils 3 - 3 OT 16-21-13 51 26 Washington Capitals 2 - 2 OT 16-21-14 52 29 @ Ottawa Senators 2 - 2 OT 16-21-15 53 31 @ Boston Bruins 4 - 2 16-22-15
February: 2-3-1 (Home: 0-1-0; Road: 2-2-1) Game February Opponent Score Record 54 2 @ San Jose Sharks 3 - 2 17-22-15 55 4 @ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 3 - 2 17-23-15 56 5 @ Los Angeles Kings 3 - 1 17-24-15 57 7 @ Phoenix Coyotes 1 - 1 OT 17-24-16 58 26 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 5 - 2 18-24-16 59 28 Philadelphia Flyers 3 - 1 18-25-16
March: 4-9-2 (Home: 3-4-1; Road: 1-5-1) Game March Opponent Score Record 60 2 Buffalo Sabres 1 - 0 18-26-16 61 4 @ Florida Panthers 4 - 3 19-26-16 62 7 @ New Jersey Devils 6 - 3 19-27-16 63 9 New Jersey Devils 2 - 2 OT 19-27-17 64 11 San Jose Sharks 5 - 3 20-27-17 65 12 @ Montreal Canadiens 4 - 1 20-28-17 66 14 @ Boston Bruins 5 - 1 20-29-17 67 16 Ottawa Senators 5 - 4 21-29-17 68 18 Montreal Canadiens 2 - 1 OT 22-29-17 69 21 Detroit Red Wings 4 - 3 22-30-17 70 22 @ Philadelphia Flyers 5 - 4 OT 22-31-17 71 25 Ottawa Senators 3 - 2 OT 22-32-17 72 26 @ Carolina Hurricanes 4 - 1 22-33-17 73 28 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 2 - 2 OT 22-33-18 74 30 Tampa Bay Lightning 3 - 1 22-34-18
April: 3-5-0 (Home: 1-2-0; Road: 2-3-0) Game April Opponent Score Record 75 1 Boston Bruins 4 - 2 22-35-18 76 4 @ New York Islanders 3 - 0 22-36-18 77 5 @ Chicago Blackhawks 2 - 1 OT 23-36-18 78 7 Montreal Canadiens 3 - 2 23-37-18 79 11 @ Detroit Red Wings 5 - 2 23-38-18 80 14 @ Washington Capitals 3 - 1 23-39-18 81 15 New York Islanders 4 - 2 24-39-18 82 18 @ Philadelphia Flyers 2 - 1 25-39-18

Playoffs

The Rangers failed to qualify for the playoffs, missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993.[7]

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season Player GP G A Pts +/- PIM Wayne Gretzky 82 23 67 90 -11 28 Pat LaFontaine 67 23 39 62 -16 36 Alexei Kovalev 73 23 30 53 -22 44 Brian Leetch 76 17 33 50 -36 32 Niklas Sundstrom 70 19 28 47 0 24 Kevin Stevens 80 14 27 41 -7 130 Adam Graves 72 23 12 35 -30 41 Tim Sweeney 56 11 18 29 7 26 Bruce Driver 75 5 15 20 -3 46 Mike Keane^‡ 70 8 10 18 -12 47 Ulf Samuelsson 73 3 9 12 1 122 Brian Skrudland^‡ 59 5 6 11 -4 39 Mike Eastwood^‡ 48 5 5 10 -2 16 Alexander Karpovtsev 47 3 7 10 -1 38 Bill Berg 67 1 9 10 -15 55 Jeff Finley 63 1 6 7 -3 55 Darren Langdon 70 3 3 6 0 197 Marc Savard 28 1 5 6 -4 4 P. J. Stock 38 2 3 5 4 114 Jeff Beukeboom 63 0 5 5 -25 195 Vladimir Vorobiev 15 2 2 4 -10 6 Johan Lindbom 38 1 3 4 4 28 Doug Lidster 36 0 4 4 2 24 Eric Cairns 39 0 3 3 -3 92 Daniel Goneau 11 2 0 2 -4 4 Geoff Smith 15 1 1 2 -4 6 Ryan VandenBussche^‡ 16 1 0 1 -2 38 Maxim Galanov 6 0 1 1 1 2 Sylvain Blouin 1 0 0 0 0 5 Peter Ferraro^† 1 0 0 0 -2 2 Brad Smyth^† 1 0 0 0 0 0 Ronnie Sundin 1 0 0 0 0 0 Harry York^† 2 0 0 0 -1 0 Pierre Sevigny 3 0 0 0 0 2 Bob Errey^† 12 0 0 0 -5 7

Goaltenders

Regular Season

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO
Mike Richter	72	4143	21	31	15	184	2.66	2072	.903	0
Dan Cloutier	12	551	4	5	1	23	2.50	271	.907	0
Jason Muzzatti^‡	6	313	0	3	2	17	3.26	173	.891	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.
^‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

[8]

Draft picks

New York's picks at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the Civic Arena.[9][10]

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	19	Stefan Cherneski	RW	Canada	Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
2	46	Wes Jarvis	D	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
3	73	Burke Henry	D	Canada	Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
4	93	Tomi Kallarsson	D	Finland	HPK Junior (Finland)
5	126	Jason McLean	G	Canada	Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL)
5	134	Johan Lindbom	RW	Sweden	HV71 (SEL)
6	136	Mike York	C	United States	Michigan State University (NCAA)
6	154	Shawn Degagne	G	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
7	175	Johan Holmqvist	G	Sweden	Brynäs IF (SEL)
7	182	Mike Mottau	D	United States	Boston College (NCAA)
8	210	Andrew Proskurnicki	LW	Canada	Sarnia Sting (OHL)
9	236	Richard Miller	D	United States	Providence College (NCAA)

See also

• 1997–98 NHL season

References

1. "1997–98 New York Rangers Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
2. Sandomir, Richard (1998-04-08). "Hockey; For Garden, No Playoffs Means No Payoff". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
3. "Veteran Muckler Hired To Coach N.Y. Rangers". The Philadelphia Inquirer. February 20, 1998. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
4. Diamos, Jason (July 29, 1997). "A Bad Feeling Chases Messier Out of New York". The New York Times. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
5. "1997–98 NHL Season Summary". Hockey Reference. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
6. "1997–1998 Conference Standings". National Hockey League. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
7. "New York Rangers Franchise Index". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
8. "1997-98 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
9. "1997 NHL Entry Draft". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
10. "NHL Draft History". National Hockey League. Archived from the original on 2001-01-28. Retrieved 2012-07-14.