1996–97 New York Rangers season

1996–97 New York Rangers
Division	4th Atlantic
Conference	5th Eastern
1996–97 record	38–34–10
Home record	21–14–6
Road record	17–20–4
Goals for	258
Goals against	231
Team information
General manager	Neil Smith
Coach	Colin Campbell
Captain	Mark Messier
Alternate captains	Brian Leetch Adam Graves
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Average attendance	18,200 (100%)
Team leaders
Goals	Mark Messier (36)
Assists	Wayne Gretzky (72)
Points	Wayne Gretzky (97)
Penalty minutes	Darren Langdon (195)
Wins	Mike Richter (33)
Goals against average	Glenn Healy (2.61)

The 1996–97 New York Rangers season was the Rangers' 71st season. The aspect of the season was that it was Wayne Gretzky’s first season in New York.

Regular season

Final standings

Atlantic Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
New Jersey Devils	82	45	23	14	231	182	104
Philadelphia Flyers	82	45	24	13	274	217	103
Florida Panthers	82	35	28	19	221	201	89
New York Rangers	82	38	34	10	258	231	86
Washington Capitals	82	33	40	9	214	231	75
Tampa Bay Lightning	82	32	40	10	217	247	74
New York Islanders	82	29	41	12	240	250	70

Game log

#	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	T	Oct 5, 1996	4–4 OT	@ Boston Bruins	0–0–1
2	L	Oct 6, 1996	2–5	Florida Panthers	0–1–1
3	T	Oct 8, 1996	1–1 OT	@ Florida Panthers	0–1–2
4	L	Oct 10, 1996	1–2	Dallas Stars	0–2–2
5	L	Oct 12, 1996	2–5	@ Montreal Canadiens	0–3–2
6	W	Oct 14, 1996	5–4	Calgary Flames	1–3–2
7	W	Oct 16, 1996	8–1	Pittsburgh Penguins	2–3–2
8	W	Oct 18, 1996	2–1	St. Louis Blues	3–3–2
9	L	Oct 20, 1996	2–5	@ Tampa Bay Lightning	3–4–2
10	L	Oct 23, 1996	2–3	Washington Capitals	3–5–2
11	L	Oct 25, 1996	4–6	@ Florida Panthers	3–6–2
12	W	Oct 27, 1996	6–4	Buffalo Sabres	4–6–2
13	T	Oct 29, 1996	1–1 OT	Florida Panthers	4–6–3
14	W	Oct 30, 1996	6–1	@ New Jersey Devils	5–6–3
15	W	Nov 2, 1996	5–2	@ Boston Bruins	6–6–3
16	L	Nov 4, 1996	3–5	Tampa Bay Lightning	6–7–3
17	T	Nov 6, 1996	1–1 OT	@ New York Islanders	6–7–4
18	L	Nov 9, 1996	2–3	@ Washington Capitals	6–8–4
19	L	Nov 11, 1996	2–3	Vancouver Canucks	6–9–4
20	L	Nov 13, 1996	1–2	Philadelphia Flyers	6–10–4
21	W	Nov 16, 1996	8–3	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	7–10–4
22	L	Nov 18, 1996	3–5	@ Calgary Flames	7–11–4
23	L	Nov 21, 1996	2–3	@ Edmonton Oilers	7–12–4
24	L	Nov 23, 1996	3–5	@ Vancouver Canucks	7–13–4
25	W	Nov 26, 1996	3–1	@ Phoenix Coyotes	8–13–4
26	W	Nov 27, 1996	5–2	@ Colorado Avalanche	9–13–4
27	W	Dec 1, 1996	6–2	Montreal Canadiens	10–13–4
28	T	Dec 4, 1996	1–1 OT	Philadelphia Flyers	10–13–5
29	W	Dec 6, 1996	6–5	Toronto Maple Leafs	11–13–5
30	W	Dec 7, 1996	4–0	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	12–13–5
31	W	Dec 9, 1996	5–2	Phoenix Coyotes	13–13–5
32	L	Dec 11, 1996	3–5	New York Islanders	13–14–5
33	W	Dec 13, 1996	3–0	@ Buffalo Sabres	14–14–5
34	W	Dec 16, 1996	5–2	Hartford Whalers	15–14–5
35	W	Dec 18, 1996	4–0	Los Angeles Kings	16–14–5
36	W	Dec 21, 1996	3–2 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens	17–14–5
37	W	Dec 22, 1996	7–3	Florida Panthers	18–14–5
38	L	Dec 26, 1996	2–5	@ Ottawa Senators	18–15–5
39	W	Dec 27, 1996	3–2	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	19–15–5
40	W	Dec 30, 1996	3–2	@ Dallas Stars	20–15–5
41	L	Dec 31, 1996	2–4	@ Tampa Bay Lightning	20–16–5
42	W	Jan 2, 1997	4–3	New York Islanders	21–16–5
43	W	Jan 4, 1997	6–4	Ottawa Senators	22–16–5
44	T	Jan 6, 1997	2–2 OT	Colorado Avalanche	22–16–6
45	L	Jan 8, 1997	3–4	Tampa Bay Lightning	22–17–6
46	L	Jan 9, 1997	0–2	@ Washington Capitals	22–18–6
47	W	Jan 12, 1997	3–0	New Jersey Devils	23–18–6
48	L	Jan 13, 1997	2–4	New York Islanders	23–19–6
49	T	Jan 21, 1997	4–4 OT	Edmonton Oilers	23–19–7
50	W	Jan 22, 1997	5–3	@ Washington Capitals	24–19–7
51	W	Jan 25, 1997	7–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	25–19–7
52	L	Jan 27, 1997	1–2	Chicago Blackhawks	25–20–7
53	W	Feb 1, 1997	4–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers	26–20–7
54	L	Feb 2, 1997	2–3	Boston Bruins	26–21–7
55	W	Feb 5, 1997	5–2	Hartford Whalers	27–21–7
56	W	Feb 8, 1997	5–2	@ New York Islanders	28–21–7
57	L	Feb 9, 1997	3–4	@ Florida Panthers	28–22–7
58	L	Feb 13, 1997	1–4	@ St. Louis Blues	28–23–7
59	L	Feb 15, 1997	0–2	@ Chicago Blackhawks	28–24–7
60	T	Feb 17, 1997	2–2 OT	New Jersey Devils	28–24–8
61	T	Feb 19, 1997	1–1 OT	@ New Jersey Devils	28–24–9
62	L	Feb 21, 1997	2–7	@ Hartford Whalers	28–25–9
63	L	Feb 23, 1997	1–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers	28–26–9
64	L	Mar 1, 1997	0–3	@ Detroit Red Wings	28–27–9
65	W	Mar 3, 1997	5–4 OT	San Jose Sharks	29–27–9
66	W	Mar 6, 1997	6–2	@ Los Angeles Kings	30–27–9
67	L	Mar 7, 1997	2–5	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	30–28–9
68	W	Mar 9, 1997	2–1	@ San Jose Sharks	31–28–9
69	W	Mar 12, 1997	3–2	Washington Capitals	32–28–9
70	W	Mar 14, 1997	4–3 OT	@ Ottawa Senators	33–28–9
71	L	Mar 17, 1997	3–4	Ottawa Senators	33–29–9
72	L	Mar 19, 1997	4–5	Montreal Canadiens	33–30–9
73	W	Mar 21, 1997	3–1	Detroit Red Wings	34–30–9
74	W	Mar 24, 1997	3–0	Pittsburgh Penguins	35–30–9
75	L	Mar 27, 1997	0–4	@ New Jersey Devils	35–31–9
76	L	Mar 29, 1997	1–2	@ Hartford Whalers	35–32–9
77	T	Apr 1, 1997	1–1 OT	Buffalo Sabres	35–32–10
78	W	Apr 3, 1997	5–4	Boston Bruins	36–32–10
79	L	Apr 4, 1997	1–5	@ Buffalo Sabres	36–33–10
80	W	Apr 7, 1997	3–2	Philadelphia Flyers	37–33–10
81	W	Apr 10, 1997	6–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers	38–33–10
82	L	Apr 11, 1997	2–4	Tampa Bay Lightning	38–34–10

Player stats

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky C 82 25 72 97 28 12 6 0 2 Messier, MarkMark Messier C 71 36 48 84 88 12 7 5 9 Leetch, BrianBrian Leetch D 82 20 58 78 40 31 9 0 2 Graves, AdamAdam Graves LW 82 33 28 61 66 10 10 4 3 Sundstrom, NiklasNiklas Sundstrom RW 82 24 28 52 20 23 5 1 4 Robitaille, LucLuc Robitaille LW 69 24 24 48 48 16 5 0 4 Karpovtsev, AlexanderAlexander Karpovtsev D 77 9 29 38 59 1 6 1 0 Kovalev, AlexAlex Kovalev RW 45 13 22 35 42 11 1 0 0 Driver, BruceBruce Driver D 79 5 25 30 48 8 2 0 2 Flatley, PatPat Flatley RW 68 10 12 22 26 6 0 0 2 Nemchinov, SergeiSergei Nemchinov LW 63 6 13 19 12 5 1 0 1 Samuelsson, UlfUlf Samuelsson D 73 6 11 17 138 3 1 0 1 Noonan, BrianBrian Noonan RW 44 6 9 15 28 -7 3 0 1 Berg, BillBill Berg LW 67 8 6 14 37 2 0 2 3 Goneau, DanielDaniel Goneau LW 41 10 3 13 10 -5 3 0 2 Beukeboom, JeffJeff Beukeboom D 80 3 9 12 167 22 0 0 0 Vorobiev, VladimirVladimir Vorobiev LW 16 5 5 10 6 4 2 0 0 Langdon, DarrenDarren Langdon LW 60 3 6 9 195 -1 0 0 1 Eastwood, MikeMike Eastwood C 27 1 7 8 10 2 0 0 0 Lidster, DougDoug Lidster D 48 3 4 7 24 10 0 0 0 Courtnall, RussRuss Courtnall RW 14 2 5 7 2 -3 1 1 1 Oliver, DavidDavid Oliver RW 14 2 1 3 4 3 0 0 0 Tikkanen, EsaEsa Tikkanen LW 14 1 2 3 6 0 0 1 0 Dube, ChristianChristian Dube C 27 1 1 2 4 -4 1 0 0 Ferraro, ChrisChris Ferraro C 12 1 1 2 6 1 0 0 0 VandenBussche, RyanRyan VandenBussche RW 11 1 0 1 30 -2 0 0 0 Cairns, EricEric Cairns D 40 0 1 1 147 -7 0 0 0 Churla, ShaneShane Churla RW 45 0 1 1 106 -10 0 0 0 More, JayJay More D 14 0 1 1 25 0 0 0 0 Blouin, SylvainSylvain Blouin LW 6 0 0 0 18 -1 0 0 0 Eakins, DallasDallas Eakins D 3 0 0 0 6 -1 0 0 0 Ferraro, PeterPeter Ferraro LW 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Healy, GlennGlenn Healy G 23 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 Momesso, SergioSergio Momesso LW 9 0 0 0 11 -2 0 0 0 Nielsen, JeffJeff Nielsen RW 2 0 0 0 2 -1 0 0 0 Richter, MikeMike Richter G 61 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO SA SV SV% Richter, MikeMike Richter 3598 61 33 22 6 161 2.68 4 1945 1784 .917 Healy, GlennGlenn Healy 1357 23 5 12 4 59 2.61 1 632 573 .907 Team: 4955 82 38 34 10 220 2.66 5 2577 2357 .915

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards and reecords

• James Norris Memorial Trophy: Brian Leetch

References

• Rangers on Hockey Database

New York Rangers
Team	Franchise • Players • Coaches • GMs • Seasons • Records • Draft Picks • History Madison Square Garden
Stanley Cups	1928, 1933, 1940, 1994
Affiliates	Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL), Maine Mariners (ECHL)

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