1997–98 Vancouver Canucks season
The 1997–98 Vancouver Canucks season was the team's 28th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). After missing the playoffs the season before, the team responded by signing Mark Messier to a three-year contract. The signing of Messier did little to improve the team, however, as they finished even worse than the year before, costing Head Coach Tom Renney and General Manager Pat Quinn their jobs. For the first time in NHL history, regular season games were played outside of North America, with the Canucks playing the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Tokyo, Japan, to open up the regular season. Pavel Bure became the last Canuck to score 50 or more goals in a season. On April 9, 1998, the Canucks scored three short-handed goals in a 6–3 road win over the Calgary Flames.[1]
1997–98 Vancouver Canucks | |
---|---|
Division | 7th Pacific |
Conference | 13th Western |
1997–98 record | 25–43–14 |
Home record | 15–22–4 |
Road record | 10–21–10 |
Goals for | 224 |
Goals against | 273 |
Team information | |
General manager | Pat Quinn (16 games) |
Coach | Tom Renney (19 games) Mike Keenan (63 games) |
Captain | Mark Messier |
Alternate captains | Dave Babych (Oct-Mar) Pavel Bure Trevor Linden (Oct-Jan) Bryan McCabe (Mar-Apr) Dana Murzyn (Jan-Apr) |
Arena | General Motors Place |
Average attendance | 17,120 |
Minor league affiliate(s) | Syracuse Crunch |
Team leaders | |
Goals | Pavel Bure (51) |
Assists | Pavel Bure (39) |
Points | Pavel Bure (90) |
Penalty minutes | Donald Brashear (372) |
Plus/minus | Peter Zezel (+13) |
Wins | Arturs Irbe (14) |
Goals against average | Arturs Irbe (2.73) |
In addition, the team introduced a new logo that would stay in use since its debut, with minor colour alterations.
The team was the last in NHL history to record over 2,000 penalty minutes, with 2,148.[2]
Off-season
Forward Trevor Linden resigned the team captaincy, in favour of new arrival Mark Messier.
Regular season
The Canucks finished the regular season with the most power-play opportunities against, with 432. Although the Canucks allowed the most goals in the League, with 273, they scored the most short-handed goals, with 19.[3]
All-Star Game
The 48th National Hockey League All-Star Game took place at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, home to the Vancouver Canucks, on January 18, 1998.
The International Showdown
The 48th game was held in the very same year as the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, providing the NHL to show its players from all over the world. To this extent, the NHL had the All-Star teams consist of a team of North Americans playing against a team of stars from the rest of the world. The format change also helped to intensify the game, as national pride would also become a factor. These provisions only applied to the players — coaches would still be selected based on which teams were the best from each conference at the time of the break.
Final standings
No. | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 39 | 26 | 17 | 231 | 205 | 95 |
2 | Los Angeles Kings | 82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 227 | 225 | 87 |
3 | Edmonton Oilers | 82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 215 | 224 | 80 |
4 | San Jose Sharks | 82 | 34 | 38 | 10 | 210 | 216 | 78 |
5 | Calgary Flames | 82 | 26 | 41 | 15 | 217 | 252 | 67 |
6 | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | 82 | 26 | 43 | 13 | 205 | 261 | 65 |
7 | Vancouver Canucks | 82 | 25 | 43 | 14 | 224 | 273 | 64 |
Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.
R | Div | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | p – Dallas Stars | CEN | 82 | 49 | 22 | 11 | 242 | 167 | 109 |
2 | x – Colorado Avalanche | PAC | 82 | 39 | 26 | 17 | 231 | 205 | 95 |
3 | Detroit Red Wings | CEN | 82 | 44 | 23 | 15 | 250 | 196 | 103 |
4 | St. Louis Blues | CEN | 82 | 45 | 29 | 8 | 256 | 204 | 98 |
5 | Los Angeles Kings | PAC | 82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 227 | 225 | 87 |
6 | Phoenix Coyotes | CEN | 82 | 35 | 35 | 12 | 224 | 227 | 82 |
7 | Edmonton Oilers | PAC | 82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 215 | 224 | 80 |
8 | San Jose Sharks | PAC | 82 | 34 | 38 | 10 | 210 | 216 | 78 |
9 | Chicago Blackhawks | CEN | 82 | 30 | 39 | 13 | 192 | 199 | 73 |
10 | Toronto Maple Leafs | CEN | 82 | 30 | 43 | 9 | 194 | 237 | 69 |
11 | Calgary Flames | PAC | 82 | 26 | 41 | 15 | 217 | 252 | 67 |
12 | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | PAC | 82 | 26 | 43 | 13 | 205 | 261 | 65 |
13 | Vancouver Canucks | PAC | 82 | 25 | 43 | 14 | 224 | 273 | 64 |
Divisions: CEN – Central, PAC – Pacific
bold – Qualified for playoffs; x – Won Division; p – Won Presidents' Trophy
Schedule and results
1997–98 regular season[5] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 3–8–2 (home: 2–4–2; road: 1–4–0)
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November: 6–6–1 (home: 2–2–0; road: 4–4–1)
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December: 2–9–3 (home: 1–5–1; road: 1–4–2)
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January: 3–9–2 (home: 2–3–1; road: 1–6–1)
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February: 4–1–1 (home: 4–1–0; road: 0–0–1)
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March: 4–6–4 (home: 2–4–0; road: 2–2–4)
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April: 3–4–1 (home: 2–3–0; road: 1–1–1)
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Legend:
Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
Player statistics
Scoring
- Position abbreviations: C = Centre; D = Defence; 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 Canucks only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canucks only.
Regular season | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
10 | Pavel Bure | RW | 82 | 51 | 39 | 90 | 5 | 48 |
11 | Mark Messier | C | 82 | 22 | 38 | 60 | −10 | 58 |
89 | Alexander Mogilny | RW | 51 | 18 | 27 | 45 | −6 | 36 |
19 | Markus Naslund | LW | 76 | 14 | 20 | 34 | 5 | 56 |
21 | Jyrki Lumme | D | 74 | 9 | 21 | 30 | −25 | 34 |
2 | Mattias Ohlund | D | 77 | 7 | 23 | 30 | 3 | 76 |
3 | Bret Hedican | D | 71 | 3 | 24 | 27 | 3 | 79 |
28 | Brian Noonan | RW | 82 | 10 | 15 | 25 | −19 | 62 |
20 | Dave Scatchard | C | 76 | 13 | 11 | 24 | −4 | 165 |
16 | Trevor Linden‡ | RW | 42 | 7 | 14 | 21 | −13 | 49 |
26 | Mike Sillinger‡ | C | 48 | 10 | 9 | 19 | −14 | 34 |
8 | Donald Brashear | LW | 77 | 9 | 9 | 18 | −9 | 372 |
22 | Peter Zezel† | C | 25 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 13 | 2 |
27 | Todd Bertuzzi† | LW | 22 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 2 | 63 |
4 | Grant Ledyard‡ | D | 39 | 2 | 13 | 15 | −2 | 14 |
24 | Scott Walker | C | 59 | 3 | 10 | 13 | −8 | 164 |
9 | Brad May† | LW | 27 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 41 |
23 | Bryan McCabe† | D | 26 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 64 |
44 | Dave Babych‡ | D | 47 | 0 | 9 | 9 | −11 | 37 |
23 | Martin Gelinas‡ | LW | 24 | 4 | 4 | 8 | −6 | 10 |
5 | Dana Murzyn | D | 31 | 5 | 2 | 7 | −3 | 42 |
25 | Steve Staios | RW | 77 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 134 |
6 | Adrian Aucoin | D | 35 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −4 | 21 |
48 | Bert Robertsson | LW | 30 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 24 |
29 | Gino Odjick‡ | LW | 35 | 3 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 181 |
14 | Lonny Bohonos‡ | RW | 31 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −9 | 4 |
36 | Chris McAllister | D | 36 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −12 | 106 |
18 | Geoff Sanderson†‡ | LW | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −1 | 4 |
7 | David Roberts | LW | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 4 |
9 | Lubomir Vaic | C | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 2 |
26 | Brandon Convery† | C | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
1 | Sean Burke†‡ | G | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 | |
39 | Enrico Ciccone†‡ | D | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 47 |
7 | Jamie Huscroft† | D | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
34 | Jason Strudwick† | D | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 29 |
22 | Larry Courville | LW | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −7 | 5 |
31 | Corey Hirsch | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
32 | Arturs Irbe | G | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
1 | Kirk McLean‡ | G | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
30 | Garth Snow† | G | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
27 | Mark Wotton | D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 6 |
Goaltending
- † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canucks only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canucks only.
Regular season | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Player | GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
32 | Arturs Irbe | 41 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 982 | 91 | 2.73 | .907 | 2 | 1999 |
1 | Kirk McLean‡ | 29 | 6 | 17 | 4 | 800 | 97 | 3.68 | .879 | 1 | 1583 |
30 | Garth Snow† | 12 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 262 | 26 | 3.09 | .901 | 0 | 504 |
1 | Sean Burke†‡ | 16 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 396 | 49 | 3.51 | .876 | 0 | 838 |
31 | Corey Hirsch | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 5 | 6.05 | .853 | 0 | 50 |
Awards and records
Awards
Type | Award/honour | Recipient | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
League (annual) |
NHL All-Rookie Team | Mattias Ohlund (Defence) | [6] |
League (in-season) |
NHL All-Star Game selection | Pavel Bure | [7] |
Mark Messier[lower-alpha 1] | |||
Team | Babe Pratt Trophy | Mattias Ohlund | [8] |
Cyclone Taylor Trophy | Pavel Bure | [8] | |
Cyrus H. McLean Trophy | Pavel Bure | [8] | |
Fred J. Hume Award | Brian Noonan | [9] | |
Molson Cup | Pavel Bure | [10] | |
Most Exciting Player Award | Pavel Bure | [9] |
Milestones
Milestone | Player | Date | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
500th game played | Kirk McLean | October 19, 1997 | [11] |
Transactions
Trades
Draft picks
Vancouver's picks at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[12]
Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | Brad Ference (D) | Canada | Spokane Chiefs (WHL) |
2 | 34 | Ryan Bonni (D) | Canada | Saskatoon Blades (WHL) |
2 | 36 | Harold Druken (D) | Canada | Detroit Whalers (OHL) |
3 | 64 | Kyle Freadrich (LW) | Canada | Prince George Cougars (WHL) |
4 | 90 | Chris Stanley (C) | Canada | Belleville Bulls (OHL) |
5 | 114 | David Darguzas (C) | Canada | Edmonton Ice (WHL) |
5 | 117 | Matt Cockell (G) | Canada | Saskatoon Blades (WHL) |
6 | 144 | Matt Cooke (LW) | Canada | Windsor Spitfires (OHL) |
6 | 148 | Larry Shapley (D) | Canada | Welland Jr. Canadians (Golden Horseshoe Junior B Hockey League) |
7 | 171 | Rod Leroux (D) | Canada | Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) |
8 | 201 | Denis Martynyuk (LW) | Russia | CSKA Moscow (Russian Pro Hockey League) |
9 | 227 | Peter Brady (G) | Canada | Powell River Paper Kings (BCJHL) |
Notes
- Commissioner’s selection.
References
- "Vancouver Canucks 1997-98 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- "1997-98 Vancouver Canucks Roster, Stats, Injuries, Scores, Results, Shootouts". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- "Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames Box Score — April 9, 1998".
- "Vancouver Canucks 1997-98". Retrieved January 26, 2012.
- "1997-98 NHL Summary".
- "1997-1998 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
- "1997-98 Vancouver Canucks Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- "Postseason All-Star Teams". records.nhl.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- "NHL All-Star Game Historical Summaries - 1998". NHL.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- Vancouver Canucks 2016–17 Media Guide, p. 249
- Vancouver Canucks 2016–17 Media Guide, p. 250
- 2015–16 Vancouver Canucks Media Guide, p. 217
- "New York Rangers Official Web-site -- Roster". New York Rangers. Archived from the original on May 22, 2000. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
1997-98… Appeared in his 500th career NHL game on Oct. 19 vs. Colorado
- "1997 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.