The1997–98 NHL season was the81stregular season of theNational Hockey League (NHL). For the first time, there was a break in the regular season to allow NHL players join their respective national hockey teams competing at theWinter Olympics. TheHartford Whalers relocated toNorth Carolina, becoming theCarolina Hurricanes. TheStanley Cup champions were theDetroit Red Wings, who swept theWashington Capitals in four games.

On June 25, 1997, the National Hockey League approved of four expansion franchises forNashville,Atlanta,Columbus, andSaint Paul expanding the league to 30 teams by 2000. These franchises became theNashville Predators in 1998, theAtlanta Thrashers in 1999, and theColumbus Blue Jackets andMinnesota 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 traditionalAdams/Patrick/Norris/Smythe set. The league would changethe following season to a six-division, more purely geographic alignment, with theToronto Maple Leafs moving from the Western to Eastern Conference, among others.

TheHartford Whalers relocated toNorth Carolina, becoming theCarolina 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.

The1997 NHL entry draft was held at theCivic Arena inPittsburgh,Pennsylvania, on June 21.Joe Thornton was selected first overall by theBoston Bruins.

Due to the retirement ofCraig MacTavish after the1996–97 season, all NHL players were now required to wear helmets. MacTavish was the last helmetless player remaining in the league to begrandfathered in to1979–80 rules requiring incoming players to wear helmets.

• The relocatedCarolina Hurricanes moved fromHartford Civic Center inHartford, Connecticut toGreensboro Coliseum inGreensboro, North Carolina, whiletheir new arena inRaleigh, North Carolina was under construction.
• TheWashington Capitals moved fromUS Airways Arena inLandover, Maryland to theMCI Center inWashington, D.C. on December 5, 1997, withMCI acquiring the naming rights.

TheVancouver Canucks andMighty Ducks of Anaheim opened the season with a two-game series atYoyogi National Gymnasium inTokyo,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 theWinter Olympics. The league's break lasted 17 days from February 8 to 24 while NHL players participated at themen's hockey event at the1998 Winter Olympics inNagano, Japan.

As a preview for the NHL's first Olympic participation, a new format was introduced at the1998 All-Star Game atGeneral Motors Place inVancouver, the home to theVancouver 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 byDominik Hasek,^[2] who set a League record with 11 teams shut-out. He zeroed theNew York Rangers three times, andLos Angeles,Anaheim,Tampa Bay,Boston,Calgary,Washington,Montreal,Ottawa,Pittsburgh andEdmonton once each. Only two teams, theSt. Louis Blues and theDetroit 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, theChicago Blackhawks missed the playoffs.

Eastern Conference

Divisions:ATL – Atlantic,NE – Northeast

bold – Qualified for playoffs

Western Conference

Divisions:CEN – Central,PAC – Pacific

bold – Qualified for playoffs;x – Won Division;p – WonPresidents' Trophy

The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs, with the two division winnersseeded 1–2 based on regular season records, and the six remaining teams seeded 3–8. In each round, teams competed in abest-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.

TheNHL Awards took place inToronto, Ontario

Note:GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Regular season

^[4]

• Boston Bruins:Pat Burns
• Buffalo Sabres:Lindy Ruff
• Carolina Hurricanes:Paul Maurice
• Florida Panthers:Doug MacLean andBryan Murray
• Montreal Canadiens:Alain Vigneault
• New Jersey Devils:Jacques Lemaire
• New York Islanders:Rick Bowness andMike Milbury
• New York Rangers:Colin Campbell andJohn Muckler
• Ottawa Senators:Jacques Martin
• Philadelphia Flyers:Wayne Cashman andRoger Neilson
• Pittsburgh Penguins:Kevin Constantine
• Tampa Bay Lightning:Terry Crisp,Rick Paterson andJacques Demers
• Washington Capitals:Ron Wilson

• Mighty Ducks of Anaheim:Pierre Page
• Calgary Flames:Brian Sutter
• Chicago Blackhawks:Craig Hartsburg
• Colorado Avalanche:Marc Crawford
• Dallas Stars:Ken Hitchcock
• Detroit Red Wings:Scotty Bowman
• Edmonton Oilers:Ron Low
• Los Angeles Kings:Larry Robinson
• Phoenix Coyotes:Jim Schoenfeld
• San Jose Sharks:Darryl Sutter
• St. Louis Blues:Joel Quenneville
• Toronto Maple Leafs:Mike Murphy
• Vancouver Canucks:Tom Renney andMike Keenan

The following is a list ofplayers of note who played their first NHL game in 1997–98 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Matt Cullen, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
• Joe Thornton, Boston Bruins
• Sergei Samsonov, Boston Bruins
• Derek Morris, Calgary Flames
• Olli Jokinen, Los Angeles Kings
• Sheldon Souray, New Jersey Devils
• Zdeno Chara, New York Islanders
• Marc Savard, New York Rangers
• Chris Phillips, Ottawa Senators
• Marian Hossa, Ottawa Senators
• Daniel Briere, Phoenix Coyotes
• Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks
• Mattias Ohlund, Vancouver Canucks

The following is a list ofplayers of note who played their last game in the NHL in 1997–98 (listed with their last team):

• Brent Sutter, Chicago Blackhawks
• Jari Kurri, Colorado Avalanche
• Slava Fetisov, Detroit Red Wings
• Kevin Lowe, Edmonton Oilers
• Andy Moog, Montreal Canadiens
• Pat LaFontaine, New York Rangers
• Joel Otto, Philadelphia Flyers
• Mike Gartner, Phoenix Coyotes
• Al Iafrate, San Jose Sharks
• Kelly Hrudey, San Jose Sharks
• Jeff Brown, Washington Capitals
• Brian Bradley, Tampa Bay Lightning
• Norm Maciver, Phoenix Coyotes

This was the tenth and final season that the league's Canadian national broadcast rights were split betweenTSN andHockey Night in Canada onCBC. 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 fledglingCTV 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 withFox andESPN. Both ESPN andESPN2 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 withABC Sports/ESPN, and thus Fox elected not to use the system in the subsequent "lame duck" season.

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1997 NHL entry draft
• 1997–98 NHL transactions
• 48th National Hockey League All-Star Game
• National Hockey League All-Star Game
• NHL All-Rookie Team
• Lester Patrick Trophy
• Ice hockey at the 1998 Winter Olympics
• 1997 in sports
• 1998 in sports

• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000).Total Hockey. Kingston, NY: Total Sports.ISBN 1-892129-85-X.
• Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011).The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Toronto, ON: Dan Diamond & Associates.ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5.
• Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000).Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd.ISBN 0-7710-4179-9.
• Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley; Hughes, Morgan; Romain, Joseph; Duplacey, James (2003).The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International Inc.ISBN 0-7853-9624-1.

Notes

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com

• 1997–98 NHL season
• 1997–98 in Canadian ice hockey by league
• 1997–98 in American ice hockey by league

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from August 2023
• Short description matches Wikidata