1996–97 New York Islanders season

The 1996–97 New York Islanders season was the 25th season in the franchise's history. It saw the withdrawal of the "Fisherman" logo from 1995 at the start of the season and the return of the original logo. For the third consecutive year, the Islanders failed to make the playoffs.

1996–97 New York Islanders
Division	7th Atlantic
Conference	12th Eastern
1996–97 record	29–41–12
Home record	19–18–4
Road record	10–23–8
Goals for	240
Goals against	250
Team information
General manager	Mike Milbury
Coach	Mike Milbury (interim) Rick Bowness
Captain	Vacant
Arena	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Average attendance	12,494
Minor league affiliate(s)	Utah Grizzlies
Team leaders
Goals	Zigmund Palffy (48)
Assists	Zigmund Palffy (42)
Points	Zigmund Palffy (90)
Penalty minutes	Rich Pilon (179)
Plus/minus	Zigmund Palffy (+21)
Wins	Tommy Salo (20)
Goals against average	Tommy Salo (2.82)
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

Offseason

Captain Patrick Flatley leaves Long Island, signing with the rival New York Rangers. The team does not name a new captain until the 1997–98 season.

Regular season

Final standings

Atlantic Division

No.	CR		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	1	New Jersey Devils	82	45	23	14	231	182	104
2	3	Philadelphia Flyers	82	45	24	13	274	217	103
3	4	Florida Panthers	82	35	28	19	221	201	89
4	5	New York Rangers	82	38	34	10	258	231	86
5	9	Washington Capitals	82	33	40	9	214	231	75
6	11	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	32	40	10	217	247	74
7	12	New York Islanders	82	29	41	12	240	250	70

Eastern Conference^[1]

R		Div	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	New Jersey Devils	ATL	82	45	23	14	231	182	104
2	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	40	30	12	237	208	92
3	Philadelphia Flyers	ATL	82	45	24	13	274	217	103
4	Florida Panthers	ATL	82	35	28	19	221	201	89
5	New York Rangers	ATL	82	38	34	10	258	231	86
6	Pittsburgh Penguins	NE	82	38	36	8	285	280	84
7	Ottawa Senators	NE	82	31	36	15	226	234	77
8	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	31	36	15	249	276	77
9	Washington Capitals	ATL	82	33	40	9	214	231	75
10	Hartford Whalers	NE	82	32	39	11	226	256	75
11	Tampa Bay Lightning	ATL	82	32	40	10	217	247	74
12	New York Islanders	ATL	82	29	41	12	240	250	70
13	Boston Bruins	NE	82	26	47	9	234	300	61

Divisions: ATL – Atlantic, NE – Northeast

bold – Qualified for playoffs

Schedule and results

1996–97 regular season^[2]
October: 1–5–4 (home: 1–3–1; road: 0–2–3) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 1 L October 4, 1996 0–1 @ Los Angeles Kings (1996–97) 0–1–0 Recap 2 T October 5, 1996 2–2 OT @ San Jose Sharks (1996–97) 0–1–1 Recap 3 T October 9, 1996 3–3 OT @ Ottawa Senators (1996–97) 0–1–2 Recap 4 W October 12, 1996 5–1 Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) 1–1–2 Recap 5 L October 17, 1996 1–3 Hartford Whalers (1996–97) 1–2–2 Recap 6 L October 19, 1996 2–4 @ Detroit Red Wings (1996–97) 1–3–2 Recap 7 L October 22, 1996 3–6 Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 1–4–2 Recap 8 T October 26, 1996 2–2 OT San Jose Sharks (1996–97) 1–4–3 Recap 9 T October 30, 1996 2–2 OT @ Hartford Whalers (1996–97) 1–4–4 Recap 10 L October 31, 1996 3–5 Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97) 1–5–4 Recap
November: 5–5–4 (home: 3–3–1; road: 2–2–3) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 11 W November 2, 1996 6–1 Washington Capitals (1996–97) 2–5–4 Recap 12 W November 4, 1996 4–3 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) 3–5–4 Recap 13 T November 6, 1996 1–1 OT New York Rangers (1996–97) 3–5–5 Recap 14 L November 9, 1996 0–4 @ New Jersey Devils (1996–97) 3–6–5 Recap 15 L November 11, 1996 2–6 Colorado Avalanche (1996–97) 3–7–5 Recap 16 W November 13, 1996 5–4 OT Vancouver Canucks (1996–97) 4–7–5 Recap 17 T November 15, 1996 3–3 OT @ Florida Panthers (1996–97) 4–7–6 Recap 18 L November 16, 1996 1–4 Ottawa Senators (1996–97) 4–8–6 Recap 19 T November 20, 1996 2–2 OT @ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97) 4–8–7 Recap 20 L November 22, 1996 2–3 @ Colorado Avalanche (1996–97) 4–9–7 Recap 21 T November 23, 1996 3–3 OT @ Phoenix Coyotes (1996–97) 4–9–8 Recap 22 W November 27, 1996 4–1 Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) 5–9–8 Recap 23 W November 29, 1996 2–0 @ Washington Capitals (1996–97) 6–9–8 Recap 24 L November 30, 1996 2–3 Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 6–10–8 Recap
December: 6–7–0 (home: 5–3–0; road: 1–4–0) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 25 W December 3, 1996 3–1 Calgary Flames (1996–97) 7–10–8 Recap 26 L December 5, 1996 2–4 @ Florida Panthers (1996–97) 7–11–8 Recap 27 W December 7, 1996 2–0 Washington Capitals (1996–97) 8–11–8 Recap 28 W December 10, 1996 8–2 Phoenix Coyotes (1996–97) 9–11–8 Recap 29 W December 11, 1996 5–3 @ New York Rangers (1996–97) 10–11–8 Recap 30 L December 14, 1996 1–4 @ Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 10–12–8 Recap 31 W December 17, 1996 4–3 Los Angeles Kings (1996–97) 11–12–8 Recap 32 L December 19, 1996 0–5 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) 11–13–8 Recap 33 L December 21, 1996 2–3 Dallas Stars (1996–97) 11–14–8 Recap 34 L December 23, 1996 3–4 OT Florida Panthers (1996–97) 11–15–8 Recap 35 W December 26, 1996 4–1 New Jersey Devils (1996–97) 12–15–8 Recap 36 L December 28, 1996 1–7 Detroit Red Wings (1996–97) 12–16–8 Recap 37 L December 30, 1996 0–2 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97) 12–17–8 Recap
January: 4–9–1 (home: 2–3–0; road: 2–6–1) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 38 L January 2, 1997 3–4 @ New York Rangers (1996–97) 12–18–8 Recap 39 L January 4, 1997 1–3 @ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) 12–19–8 Recap 40 L January 7, 1997 3–5 Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 12–20–8 Recap 41 L January 10, 1997 2–5 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 12–21–8 Recap 42 T January 11, 1997 4–4 OT @ Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 12–21–9 Recap 43 W January 13, 1997 4–2 @ New York Rangers (1996–97) 13–21–9 Recap 44 L January 15, 1997 1–2 Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 13–22–9 Recap 45 L January 20, 1997 4–6 St. Louis Blues (1996–97) 13–23–9 Recap 46 W January 22, 1997 8–1 Edmonton Oilers (1996–97) 14–23–9 Recap 47 W January 24, 1997 5–2 @ Hartford Whalers (1996–97) 15–23–9 Recap 48 W January 25, 1997 3–2 Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97) 16–23–9 Recap 49 L January 28, 1997 3–4 @ Calgary Flames (1996–97) 16–24–9 Recap 50 L January 30, 1997 1–2 OT @ Vancouver Canucks (1996–97) 16–25–9 Recap 51 L January 31, 1997 0–1 @ Edmonton Oilers (1996–97) 16–26–9 Recap
February: 4–6–1 (home: 3–3–1; road: 1–3–0) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 52 W February 4, 1997 4–3 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97) 17–26–9 Recap 53 L February 5, 1997 1–4 @ New Jersey Devils (1996–97) 17–27–9 Recap 54 L February 8, 1997 2–5 New York Rangers (1996–97) 17–28–9 Recap 55 T February 11, 1997 5–5 OT Ottawa Senators (1996–97) 17–28–10 Recap 56 W February 12, 1997 5–1 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 18–28–10 Recap 57 W February 15, 1997 1–0 OT Florida Panthers (1996–97) 19–28–10 Recap 58 L February 17, 1997 1–4 Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) 19–29–10 Recap 59 L February 21, 1997 2–5 @ Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 19–30–10 Recap 60 W February 23, 1997 4–1 Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 20–30–10 Recap 61 L February 26, 1997 3–5 New Jersey Devils (1996–97) 20–31–10 Recap 62 L February 28, 1997 1–4 @ Ottawa Senators (1996–97) 20–32–10 Recap
March: 8–4–1 (home: 4–1–1; road: 4–3–0) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 63 W March 2, 1997 2–0 @ Washington Capitals (1996–97) 21–32–10 Recap 64 L March 4, 1997 3–6 Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 21–33–10 Recap 65 W March 6, 1997 5–2 Boston Bruins (1996–97) 22–33–10 Recap 66 W March 8, 1997 5–1 New Jersey Devils (1996–97) 23–33–10 Recap 67 L March 11, 1997 2–3 @ Florida Panthers (1996–97) 23–34–10 Recap 68 W March 13, 1997 3–0 @ Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 24–34–10 Recap 69 L March 15, 1997 2–5 @ Boston Bruins (1996–97) 24–35–10 Recap 70 L March 16, 1997 4–5 @ Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97) 24–36–10 Recap 71 W March 19, 1997 7–4 Florida Panthers (1996–97) 25–36–10 Recap 72 T March 22, 1997 3–3 OT Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) 25–36–11 Recap 73 W March 26, 1997 3–2 OT @ Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 26–36–11 Recap 74 W March 27, 1997 6–3 @ Boston Bruins (1996–97) 27–36–11 Recap 75 W March 29, 1997 8–2 Boston Bruins (1996–97) 28–36–11 Recap
April: 1–5–1 (home: 1–2–0; road: 0–3–1) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 76 L April 2, 1997 4–5 @ Dallas Stars (1996–97) 28–37–11 Recap 77 T April 3, 1997 5–5 OT @ St. Louis Blues (1996–97) 28–37–12 Recap 78 L April 5, 1997 2–3 Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 28–38–12 Recap 79 L April 7, 1997 1–2 @ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) 28–39–12 Recap 80 L April 9, 1997 1–3 Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) 28–40–12 Recap 81 W April 11, 1997 6–4 Hartford Whalers (1996–97) 29–40–12 Recap 82 L April 12, 1997 2–6 @ Washington Capitals (1996–97) 29–41–12 Recap
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

Player statistics

Scoring

• Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; 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 Islanders only.
• ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Islanders only.

			Regular season
No.	Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
16	Zigmund Palffy	RW	80	48	42	90	21	43
39	Travis Green	C	79	23	41	64	−5	38
15	Bryan Smolinski†	C	64	28	28	56	9	25
27	Derek King‡	LW	70	23	30	53	−6	20
34	Bryan Berard	D	82	8	40	48	1	86
32	Niklas Andersson	LW	74	12	31	43	4	57
18	Marty McInnis‡	RW	70	20	22	42	−7	20
4	Bryan McCabe	D	82	8	20	28	−2	165
44	Todd Bertuzzi	RW	64	10	13	23	−3	68
3	Kenny Jonsson	D	81	3	18	21	10	24
21	Robert Reichel†	C	12	5	14	19	7	4
13^[a]	Claude Lapointe	C	73	13	5	18	−12	49
7	Scott Lachance	D	81	3	11	14	−7	47
14	Derek Armstrong	C	50	6	7	13	−8	33
42^[b]	Dan Plante	RW	67	4	9	13	−6	75
11^[c]	Randy Wood	LW	65	6	5	11	−7	61
20	Brent Hughes	LW	51	7	3	10	−4	57
6	Doug Houda†	D	70	2	8	10	1	99
24	Paul Kruse†	LW	48	4	2	6	−5	111
2^[d]	Rich Pilon	D	52	1	4	5	4	179
62	Steve Webb†	RW	41	1	4	5	−10	144
11	Darius Kasparaitis‡	D	18	0	5	5	−7	16
38	Andreas Johansson‡	C	15	2	2	4	−6	0
28^[e]	Dennis Vaske	D	17	0	4	4	3	12
10	Dave McLlwain	C	4	1	1	2	−2	0
33	Ken Belanger	LW	18	0	2	2	−1	102
46	Jason Holland	D	4	1	0	1	1	0
12	Mick Vukota	RW	17	1	0	1	−2	71
35	Tommy Salo	G	58	0	1	1		4
24	Dave Archibald†	C	7	0	0	0	−4	4
36	Jarrett Deuling	LW	1	0	0	0	0	0
8	Mike Donnelly	LW	3	0	0	0	0	2
28	Jim Dowd	C	3	0	0	0	−1	0
1	Eric Fichaud	G	34	0	0	0		2
10^[f]	Corey Foster	D	7	0	0	0	−2	2
30	Tommy Soderstrom	G	1	0	0	0		0
25	Chris Taylor	C	1	0	0	0	0	0
21	Nick Vachon†	C	1	0	0	0	−1	0
42	Andrei Vasilyev	LW	3	0	0	0	−3	2

Goaltending

		Regular season
No.	Player	GP	W	L	T	SA	GA	GAA	SV%	SO	TOI
35	Tommy Salo	58	20	27	8	1576	151	2.82	.904	5	3208
1	Eric Fichaud	34	9	14	4	897	91	3.10	.899	0	1759
30	Tommy Soderstrom	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00		0	1

Awards and records

Awards

Type	Award/honor	Recipient	Ref
League (annual)	Calder Memorial Trophy	Bryan Berard	^[3]
	NHL All-Rookie Team	Bryan Berard (Defense)	^[4]
League (in-season)	NHL All-Star Game selection	Scott Lachance	^[5]
		Zigmund Palffy^[g]
Team	Bob Nystrom Award	Claude Lapointe	^[7]

Transactions

Draft picks

New York's draft picks at the 1996 NHL Entry Draft held at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri.^[8]

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	3	Jean-Pierre Dumont	Canada	Val-d'Or Foreurs (QMJHL)
2	29	Dan LaCouture	United States	Enfield Jr. Whalers (EJHL)
3	56	Zdeno Chara	Slovakia	Dukla Trenčín (Slovakia)
4	83	Tyrone Garner	Canada	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
5	109	Andrew Berenzweig	United States	University of Michigan (CCHA)
5	128	Petr Sachl	Czech Republic	HC České Budějovice (Czech Republic)
6	138	Todd Miller	Canada	Sarnia Sting (OHL)
7	165	J. R. Prestifilippo	United States	Hotchkiss School (USHS-CT)
8	192	Evgeny Korolev	Russia	Peterborough Petes (OHL)
9	218	Mike Muzechka	Canada	Calgary Hitmen (WHL)

Notes

1. Lapointe wore number 48 on October 31.
2. Plante wore number 21 through December 5.
3. Wood wore number 10 through November 16.
4. Pilon wore number 47 in his first two games.
5. Vaske wore number 37 in his first five games.
6. Foster wore number 6 in his first five games.
7. Palffy did not play and was replaced by Lachance.^[6]

References

• "New York Islanders 1996-97 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
• "1996-97 New York Islanders Roster, Stats, Injuries, Scores, Results, Shootouts". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 20, 2023.

1. "1996-1997 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
2. "1996-97 New York Islanders Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
3. "Calder Memorial Trophy". records.nhl.com. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
4. "Postseason All-Star Teams". records.nhl.com. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
5. "NHL All-Star Game Historical Summaries - 1997". www.nhl.com. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
6. "SPORTS BRIEFS". Deseret News. January 16, 1997. Retrieved July 27, 2023. New York Islanders defenseman Scott Lachance also was added to the Eastern Conference team as a replacement for injured teammate Zigmund Palffy.
7. "New York Islanders – Awards and Honors". New York Islanders. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
8. "1996 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 27, 2023.