1997–98 New York Rangers season

1997–98 New York Rangers
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)
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

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]

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%
Mike Richter	72	4143	21	31	15	184	2.66	2072	.903
Dan Cloutier	12	551	4	5	1	23	2.50	271	.907
Jason Muzzatti^‡	6	313	0	3	2	17	3.26	173	.891

^†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		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)

References[]

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

[hr-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.

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v t New York Rangers seasons
1920s	1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

v t 1997–98 NHL season
Northeast Division	Boston Buffalo Carolina Montreal Ottawa Pittsburgh
Atlantic Division	Florida New Jersey NY Islanders NY Rangers Philadelphia Tampa Bay Washington
Central Division	Chicago Dallas Detroit Phoenix St. Louis Toronto
Pacific Division	Anaheim Calgary Colorado Edmonton Los Angeles San Jose Vancouver
See also	Draft All-Star Game Stanley Cup Playoffs Stanley Cup Finals