1997–98 Carolina Hurricanes season
1997–98 Carolina Hurricanes | |
---|---|
Division | 6th Northeast |
Conference | 9th Eastern |
1997–98 record | 33–41–8 |
Home record | 16–18–7 |
Road record | 17–23–1 |
Goals for | 200 |
Goals against | 219 |
Team information | |
General manager | Jim Rutherford |
Coach | Paul Maurice |
Captain | Kevin Dineen |
Arena | Greensboro Coliseum |
Average attendance | 9,086[1] |
Minor league affiliate(s) | Beast of New Haven Richmond Renegades |
Team leaders | |
Goals | Sami Kapanen (26) Keith Primeau (26) |
Assists | Sami Kapanen (37) Keith Primeau (37) |
Points | Sami Kapanen (63) Keith Primeau (63) |
Penalty minutes | Stu Grimson (204) |
Plus/minus | Keith Primeau (+19) |
Wins | Trevor Kidd (21) |
Goals against average | Trevor Kidd (2.17) |
The 1997–98 Carolina Hurricanes season was the 26th season in franchise history, their 19th as a member of the National Hockey League (NHL), and their first in North Carolina. Formerly the Hartford Whalers, the team would play in Greensboro while a new arena was being constructed in Raleigh. The club finished sub-.500 and failed to qualify for the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Offseason
[edit]In March 1997, Whalers owner Peter Karmanos announced that the team would move elsewhere after the 1996–97 season because of the team's inability to negotiate a satisfactory construction and lease package for a new arena to replace the Hartford Civic Center. In July, Karmanos announced that the Whalers would move to the Research Triangle area of North Carolina and the new Entertainment and Sports Arena in Raleigh, become the Carolina Hurricanes, and change their team colors to red and black. Due to the relatively short time frame for the move, Karmanos himself thought of and decided upon the new name for the club, rather than holding a contest as is sometimes done.
Unfortunately, the ESA would not be complete for two more years. The only arena in the Triangle with an ice plant was Dorton Arena in Raleigh, which only seated 5,100 people—too small even for temporary use. The Hurricanes decided to play home games in Greensboro, ninety minutes away from Raleigh, for their first two seasons after the move. This choice was disastrous for the franchise's attendance and reputation. With a capacity of over 21,000 people for hockey, the Greensboro Coliseum became the highest-capacity arena in the NHL, but Triangle-area fans proved unwilling to make the drive down I-40 to Greensboro, and fans from the Piedmont Triad mostly refused to support a lame-duck team that had displaced the longtime Greensboro/Carolina Monarchs minor-league franchise. Furthermore, only 29 out of 82 games were televised, and radio play-by-play coverage on WPTF was often pre-empted by North Carolina State Wolfpack basketball (for whose broadcasts WPTF was the flagship station), leaving these games totally unavailable to those who did not have a ticket. With by far the smallest season-ticket base in the NHL and attendance routinely well below the league average, Sports Illustrated ran a story titled "Natural Disaster,"[2] and ESPN anchors mocked the "Green Acres" of empty seats; in a 2006 interview, Karmanos admitted that "as it turns out, [Greensboro] was probably a mistake."[3]
Regular season
[edit]Final standings
[edit]No. | CR | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 82 | 40 | 24 | 18 | 228 | 188 | 98 |
2 | 5 | Boston Bruins | 82 | 39 | 30 | 13 | 221 | 194 | 91 |
3 | 6 | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 36 | 29 | 17 | 211 | 187 | 89 |
4 | 7 | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 37 | 32 | 13 | 235 | 208 | 87 |
5 | 8 | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 34 | 33 | 15 | 193 | 200 | 83 |
6 | 9 | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 33 | 41 | 8 | 200 | 219 | 74 |
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
[edit]1997–98 regular season[5] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 3–8–3 (home: 2–2–2; road: 1–6–1)
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November: 7–5–1 (home: 5–3–1; road: 2–2–0)
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December: 5–8–1 (home: 5–3–1; road: 0–5–0)
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January: 5–7–1 (home: 1–3–1; road: 4–4–0)
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February: 1–2–1 (home: 0–1–1; road: 1–1–0)
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March: 8–5–1 (home: 2–3–1; road: 6–2–0)
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April: 4–6–0 (home: 1–3–0; road: 3–3–0)
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Legend:
Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
Player statistics
[edit]Scoring
[edit]- 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 Hurricanes only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Hurricanes only.
Regular season | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
24 | Sami Kapanen | RW | 81 | 26 | 37 | 63 | 9 | 16 |
55 | Keith Primeau | C | 81 | 26 | 37 | 63 | 19 | 110 |
10 | Gary Roberts | LW | 61 | 20 | 29 | 49 | 3 | 103 |
19 | Nelson Emerson | RW | 81 | 21 | 24 | 45 | −17 | 50 |
92 | Jeff O'Neill | RW | 74 | 19 | 20 | 39 | −8 | 67 |
18 | Robert Kron | LW | 81 | 16 | 20 | 36 | −8 | 12 |
3 | Steve Chiasson | D | 66 | 7 | 27 | 34 | −2 | 65 |
23 | Martin Gelinas† | LW | 40 | 12 | 14 | 26 | 1 | 30 |
2 | Glen Wesley | D | 82 | 6 | 19 | 25 | 7 | 36 |
11 | Kevin Dineen | RW | 54 | 7 | 16 | 23 | −7 | 105 |
8 | Geoff Sanderson‡ | LW | 40 | 7 | 10 | 17 | −4 | 14 |
28 | Paul Ranheim | LW | 73 | 5 | 9 | 14 | −11 | 28 |
21 | Jeff Brown‡ | D | 32 | 3 | 10 | 13 | −1 | 16 |
7 | Curtis Leschyshyn | D | 73 | 2 | 10 | 12 | −2 | 45 |
6 | Adam Burt | D | 76 | 1 | 11 | 12 | −6 | 106 |
27 | Steve Leach | RW | 45 | 4 | 5 | 9 | −19 | 42 |
44 | Kent Manderville | C | 77 | 4 | 4 | 8 | −6 | 31 |
5 | Kevin Haller | D | 65 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −5 | 94 |
32 | Stu Grimson | LW | 82 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 204 |
26 | Ray Sheppard† | RW | 10 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
33 | Bates Battaglia | LW | 33 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −1 | 10 |
12 | Steven Rice | RW | 47 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −16 | 38 |
22 | Sean Hill† | D | 42 | 0 | 5 | 5 | −2 | 48 |
39 | Enrico Ciccone‡ | D | 14 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 83 |
14 | Steven Halko | D | 18 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −1 | 10 |
4 | Nolan Pratt | D | 23 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −2 | 44 |
1 | Sean Burke‡ | G | 25 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
1 | Kirk McLean†‡ | G | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
17 | Chris Murray‡ | RW | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 22 |
46 | Mike Rucinski | D | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
29 | Kevin Brown | RW | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
16 | Jeff Daniels | LW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
30 | Mike Fountain | G | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
39[a] | Pat Jablonski | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
37 | Trevor Kidd | G | 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
34 | Steve Martins | C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Goaltending
[edit]- † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Hurricanes only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Hurricanes only.
Regular season | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Player | GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
37 | Trevor Kidd | 47 | 21 | 21 | 3 | 1237 | 97 | 2.17 | .922 | 3 | 2685 |
1 | Sean Burke‡ | 25 | 7 | 11 | 5 | 655 | 66 | 2.80 | .899 | 1 | 1415 |
1 | Kirk McLean†‡ | 8 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 181 | 22 | 3.29 | .878 | 0 | 401 |
39[a] | Pat Jablonski | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 115 | 14 | 3.01 | .878 | 0 | 279 |
30 | Mike Fountain | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 68 | 10 | 3.68 | .853 | 0 | 163 |
Awards and records
[edit]Awards
[edit]Type | Award/honor | Recipient | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
League (annual) |
Lester Patrick Trophy | Peter Karmanos | [6] |
Transactions
[edit]The Hurricanes were involved in the following transactions during the 1997–98 season.
Trades
[edit]Free agents
[edit]
|
|
Draft picks
[edit]Carolina's draft picks at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft held at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[7]
Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 22 | Nikos Tselios | ![]() |
Belleville Bulls (OHL) |
2 | 28 | Brad DeFauw | ![]() |
University of North Dakota (WCHA) |
3 | 80 | Francis Lessard | ![]() |
Val-d'Or Foreurs (QMJHL) |
4 | 88 | Shane Willis | ![]() |
Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL) |
6 | 142 | Kyle Dafoe | ![]() |
Owen Sound Platers (OHL) |
7 | 169 | Andrew Merrick | ![]() |
University of Michigan (CCHA) |
8 | 195 | Niklas Nordgren | ![]() |
Modo Hockey Jr. (Sweden) |
8 | 199 | Randy Fitzgerald | ![]() |
Detroit Whalers (OHL) |
9 | 225 | Kent McDonell | ![]() |
Guelph Storm (OHL) |
Farm teams
[edit]The Beast of New Haven were the Hurricanes American Hockey League affiliate for the 1998–99 AHL season.
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- "Carolina Hurricanes 1997-98 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
- "1997-98 Carolina Hurricanes Roster, Stats, Injuries, Scores, Results, Shootouts". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
- ^ "NHL Average Attendance since 1989-90". Andrew's Dallas Stars Page. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2011.
- ^ Callaghan, Gerry. "Natural Disaster." Sports Illustrated, October 27, 1997; Web article retrieved November 19, 2008.
- ^ Burnside, Scott. "Karmanos: Hard-nosed owner, die-hard hockey fan." ESPN.com, June 6, 2008; Web article retrieved February 14, 2009.
- ^ "1997–1998 Conference Standings". National Hockey League. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
- ^ "1997-98 Carolina Hurricanes Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
- ^ "Lester Patrick Trophy". records.nhl.com. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- ^ "1997 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.