1997–98 Vancouver Canucks season

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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
Coach Mike Keenan
Captain Mark Messier
Alternate captains Trevor Linden (Oct-Jan)
Unknown
Team leaders
Goals Pavel Bure (51)
Assists Pavel Bure (39)
Points Pavel Bure (90)
Penalties in minutes Donald Brashear (372)
Wins Arturs Irbe (14)
Goals against average Arturs Irbe (2.73)

The 1997–98 Vancouver Canucks season was the teams 28th season in the National Hockey League. 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 as they finished even worse than the year before, costing 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 Anaheim Mighty Ducks in Tokyo to open up the regular season.

In addition, the team introduced a new logo that would stay in use for over a decade.

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Offseason

[edit] NHL Draft

See also: 1997 NHL Entry Draft
Round # Player Nationality College/Junior/Club Team
1 10 Brad Ference Flag of Canada Canada Spokane Chiefs (WHL)
2 34 Ryan Bonni Flag of Canada Canada Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
2 36 Harold Druken Flag of Canada Canada Detroit Whalers (OHL)
3 64 Kyle Freadrich Flag of Canada Canada Regina Pats (WHL)
4 90 Chris Stanley Flag of Canada Canada Belleville Bulls (OHL)
5 114 David Darguzas Flag of Canada Canada Edmonton Ice (WHL)
5 117 Matt Cockell Flag of Canada Canada Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
6 144 Matt Cooke Flag of Canada Canada Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
6 148 Larry Shapley Flag of Canada Canada Welland (Golden Horseshoe Junior B Hockey League)
7 171 Rod Leroux Flag of Canada Canada Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)
8 201 Denis Martynyuk Flag of Austria Austria CSKA Moscow (Russian Pro Hockey League)
9 227 Peter Brady Flag of Canada Canada Powell River Paper Kings (BCJHL)

[edit] Regular season

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Season standings

Pacific Division GP W L T GF GA PTS
Colorado Avalanche (2) 82 39 26 17 231 205 95
Los Angeles Kings (5) 82 38 33 11 227 225 87
Edmonton Oilers (7) 82 35 37 10 215 224 80
San Jose Sharks (8) 82 34 38 10 210 216 78
Calgary Flames (10) 82 26 41 15 217 252 67
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (12) 82 26 43 13 205 261 65
Vancouver Canucks (13) 82 25 43 14 224 273 64

[edit] Player stats

[edit] Forwards

Note: GP= Games played; G= Goals; AST= Assists; PTS = Points; PIM = Points

Player GP G AST PTS PIM
Pavel Bure 82 51 39 90 48
Mark Messier 82 22 38 60 58
Alexander Mogilny 51 18 27 45 36
Markus Naslund 76 14 20 34 56
Brian Noonan 82 10 15 25 62
Dave Scatchard 76 13 11 24 165
Donald Brashear 77 9 9 18 372
Steve Staios 77 3 4 7 134

[edit] Defencemen

Note: GP= Games played; G= Goals; AST= Assists; PTS = Points; PIM = Points

Player GP G AST PTS PIM
Jyrki Lumme 74 9 21 30 34
Mattias Ohlund 77 7 23 30 76
Bret Hedican 71 3 24 27 79
Grant Ledyard
Bryan McCabe
Dave Babych
Dana Murzyn
Bert Robertsson
Adrian Aucoin
Chris McAllister
Jamie Huscroft
Enrico Ciccone
Mark Wotton

[edit] Goaltending

Note: GP= Games played; W= Wins; L= Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals Against

Player GP W L T SO GAA
Arturs Irbe 41 14 11 6 2 2.73
Garth Snow 13 3 6 0 0 3.10
Sean Burke 16 2 9 4 0 3.51
Kirk McLean 29 6 17 4 1 3.68
Corey Hirsch 1 - - - - 6.00

[edit] References