1995-96 NHL season | |
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League | National Hockey League |
Sport | Ice hockey |
Duration | October 6, 1995 - June 10, 1996 |
Number of games | 82 |
Number of teams | 26 |
Draft | |
Top draft pick | Bryan Berard |
Picked by | Ottawa Senators |
Regular season | |
Presidents' Trophy | Detroit Red Wings |
Season MVP | Mario Lemieux (Penguins) |
Top scorer | Mario Lemieux (Penguins) |
Playoffs | |
Playoffs MVP | Joe Sakic (Avalanche) |
Stanley Cup | |
Champions | Colorado Avalanche |
Runners-up | Florida Panthers |
The 1995-96 NHL season was the 79th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the Colorado Avalanche (formerly the Quebec Nordiques), who, in their first year as the Avalanche, swept the Florida Panthers in the finals, in four games.
The 1995-96 season was the first season in Denver for the Avalanche, who had relocated from Quebec City where they were previously known as the Quebec Nordiques. Prior to the season, Colorado was assigned to the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They played at McNichols Arena, the building that the New Jersey Devils played in from 1976 to 1982 when they were known as the Colorado Rockies. The Avs would play in that building until they moved to the Pepsi Center in 1999.
It was also the final season for the original Winnipeg Jets, as they announced that they would be moving from Manitoba to Arizona and become the Phoenix Coyotes at season's end. The NHL would not return to Manitoba until the Atlanta Thrashers moved there to become the "new" Winnipeg Jets following the 2010-11 season.
This season would mark the last season the Buffalo Sabres would play in the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, the Philadelphia Flyers at the CoreStates Spectrum, the Senators at the Ottawa Civic Centre, and the Canadiens at the Montreal Forum. The Sabres made their new home at the Marine Midland Arena, the Flyers at the CoreStates Center, the Senators at the Corel Centre, and the Canadiens at the Molson Centre. The latter two arenas opened before the end of this season. With the Montreal Forum closed, Maple Leaf Gardens was the last remaining arena from the Original Six era at the time. The Boston Bruins played their first season at Fleet Center after spending the last 67 at the old Boston Garden, and the Vancouver Canucks played their first game at General Motors Place.
During the 1992-93 and 1993–94 seasons, each team played 84 games (including two neutral site games). Starting in the 1995-96 season, the neutral site games were eliminated, which reduced the regular season to 82 games per team where it remains to this very day.
The Detroit Red Wings had a spectacular season, finishing with the second-highest regular-season point total in NHL history (131 points), and setting the NHL record for most wins ever in the regular season (62). However, they fell to the Avalanche in the Western Conference Final, the sixth game of which marked the beginning of the heated Detroit-Colorado rivalry, which would last for years to come. Jaromir Jagr broke the record for assists and points by a right winger in a single season [1]. Mario Lemieux had the NHL's last 150+ point season with 161 points in 70 games. This would be the last season in which at least one player would score at least 60 goals (Jagr and Lemieux) until 2008.[1] The New Jersey Devils became the first team since the 1969-70 Montreal Canadiens to miss the playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup the previous season.
Eastern Conference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Divisions: ATL - Atlantic, NE - Northeast bold - Qualified for playoffs |
Western Conference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Divisions: CEN - Central, PAC - Pacific bold - Qualified for playoffs; p - Won Presidents' Trophy |
GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
The Colorado Avalanche swept the final series over the Florida Panthers in the minimum four games. Both teams were making their first appearance in the Final. For Colorado, it followed the team's first season in Denver, Colorado after moving from Quebec City. Joe Sakic won the Conn Smythe Trophy.
June 4 | Florida Panthers | 1-3 | Colorado Avalanche | McNichols Sports Arena | Recap | |||
Tom Fitzgerald (4) - 16:51 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
No scoring | Second period | 10:32 - Scott Young (3) 12:21 - Mike Ricci (6) 14:21 - Uwe Krupp (3) | ||||||
No scoring | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
John Vanbiesbrouck 27 saves / 30 shots | Goalie stats | Patrick Roy 25 saves / 26 shots |
June 6 | Florida Panthers | 1-8 | Colorado Avalanche | McNichols Sports Arena | Recap | |||
Stu Barnes (6) - pp - 07:52 | First period | 04:11 - Peter Forsberg (8) 10:43 - pp - Rene Corbet (2) 13:46 - pp - Peter Forsberg (9) 15:05 - pp - Peter Forsberg (10) | ||||||
No scoring | Second period | 04:37 - Rene Corbet (3) 05:08 - Valeri Kamensky (10) 10:03 - Jon Klemm (1) | ||||||
No scoring | Third period | 17:28 - pp - Jon Klemm (2) | ||||||
Mark Fitzpatrick 15 saves / 19 shots John Vanbiesbrouck 7 saves / 11 shots |
Goalie stats | Patrick Roy 27 saves / 28 shots |
June 8 | Colorado Avalanche | 3-2 | Florida Panthers | Miami Arena | Recap | |||
Claude Lemieux (5) - 02:44 | First period | 09:14 - pp - Ray Sheppard (8) 11:19 - Rob Niedermayer (5) | ||||||
Mike Keane (3) - 01:38 Joe Sakic (18) - 03:00 |
Second period | No scoring | ||||||
No scoring | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
Patrick Roy 32 saves / 34 shots | Goalie stats | John Vanbiesbrouck 19 saves / 22 shots |
June 10 | Colorado Avalanche | 1-0 | 3OT | Florida Panthers | Miami Arena | Recap | ||
No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
No scoring | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
Uwe Krupp (4) - 04:31 | Third overtime period | No scoring | ||||||
Patrick Roy 63 saves / 63 shots | Goalie stats | John Vanbiesbrouck 55 saves / 56 shots |
Colorado won series 4-0 | |
Conference quarterfinals | Conference semifinals | Conference finals | Stanley Cup Final | |||||||||||||||
1 | Philadelphia | 4 | 2 | Pittsburgh | 4 | |||||||||||||
8 | Tampa Bay | 2 | 3 | NY Rangers | 1 |
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2 | Pittsburgh | 4 | Eastern Conference | |||||||||||||||
7 | Washington | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
2 | Pittsburgh | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
4 | Florida | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
3 | NY Rangers | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
6 | Montreal | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
4 | Florida | 4 | 1 | Philadelphia | 2 | |||||||||||||
5 | Boston | 1 | 4 | Florida | 4 |
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E4 | Florida | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
(Pairings are re-seeded after the first round.) | ||||||||||||||||||
W2 | Colorado | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
1 | Detroit | 4 | 1 | Detroit | 4 | |||||||||||||
8 | Winnipeg | 2 | 5 | St. Louis | 3 | |||||||||||||
2 | Colorado | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
7 | Vancouver | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
1 | Detroit | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
2 | Colorado | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
3 | Chicago | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
6 | Calgary | 0 | Western Conference | |||||||||||||||
4 | Toronto | 2 | 2 | Colorado | 4 | |||||||||||||
5 | St. Louis | 4 | 3 | Chicago | 2 |
First team | Position | Second team |
---|---|---|
Jim Carey, Washington Capitals | G | Chris Osgood, Detroit Red Wings |
Chris Chelios, Chicago Blackhawks | D | Vladimir Konstantinov, Detroit Red Wings |
Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins | D | Brian Leetch, New York Rangers |
Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins | C | Eric Lindros, Philadelphia Flyers |
Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins | RW | Alexander Mogilny, Vancouver Canucks |
Paul Kariya, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | LW | John LeClair, Philadelphia Flyers |
Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: NHL.[4] |
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Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
Regular season
Player | Team | GP | MIN | GA | SO | GAA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ron Hextall | Philadelphia | 53 | 3102 | 112 | 4 | 2.17 |
Chris Osgood | Detroit | 50 | 2933 | 106 | 5 | 2.17 |
Jim Carey | Washington | 71 | 4069 | 153 | 9 | 2.26 |
Mike Vernon | Detroit | 32 | 1855 | 70 | 3 | 2.26 |
Martin Brodeur | New Jersey | 77 | 4433 | 173 | 6 | 2.34 |
Jeff Hackett | Chicago | 35 | 2000 | 80 | 4 | 2.40 |
Daren Puppa | Tampa Bay | 57 | 3189 | 131 | 5 | 2.46 |
Mike Richter | New York Rangers | 41 | 2396 | 107 | 3 | 2.68 |
John Vanbiesbrouck | Florida | 57 | 3178 | 142 | 2 | 2.68 |
Ed Belfour | Chicago | 50 | 2956 | 135 | 1 | 2.74 |
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1995-96 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
The following is a list of players of note who played their last game in the NHL in 1995-96 (listed with their last team):
Trading deadline: March 20, 1996.[6]
Team | Coach | Comments |
---|---|---|
Boston Bruins | Steve Kasper | |
Buffalo Sabres | Ted Nolan | |
Florida Panthers | Doug MacLean | |
Hartford Whalers | Paul Holmgren | Replaced midseason by Paul Maurice |
Montreal Canadiens | Jacques Demers | Replaced early in the season by Mario Tremblay |
New Jersey Devils | Jacques Lemaire | |
New York Islanders | Mike Milbury | |
New York Rangers | Colin Campbell | |
Ottawa Senators | Rick Bowness | Replaced early in the season by Dave Allison, who would be replaced after 25 games by Jacques Martin |
Philadelphia Flyers | Terry Murray | |
Pittsburgh Penguins | Eddie Johnston | |
Tampa Bay Lightning | Terry Crisp | |
Washington Capitals | Jim Schoenfeld |
Team | Coach | Comments |
---|---|---|
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | Ron Wilson | |
Calgary Flames | Pierre Page | |
Chicago Blackhawks | Craig Hartsburg | |
Colorado Avalanche | Marc Crawford | |
Dallas Stars | Bob Gainey | Replaced midseason by Ken Hitchcock |
Detroit Red Wings | Scotty Bowman | |
Edmonton Oilers | Ron Low | |
Los Angeles Kings | Larry Robinson | |
St. Louis Blues | Mike Keenan | |
San Jose Sharks | Kevin Constantine | Replaced early in the season by Jim Wiley |
Toronto Maple Leafs | Pat Burns | Replaced late in the season by Nick Beverley |
Vancouver Canucks | Rick Ley | Replaced late in the season by Pat Quinn |
Winnipeg Jets | Terry Simpson |