1997–98 Vancouver Canucks season

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
Team information
Coach	Mike Keenan
Captain	Mark Messier
Alternate captains	Dave Babych (Oct-Mar) Pavel Bure Trevor Linden (Oct-Jan) Brian McCabe (Mar-Apr) Dana Murzyn (Jan-Apr)
Arena	General Motors Place
Average attendance	17,120
Team leaders
Goals	Pavel Bure (51)
Assists	Pavel Bure (39)
Points	Pavel Bure (90)
Penalty 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 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Tokyo to open up the regular season. Pavel Bure became the last Canuck to score 50 or more goals in a season.

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

Offseason

NHL Draft

See also: 1997 NHL Entry Draft

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

Regular season

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.

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.

Final standings

Pacific Division

#	CR		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	2	Colorado Avalanche	82	39	26	17	231	205	95
2	5	Los Angeles Kings	82	38	33	11	227	225	87
3	7	Edmonton Oilers	82	35	37	10	215	224	80
4	8	San Jose Sharks	82	34	38	10	210	216	78
5	10	Calgary Flames	82	26	41	15	217	252	67
6	12	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	82	26	43	13	205	261	65
7	13	Vancouver Canucks	82	25	43	14	224	273	64

Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
         Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.

Game log

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 3, 1997	3–2	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim* (1997–98)	1–0–0
2	L	October 4, 1997	2–3	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim* (1997–98)	1–1–0
3	T	October 9, 1997	2–2 OT	Toronto Maple Leafs (1997–98)	1–1–1
4	L	October 11, 1997	3–6	New York Rangers (1997–98)	1–2–1
5	W	October 13, 1997	3–0	Edmonton Oilers (1997–98)	2–2–1
6	L	October 17, 1997	0–2	Boston Bruins (1997–98)	2–3–1
7	T	October 19, 1997	4–4 OT	Colorado Avalanche (1997–98)	2–3–2
8	W	October 21, 1997	5–1	@ Dallas Stars (1997–98)	3–3–2
9	L	October 23, 1997	1–4	@ St. Louis Blues (1997–98)	3–4–2
10	L	October 25, 1997	2–3 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins (1997–98)	3–5–2
11	L	October 26, 1997	1–5	Detroit Red Wings (1997–98)	3–6–2
12	L	October 29, 1997	0–3	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1997–98)	3–7–2
13	L	October 30, 1997	1–8	@ New Jersey Devils (1997–98)	3–8–2
14	L	November 1, 1997	6–7 OT	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1997–98)	3–9–2
15	L	November 3, 1997	3–5	@ Carolina Hurricanes (1997–98)	3–10–2
16	L	November 4, 1997	1–2	@ Washington Capitals (1997–98)	3–11–2
17	L	November 8, 1997	2–3	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1997–98)	3–12–2
18	L	November 11, 1997	2–8	@ Los Angeles Kings (1997–98)	3–13–2
19	W	November 12, 1997	5–2	@ San Jose Sharks (1997–98)	4–13–2
20	T	November 14, 1997	3–3 OT	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1997–98)	4–13–3
21	W	November 16, 1997	4–1	Carolina Hurricanes (1997–98)	5–13–3
22	W	November 20, 1997	4–2	Phoenix Coyotes (1997–98)	6–13–3
23	L	November 22, 1997	4–5 OT	Chicago Blackhawks (1997–98)	6–14–3
24	W	November 25, 1997	4–2	@ New York Rangers (1997–98)	7–14–3
25	W	November 28, 1997	5–2	@ Boston Bruins (1997–98)	8–14–3
26	W	November 29, 1997	4–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1997–98)	9–14–3
27	T	December 1, 1997	3–3 OT	Detroit Red Wings (1997–98)	9–14–4
28	L	December 4, 1997	2–3	San Jose Sharks (1997–98)	9–15–4
29	L	December 6, 1997	4–6	@ Colorado Avalanche (1997–98)	9–16–4
30	L	December 8, 1997	1–5	@ St. Louis Blues (1997–98)	9–17–4
31	L	December 9, 1997	5–7	@ Detroit Red Wings (1997–98)	9–18–4
32	L	December 13, 1997	2–5	Colorado Avalanche (1997–98)	9–19–4
33	W	December 15, 1997	7–0	Los Angeles Kings (1997–98)	10–19–4
34	W	December 17, 1997	5–1	@ Phoenix Coyotes (1997–98)	11–19–4
35	T	December 18, 1997	0–0 OT	@ San Jose Sharks (1997–98)	11–19–5
36	L	December 20, 1997	0–5	Chicago Blackhawks (1997–98)	11–20–5
37	L	December 23, 1997	1–3	Dallas Stars (1997–98)	11–21–5
38	T	December 27, 1997	3–3 OT	@ Dallas Stars (1997–98)	11–21–6
39	L	December 29, 1997	2–5	@ Los Angeles Kings (1997–98)	11–22–6
40	L	December 31, 1997	0–8	Philadelphia Flyers (1997–98)	11–23–6
41	L	January 3, 1998	2–4	Montreal Canadiens (1997–98)	11–24–6
42	W	January 5, 1998	3–2	Los Angeles Kings (1997–98)	12–24–6
43	L	January 7, 1998	2–3	St. Louis Blues (1997–98)	12–25–6
44	T	January 8, 1998	4–4 OT	@ Colorado Avalanche (1997–98)	12–25–7
45	T	January 10, 1998	2–2 OT	Florida Panthers (1997–98)	12–25–8
46	L	January 12, 1998	2–3	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1997–98)	12–26–8
47	L	January 14, 1998	0–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1997–98)	12–27–8
48	L	January 15, 1998	2–6	@ Buffalo Sabres (1997–98)	12–28–8
49	L	January 21, 1998	1–6	Phoenix Coyotes (1997–98)	12–29–8
50	L	January 24, 1998	2–5	@ Calgary Flames (1997–98)	12–30–8
51	L	January 26, 1998	2–4	@ Phoenix Coyotes (1997–98)	12–31–8
52	L	January 28, 1998	1–6	@ Colorado Avalanche (1997–98)	12–32–8
53	W	January 30, 1998	3–1	New Jersey Devils (1997–98)	13–32–8
54	W	January 31, 1998	6–3	@ Edmonton Oilers (1997–98)	14–32–8
55	L	February 2, 1998	1–2	Colorado Avalanche (1997–98)	14–33–8
56	W	February 6, 1998	5–4	Edmonton Oilers (1997–98)	15–33–8
57	W	February 7, 1998	6–3	San Jose Sharks (1997–98)	16–33–8
58	W	February 25, 1998	5–2	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1997–98)	17–33–8
59	T	February 27, 1998	4–4 OT	@ Calgary Flames (1997–98)	17–33–9
60	W	February 28, 1998	6–4	Ottawa Senators (1997–98)	18–33–9
61	T	March 2, 1998	2–2 OT	@ Los Angeles Kings (1997–98)	18–33–10
62	L	March 5, 1998	2–6	Calgary Flames (1997–98)	18–34–10
63	W	March 7, 1998	5–2	Tampa Bay Lightning (1997–98)	19–34–10
64	L	March 9, 1998	0–4	St. Louis Blues (1997–98)	19–35–10
65	T	March 11, 1998	2–2 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1997–98)	19–35–11
66	L	March 12, 1998	2–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1997–98)	19–36–11
67	W	March 14, 1998	6–2	@ New York Islanders (1997–98)	20–36–11
68	W	March 17, 1998	4–2	@ Florida Panthers (1997–98)	21–36–11
69	L	March 18, 1998	2–4	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1997–98)	21–37–11
70	T	March 20, 1998	1–1 OT	@ Ottawa Senators (1997–98)	21–37–12
71	T	March 21, 1998	1–1 OT	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1997–98)	21–37–13
72	W	March 24, 1998	4–3	New York Islanders (1997–98)	22–37–13
73	L	March 26, 1998	2–5	Buffalo Sabres (1997–98)	22–38–13
74	L	March 28, 1998	2–3	Washington Capitals (1997–98)	22–39–13
75	W	April 1, 1998	4–2	Edmonton Oilers (1997–98)	23–39–13
76	W	April 4, 1998	5–3	Dallas Stars (1997–98)	24–39–13
77	L	April 6, 1998	2–3	@ Edmonton Oilers (1997–98)	24–40–13
78	W	April 9, 1998	6–3	@ Calgary Flames (1997–98)	25–40–13
79	T	April 11, 1998	1–1 OT	@ San Jose Sharks (1997–98)	25–40–14
80	L	April 15, 1998	0–2	Los Angeles Kings (1997–98)	25–41–14
81	L	April 17, 1998	2–4	Calgary Flames (1997–98)	25–42–14
82	L	April 19, 1998	1–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1997–98)	25–43–14

* At Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan

Player stats

Forwards

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Player	GP	G	A	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

Defencemen

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Player	GP	G	A	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	39	2	13	15	14
Bryan McCabe	26	1	11	12	64
Dave Babych	47	0	9	9	37
Dana Murzyn	31	5	2	7	42
Bert Robertsson	30	2	4	6	24
Adrian Aucoin	35	3	3	6	21
Chris McAllister	36	1	2	3	106
Jamie Huscroft	7	0	1	1	0
Enrico Ciccone	13	0	1	1	47
Mark Wotton	5	0	0	0	6

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

References

• Canucks on Hockey Database