1997–98 Philadelphia Flyers season

1997–98 Philadelphia Flyers
Division	2nd Atlantic
Conference	3rd Eastern
1997–98 record	42–29–11
Home record	24–11–6
Road record	18–18–5
Goals for	242
Goals against	193
Team information
General Manager	Bob Clarke
Coach	Wayne Cashman (to Mar 9) Roger Neilson (from Mar 9)
Captain	Eric Lindros
Alternate captains	Rod Brind'Amour Eric Desjardins
Arena	CoreStates Center
Average attendance	19,519
Minor league affiliations	Philadelphia Phantoms (AHL)
Team leaders
Goals	John LeClair (51)
Assists	Eric Lindros (41)
Points	John LeClair (89)
Penalties in minutes	Dan Kordic (210)
Plus/minus	John LeClair (+30)
Wins	Ron Hextall (21)
Goals against average	Ron Hextall (2.17)
<1996–97	1998–99>

The 1997–98 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Philadelphia Flyers 31st season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Flyers lost their quarterfinal series with the Buffalo Sabres in five games.

Off-season

Less than a week after losing game four of the Stanley Cup Finals, head coach Terry Murray was fired. San Jose Sharks assistant coach Wayne Cashman was named his replacement on July 7, 1997.

The Flyers made two major acquisitions during the summer. On July 14, unrestricted free agent defenseman Luke Richardson, formerly of the Edmonton Oilers, signed a five-year, $12.6 million contract. A month later the Flyers signed Group II restricted free agent centerman Chris Gratton of the Tampa Bay Lightning to a five-year, $16.5 million offer sheet which included a $9 million signing bonus. However, Tampa Bay claimed they had traded Gratton to the Chicago Blackhawks before the Flyers had signed Gratton. An arbitrator dismissed this and another claim that the offer sheet was illegible because the contract figures were smeared. Fearing Tampa Bay would match, the Flyers agreed to send defenseman Karl Dykhuis and right winger Mikael Renberg to the Lightning in exchange for the four first-round picks Tampa Bay would receive if they did not match.

34-year-old forward Dale Hawerchuk announced his retirement on August 25, 1997, due to a degenerative left hip.

Regular season

With the acquisitions of Gratton and Richardson, the Flyers were expected to make another Stanley Cup run. A 7–3–1 start came crashing down as the Devils posted a 5–0 road win on October 27. Although the club finished the calendar year with an 8–0 strafing of Vancouver on New Year's Eve and began 1998 with a 7–2 road win over Ottawa, there were signs of trouble for Wayne Cashman's team - notably bad shutout home losses to San Jose in November and Boston in early December.

In a move which shocked many in Philadelphia and around the NHL, Cashman was reassigned as assistant coach and Roger Neilson elevated to head coach following a 4–3 overtime victory against Pittsburgh on March 8.

The decision didn't seem to pay off, and after a 5–4 overtime win over the New York Rangers on March 22, the team limped to a 6–8–0 finish, including back-to-back 2–1 losses to the Rangers and Bruins to end the year.

On April 13 in a nationally-televised 2–1 loss in Buffalo, John LeClair scored his 50th goal of the season, becoming the first American-born player to score 50 goals in three straight seasons.

Season 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

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

Playoffs

In a season in which the Flyers — despite a hard fall to the Detroit Red Wings the previous year — were heavily favored to repeat as Eastern champs and return to the Finals, they never came close, as they were dominated in the first round by the Buffalo Sabres in five games.

Schedule and results

Playoffs

1998 Stanley Cup playoffs
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals vs. Buffalo Sabres - Sabres win 4–1 Game Date Opponent Score Series 1 April 22 Buffalo Sabres 2–3 Sabres lead 1–0 2 April 24 Buffalo Sabres 3–2 Series tied 1–1 3 April 27 @ Buffalo Sabres 1–6 Sabres lead 2–1 4 April 29 @ Buffalo Sabres 1–4 Sabres lead 3–1 5 May 1 Buffalo Sabres 2–3 OT Sabres win 4–1
Legend:       Win       Loss

Player statistics

Skaters

• 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 Flyers only.
• = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Flyers only.

				Regular season						Playoffs
No.	Player	Age	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
10	John LeClair	28	LW	82	51	36	87	30	32	5	1	1	2	−4	8
17	Rod Brind'Amour	27	LW	82	36	38	74	−2	54	5	2	2	4	2	7
88	Eric Lindros	24	C	63	30	41	71	14	134	5	1	2	3	−3	17
55	Chris Gratton	22	C	82	22	40	62	11	159	5	2	0	2	−1	10
20	Trent Klatt	27	RW	82	14	28	42	2	16	5	0	0	0	−6	0
44	Janne Niinimaa	22	D	66	3	31	34	6	56	—	—	—	—	—	—
9	Dainius Zubrus	19	RW	69	8	25	33	29	42	5	0	1	1	2	4
37	Eric Desjardins	28	D	77	6	27	33	11	36	5	0	1	1	−3	0
77	Paul Coffey	36	D	57	2	27	29	3	30	—	—	—	—	—	—
19	Alexandre Daigle	22	RW	37	9	17	26	−1	6	5	0	2	2	0	0
25	Shjon Podein	29	RW	82	11	13	24	8	53	5	0	0	0	−1	10
11	Mike Sillinger	26	C	27	11	11	22	3	16	3	1	0	1	1	0
12	Colin Forbes	21	LW	63	12	7	19	2	59	5	0	0	0	2	2
6	Chris Therien	26	D	78	3	16	19	5	80	5	0	1	1	−1	4
45	Vaclav Prospal	22	C	41	5	13	18	−10	17	—	—	—	—	—	—
23	Petr Svoboda	31	D	56	3	15	18	19	83	3	0	1	1	−1	4
15	Pat Falloon	25	RW	30	5	7	12	3	8	—	—	—	—	—	—
29	Joel Otto	36	C	68	3	4	7	−2	78	5	0	0	0	−1	0
3	Dan McGillis	25	D	13	1	5	6	−4	35	5	1	2	3	0	10
22	Luke Richardson	28	D	81	2	3	5	7	139	5	0	0	0	−3	0
32	Daniel Lacroix	28	C	56	1	4	5	0	135	4	0	0	0	0	4
26	John Druce	31	RW	23	1	2	3	0	2	2	0	0	0	−1	2
28	Kjell Samuelsson	39	D	49	0	3	3	9	28	1	0	0	0	1	0
21	Dan Kordic	26	LW	61	1	1	2	−4	210	—	—	—	—	—	—
24	Chris Joseph	28	D	15	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
14	Craig Darby	25	C	3	1	0	1	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—
27	Ron Hextall	33	G	46	0	0	0	N/A	10	1	0	0	0	N/A	0
30	Garth Snow	28	G	29	0	0	0	N/A	18	—	—	—	—	—	—
18	Brantt Myhres	23	RW	23	0	0	0	−1	169	—	—	—	—	—	—
33	Sean Burke	31	G	11	0	0	0	N/A	0	5	0	0	0	N/A	0
44	Dave Babych	36	D	6	0	0	0	2	12	5	1	0	1	2	4
38	Paul Healey	22	RW	4	0	0	0	0	12	—	—	—	—	—	—

Goaltenders

• = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Flyers only.
• = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Flyers only.

			Regular season									Playoffs
No.	Player	Age	GP	W	L	T	SO	GA	SV%	GAA	MIN	GP	W	L	SO	GA	SV%	GAA	MIN
27	Ron Hextall	33	46	21	17	7	4	97	.911	2.17	2688	1	0	0	0	1	.875	3.00	20
30	Garth Snow	28	29	14	9	4	1	67	.902	2.43	1651	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
33	Sean Burke	31	11	7	3	0	1	27	.913	2.56	632	5	1	4	0	17	.860	3.60	283

Awards and records

Awards

League awards and honors

Award or honor	Recipient	Notes	Ref
NHL First All-Star Team	John LeClair (Left Wing)
NHL Player of the Week	John LeClair (November 10)
Selected to NHL All-Star Game	John LeClair	Voted starting Wing of North American team
	Eric Lindros	Voted starting Center of North American team

Team awards

Award	Recipient
Barry Ashbee Trophy	Eric Desjardins
Bobby Clarke Trophy	John LeClair
Class Guy Award	Trent Klatt
Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy	Colin Forbes

Transactions

The Flyers were involved in the following transactions from June 8, 1997, the day after the deciding game of the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 16, 1998, the day of the deciding game of the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals.

Trades

Date	Details		Ref
June 18, 1997	To Philadelphia Flyers rights to Martin Cerven	To Edmonton Oilers 7th-round pick in 1997
June 21, 1997	To Philadelphia Flyers 2nd-round pick in 1998	To Dallas Stars 3rd-round pick in 1997
August 20, 1997	To Philadelphia Flyers Philadelphia's 1st-round pick in 1998 Philadelphia's 1st-round pick in 1999 Philadelphia's 1st-round pick in 2000 Philadelphia's 1st-round pick in 2001	To Tampa Bay Lightning Karl Dykhuis Mikael Renberg
October 15, 1997	To Philadelphia Flyers rights to Brantt Myhres	To Edmonton Oilers Jason Bowen
October 21, 1997	To Philadelphia Flyers Mike Maneluk	To Ottawa Senators future considerations
January 17, 1998	To Philadelphia Flyers Alexandre Daigle	To Ottawa Senators Pat Falloon Vaclav Prospal 2nd-round pick in 1998
February 5, 1998	To Philadelphia Flyers Mike Sillinger	To Vancouver Canucks conditional 6th-round pick in 1998
March 4, 1998	To Philadelphia Flyers Sean Burke	To Vancouver Canucks Garth Snow
March 9, 1998	To Philadelphia Flyers Roger Neilson	To St. Louis Blues conditional 6th-round pick in 1999
March 24, 1998	To Philadelphia Flyers Dave Babych Philadelphia's 6th-round pick in 1998	To Vancouver Canucks 3rd-round pick in 1998
March 24, 1998	To Philadelphia Flyers Dan McGillis 2nd-round pick in 1998	To Edmonton Oilers Janne Niinimaa

Trade notes

• ^a The conditional draft pick was traded back to the Flyers on March 24.
• ^b The Blues received the draft pick as compensation for the Flyers hiring Neilson as head coach. Neilson was serving as an assistant coach for the Blues.

Signings

Free agency

The following players were signed by the Flyers via free agency. Two-way contracts are marked with an asterisk (*).

Date	Player	Previous team (league)	Contract details	Notes	Ref
July 10, 1997	Jamie Heward	Toronto Maple Leafs	1 year*
July 14, 1997	Luke Richardson	Edmonton Oilers	5 years, $12.6 million
September 4, 1997	Chris Joseph	Vancouver Canucks	1 year	Option for second year
May 18, 1998	Ryan Bast	Saint John Flames (AHL)	2 years, $1.85 million*

Offer sheets

The Flyers signed the following restricted free agents to offer sheets.

Date	Player	Team	Contract details	Result	Ref
August 12, 1997	Chris Gratton	Tampa Bay Lightning	5 years, $16.5 million	Not matched

Re-signed

The following players were re-signed by the Flyers. Two-way contracts are marked with an asterisk (*).

Date	Player	Contract details	Notes	Ref
June 12, 1997	Jim Montgomery	3 years*
June 18, 1997	Kjell Samuelsson	1 year, $1.22 million
July 15, 1997	Craig Darby	2 years*
July 15, 1997	Neil Little	1 year*
July 18, 1997	Brett Bruininks	1 year*
August 18, 1997	Garth Snow	1 year, $675,000	Salary arbitration award
September 3, 1997	Dan Kordic	2 years, $950,000
September 12, 1997	Chris Therien	3 years, $3.7 million
October 16, 1997	Brantt Myhres	1 year*	Acquired in October 15 trade
October 17, 1997	John LeClair	3 years, $10 million	Replaced remaining 3 years on previous contract
December 17, 1997	Eric Lindros	1 year, $8.5 million extension	Included $3.8 million signing bonus

Entry level contracts

The following players — Flyers draft picks, undrafted free agents, and the unsigned draft picks of other teams — were signed by the Flyers to entry level contracts.

Date	Player	Previous team (league)	Draft	Contract details	Ref
July 9, 1997	Jean-Marc Pelletier	Rimouski Oceanic (QMJHL)	1997 2nd-round pick
July 10, 1997	Martin Cerven	Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)	1995 7th-round pick (Edmonton)	3 years
July 16, 1997	Travis VanTighem	Michigan Technical University (WCHA)	Undrafted free agent	1 year

NHL Waiver Draft

The 1997 NHL Waiver Draft was held on September 28, 1997. Each NHL team placed 18 skaters and 2 goaltenders on a protected list from which the other teams could not select. First-year professional players were exempt.

The Flyers left the following players unprotected: goaltenders Neil Little and Dominic Roussel, defensemen Jason Bowen, Aris Brimanis, Jamie Heward, and John Stevens, and forwards Frank Bialowas, Bruce Coles, Scott Daniels, Craig Darby, John Druce, Dale Hawerchuk, Patrik Juhlin, Shawn McCosh, Jim Montgomery, and Peter White.

Selections involving the Philadelphia Flyers at the 1997 NHL Waiver Draft

Pick	Player	Selected by	Selected from
2	Scott Daniels	New Jersey Devils	Philadelphia Flyers

Departures

The following players left the team via free agency, release, or retirement. Players who were under contract and left the team during the season are marked with an asterisk (*).

Date	Player	New team (league)	Via	Notes	Ref
August 25, 1997	Dale Hawerchuk	—	Retirement
N/A	Patrik Juhlin	Jokerit (Liiga)	Free agency
November 25, 1997	Michel Petit	Phoenix Coyotes	Free agency
April 14, 1998	Brantt Myhres*	—	Release	Signed with San Jose Sharks on September 11, 1998

Draft picks

Philadelphia's picks at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, which was held at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 21, 1997.

Players drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1997 and their NHL career regular season statistics

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team (league)	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	W	L	T	GAA	Notes
2	30	Jean-Marc Pelletier	Goaltender	United States	Cornell University (ECAC)	7	0	0	0	0	1	4	0	3.90
2	50	Pat Kavanagh	Right Wing	Canada	Peterborough Petes (OHL)	14	2	0	2	4	& —	& —	& —	& —
3	62	Kris Mallette	Defense	Canada	Kelowna Rockets (WHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
4	103	Mikhail Chernov	Defense	Russia	Torpedo Yaroslavl (RUS)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
6	158	Jordon Flodell	Defense	Canada	Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
7	164	Todd Fedoruk	Left Wing	Canada	Kelowna Rockets (WHL)	545	32	65	97	1050	& —	& —	& —	& —
8	214	Marko Kauppinen	Defense	Finland	JYP Jr. (FIN)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
9	240	Par Styf	Defense	Sweden	Modo Hockey Jrs. (SWE)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —

Draft notes

• ^a The Flyers acquired the Toronto Maple Leafs' second-round pick, 30th overall, the Los Angeles Kings' 1996 first-round pick, 15th overall, and the Kings' 1996 fourth-round pick from the Toronto Maple Leafs for Dmitri Yushkevich and the Flyers' 1996 second-round pick on August 30, 1995.
• ^b The Flyers traded their first-round pick, 23rd overall, the Hartford Whalers' seventh-round pick, 169th overall, and Kevin Haller to the Hartford Whalers for Paul Coffey and the Whalers' third-round pick, 62nd overall, on December 15, 1996.
• The Flyers traded their third-round pick, 77th overall, to the Dallas Stars for the Stars' 1998 second-round pick on June 21, 1997.
• The Flyers traded their fifth-round pick, 130th overall, and Bob Wilkie to the Chicago Blackhawks for Karl Dykhuis on February 16, 1995.
• ^c The Flyers traded their 1996 fourth-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings for John Druce and the Kings' seventh-round pick, 164th overall, on March 19, 1996.
• The Flyers traded their seventh-round pick, 187th overall, to the Edmonton Oilers for Martin Cerven on June 18, 1997.

Farm teams

The Flyers were affiliated with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL.

References

General

• hockeyDB.com: Roster and player statistics · Results and Schedule
• hockey-reference.com: Roster and Statistics · Schedule and Results
• Flyers History: Season Overview · Game Scores & Results · Playoff Results

Specific