# 1996–97 New York Islanders season

The 1996–97 New York Islanders season was the 25th season in the franchise's history. It saw the withdrawal of the "Fisherman" logo from 1995 at the start of the season and the return of the original logo. For the third consecutive year, the Islanders failed to make the playoffs.

## Offseason

Captain Patrick Flatley leaves Long Island, signing with the rival New York Rangers. The team does not name a new captain until the 1997–98 season.

## Regular season
### Final standings

Atlantic Division :
| No. | CR | | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | 1 | New Jersey Devils | 82 | 45 | 23 | 14 | 231 | 182 | 104 |
| 2 | 3 | Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 45 | 24 | 13 | 274 | 217 | 103 |
| 3 | 4 | Florida Panthers | 82 | 35 | 28 | 19 | 221 | 201 | 89 |
| 4 | 5 | New York Rangers | 82 | 38 | 34 | 10 | 258 | 231 | 86 |
| 5 | 9 | Washington Capitals | 82 | 33 | 40 | 9 | 214 | 231 | 75 |
| 6 | 11 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 32 | 40 | 10 | 217 | 247 | 74 |
| 7 | 12 | New York Islanders | 82 | 29 | 41 | 12 | 240 | 250 | 70 |
Eastern Conference :
| R | | Div | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | New Jersey Devils | ATL | 82 | 45 | 23 | 14 | 231 | 182 | 104 |
| 2 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 82 | 40 | 30 | 12 | 237 | 208 | 92 |
| 3 | Philadelphia Flyers | ATL | 82 | 45 | 24 | 13 | 274 | 217 | 103 |
| 4 | Florida Panthers | ATL | 82 | 35 | 28 | 19 | 221 | 201 | 89 |
| 5 | New York Rangers | ATL | 82 | 38 | 34 | 10 | 258 | 231 | 86 |
| 6 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NE | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 285 | 280 | 84 |
| 7 | Ottawa Senators | NE | 82 | 31 | 36 | 15 | 226 | 234 | 77 |
| 8 | Montreal Canadiens | NE | 82 | 31 | 36 | 15 | 249 | 276 | 77 |
| 9 | Washington Capitals | ATL | 82 | 33 | 40 | 9 | 214 | 231 | 75 |
| 10 | Hartford Whalers | NE | 82 | 32 | 39 | 11 | 226 | 256 | 75 |
| 11 | Tampa Bay Lightning | ATL | 82 | 32 | 40 | 10 | 217 | 247 | 74 |
| 12 | New York Islanders | ATL | 82 | 29 | 41 | 12 | 240 | 250 | 70 |
| 13 | Boston Bruins | NE | 82 | 26 | 47 | 9 | 234 | 300 | 61 |
Divisions: ATL – Atlantic, NE – Northeast
bold – Qualified for playoffs

## Schedule and results

1996–97 regular season :
October: 1–5–4 (home: 1–3–1; road: 0–2–3)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
1LOctober 4, 19960–1@ Los Angeles Kings (1996–97)0–1–0Recap
2TOctober 5, 19962–2 OT@ San Jose Sharks (1996–97)0–1–1Recap
3TOctober 9, 19963–3 OT@ Ottawa Senators (1996–97)0–1–2Recap
4WOctober 12, 19965–1Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97)1–1–2Recap
5LOctober 17, 19961–3Hartford Whalers (1996–97)1–2–2Recap
6LOctober 19, 19962–4@ Detroit Red Wings (1996–97)1–3–2Recap
7LOctober 22, 19963–6Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97)1–4–2Recap
8TOctober 26, 19962–2 OTSan Jose Sharks (1996–97)1–4–3Recap
9TOctober 30, 19962–2 OT@ Hartford Whalers (1996–97)1–4–4Recap
10LOctober 31, 19963–5Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97)1–5–4Recap :
November: 5–5–4 (home: 3–3–1; road: 2–2–3)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
11WNovember 2, 19966–1Washington Capitals (1996–97)2–5–4Recap
12WNovember 4, 19964–3@ Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97)3–5–4Recap
13TNovember 6, 19961–1 OTNew York Rangers (1996–97)3–5–5Recap
14LNovember 9, 19960–4@ New Jersey Devils (1996–97)3–6–5Recap
15LNovember 11, 19962–6Colorado Avalanche (1996–97)3–7–5Recap
16WNovember 13, 19965–4 OTVancouver Canucks (1996–97)4–7–5Recap
17TNovember 15, 19963–3 OT@ Florida Panthers (1996–97)4–7–6Recap
18LNovember 16, 19961–4Ottawa Senators (1996–97)4–8–6Recap
19TNovember 20, 19962–2 OT@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97)4–8–7Recap
20LNovember 22, 19962–3@ Colorado Avalanche (1996–97)4–9–7Recap
21TNovember 23, 19963–3 OT@ Phoenix Coyotes (1996–97)4–9–8Recap
22WNovember 27, 19964–1Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97)5–9–8Recap
23WNovember 29, 19962–0@ Washington Capitals (1996–97)6–9–8Recap
24LNovember 30, 19962–3Buffalo Sabres (1996–97)6–10–8Recap :
December: 6–7–0 (home: 5–3–0; road: 1–4–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
25WDecember 3, 19963–1Calgary Flames (1996–97)7–10–8Recap
26LDecember 5, 19962–4@ Florida Panthers (1996–97)7–11–8Recap
27WDecember 7, 19962–0Washington Capitals (1996–97)8–11–8Recap
28WDecember 10, 19968–2Phoenix Coyotes (1996–97)9–11–8Recap
29WDecember 11, 19965–3@ New York Rangers (1996–97)10–11–8Recap
30LDecember 14, 19961–4@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97)10–12–8Recap
31WDecember 17, 19964–3Los Angeles Kings (1996–97)11–12–8Recap
32LDecember 19, 19960–5@ Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97)11–13–8Recap
33LDecember 21, 19962–3Dallas Stars (1996–97)11–14–8Recap
34LDecember 23, 19963–4 OTFlorida Panthers (1996–97)11–15–8Recap
35WDecember 26, 19964–1New Jersey Devils (1996–97)12–15–8Recap
36LDecember 28, 19961–7Detroit Red Wings (1996–97)12–16–8Recap
37LDecember 30, 19960–2@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97)12–17–8Recap :
January: 4–9–1 (home: 2–3–0; road: 2–6–1)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
38LJanuary 2, 19973–4@ New York Rangers (1996–97)12–18–8Recap
39LJanuary 4, 19971–3@ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97)12–19–8Recap
40LJanuary 7, 19973–5Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97)12–20–8Recap
41LJanuary 10, 19972–5@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97)12–21–8Recap
42TJanuary 11, 19974–4 OT@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97)12–21–9Recap
43WJanuary 13, 19974–2@ New York Rangers (1996–97)13–21–9Recap
44LJanuary 15, 19971–2Buffalo Sabres (1996–97)13–22–9Recap
45LJanuary 20, 19974–6St. Louis Blues (1996–97)13–23–9Recap
46WJanuary 22, 19978–1Edmonton Oilers (1996–97)14–23–9Recap
47WJanuary 24, 19975–2@ Hartford Whalers (1996–97)15–23–9Recap
48WJanuary 25, 19973–2Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97)16–23–9Recap
49LJanuary 28, 19973–4@ Calgary Flames (1996–97)16–24–9Recap
50LJanuary 30, 19971–2 OT@ Vancouver Canucks (1996–97)16–25–9Recap
51LJanuary 31, 19970–1@ Edmonton Oilers (1996–97)16–26–9Recap :
February: 4–6–1 (home: 3–3–1; road: 1–3–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
52WFebruary 4, 19974–3Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97)17–26–9Recap
53LFebruary 5, 19971–4@ New Jersey Devils (1996–97)17–27–9Recap
54LFebruary 8, 19972–5New York Rangers (1996–97)17–28–9Recap
55TFebruary 11, 19975–5 OTOttawa Senators (1996–97)17–28–10Recap
56WFebruary 12, 19975–1@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97)18–28–10Recap
57WFebruary 15, 19971–0 OTFlorida Panthers (1996–97)19–28–10Recap
58LFebruary 17, 19971–4Montreal Canadiens (1996–97)19–29–10Recap
59LFebruary 21, 19972–5@ Buffalo Sabres (1996–97)19–30–10Recap
60WFebruary 23, 19974–1Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97)20–30–10Recap
61LFebruary 26, 19973–5New Jersey Devils (1996–97)20–31–10Recap
62LFebruary 28, 19971–4@ Ottawa Senators (1996–97)20–32–10Recap :
March: 8–4–1 (home: 4–1–1; road: 4–3–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
63WMarch 2, 19972–0@ Washington Capitals (1996–97)21–32–10Recap
64LMarch 4, 19973–6Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97)21–33–10Recap
65WMarch 6, 19975–2Boston Bruins (1996–97)22–33–10Recap
66WMarch 8, 19975–1New Jersey Devils (1996–97)23–33–10Recap
67LMarch 11, 19972–3@ Florida Panthers (1996–97)23–34–10Recap
68WMarch 13, 19973–0@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97)24–34–10Recap
69LMarch 15, 19972–5@ Boston Bruins (1996–97)24–35–10Recap
70LMarch 16, 19974–5@ Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97)24–36–10Recap
71WMarch 19, 19977–4Florida Panthers (1996–97)25–36–10Recap
72TMarch 22, 19973–3 OTPhiladelphia Flyers (1996–97)25–36–11Recap
73WMarch 26, 19973–2 OT@ Buffalo Sabres (1996–97)26–36–11Recap
74WMarch 27, 19976–3@ Boston Bruins (1996–97)27–36–11Recap
75WMarch 29, 19978–2Boston Bruins (1996–97)28–36–11Recap :
April: 1–5–1 (home: 1–2–0; road: 0–3–1)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
76LApril 2, 19974–5@ Dallas Stars (1996–97)28–37–11Recap
77TApril 3, 19975–5 OT@ St. Louis Blues (1996–97)28–37–12Recap
78LApril 5, 19972–3Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97)28–38–12Recap
79LApril 7, 19971–2@ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97)28–39–12Recap
80LApril 9, 19971–3Montreal Canadiens (1996–97)28–40–12Recap
81WApril 11, 19976–4Hartford Whalers (1996–97)29–40–12Recap
82LApril 12, 19972–6@ Washington Capitals (1996–97)29–41–12Recap :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Tie (1 point) :

## Player statistics
### Scoring

* 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 Islanders only.
* ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Islanders only.
| No. | Player | Pos | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season |
| No. | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
| 16 | Zigmund Palffy | RW | 80 | 48 | 42 | 90 | 21 | 43 |
| 39 | Travis Green | C | 79 | 23 | 41 | 64 | −5 | 38 |
| 15 | Bryan Smolinski† | C | 64 | 28 | 28 | 56 | 9 | 25 |
| 27 | Derek King‡ | LW | 70 | 23 | 30 | 53 | −6 | 20 |
| 34 | Bryan Berard | D | 82 | 8 | 40 | 48 | 1 | 86 |
| 32 | Niklas Andersson | LW | 74 | 12 | 31 | 43 | 4 | 57 |
| 18 | Marty McInnis‡ | RW | 70 | 20 | 22 | 42 | −7 | 20 |
| 4 | Bryan McCabe | D | 82 | 8 | 20 | 28 | −2 | 165 |
| 44 | Todd Bertuzzi | RW | 64 | 10 | 13 | 23 | −3 | 68 |
| 3 | Kenny Jonsson | D | 81 | 3 | 18 | 21 | 10 | 24 |
| 21 | Robert Reichel† | C | 12 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 7 | 4 |
| 13 | Claude Lapointe | C | 73 | 13 | 5 | 18 | −12 | 49 |
| 7 | Scott Lachance | D | 81 | 3 | 11 | 14 | −7 | 47 |
| 14 | Derek Armstrong | C | 50 | 6 | 7 | 13 | −8 | 33 |
| 42 | Dan Plante | RW | 67 | 4 | 9 | 13 | −6 | 75 |
| 11 | Randy Wood | LW | 65 | 6 | 5 | 11 | −7 | 61 |
| 20 | Brent Hughes | LW | 51 | 7 | 3 | 10 | −4 | 57 |
| 6 | Doug Houda† | D | 70 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 99 |
| 24 | Paul Kruse† | LW | 48 | 4 | 2 | 6 | −5 | 111 |
| 2 | Rich Pilon | D | 52 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 179 |
| 62 | Steve Webb† | RW | 41 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −10 | 144 |
| 11 | Darius Kasparaitis‡ | D | 18 | 0 | 5 | 5 | −7 | 16 |
| 38 | Andreas Johansson‡ | C | 15 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −6 | 0 |
| 28 | Dennis Vaske | D | 17 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| 10 | Dave McLlwain | C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 0 |
| 33 | Ken Belanger | LW | 18 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −1 | 102 |
| 46 | Jason Holland | D | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | Mick Vukota | RW | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 71 |
| 35 | Tommy Salo | G | 58 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | 4 |
| 24 | Dave Archibald† | C | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 4 |
| 36 | Jarrett Deuling | LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Mike Donnelly | LW | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 28 | Jim Dowd | C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| 1 | Eric Fichaud | G | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 2 |
| 10 | Corey Foster | D | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 2 |
| 30 | Tommy Soderstrom | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
| 25 | Chris Taylor | C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Nick Vachon† | C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| 42 | Andrei Vasilyev | LW | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 2 |

### Goaltending

| No. | Player | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season |
| No. | Player | GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
| 35 | Tommy Salo | 58 | 20 | 27 | 8 | 1576 | 151 | 2.82 | .904 | 5 | 3208 |
| 1 | Eric Fichaud | 34 | 9 | 14 | 4 | 897 | 91 | 3.10 | .899 | 0 | 1759 |
| 30 | Tommy Soderstrom | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | | 0 | 1 |

## Awards and records
### Awards

| Type | Award/honor | Recipient |
| League (annual) | Calder Memorial Trophy | Bryan Berard |
| League (annual) | NHL All-Rookie Team | Bryan Berard (Defense) |
| League (in-season) | NHL All-Star Game selection | Scott Lachance |
| League (in-season) | NHL All-Star Game selection | Zigmund Palffy |
| Team | Bob Nystrom Award | Claude Lapointe |

### Milestones

| Milestone | Player | Date |
| First game | Bryan Berard | October 4, 1996 |
| First game | Nicholas Vachon | December 17, 1996 |
| First game | Jason Holland | December 30, 1996 |
| First game | Steve Webb | January 7, 1997 |

## Draft picks

New York's draft picks at the 1996 NHL entry draft held at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
| Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 3 | Jean-Pierre Dumont | Canada | Val-d'Or Foreurs (QMJHL) |
| 2 | 29 | Dan LaCouture | United States | Enfield Jr. Whalers (EJHL) |
| 3 | 56 | Zdeno Chara | Slovakia | Dukla Trenčín (Slovakia) |
| 4 | 83 | Tyrone Garner | Canada | Oshawa Generals (OHL) |
| 5 | 109 | Andrew Berenzweig | United States | University of Michigan (CCHA) |
| 5 | 128 | Petr Sachl | Czech Republic | HC České Budějovice (Czech Republic) |
| 6 | 138 | Todd Miller | Canada | Sarnia Sting (OHL) |
| 7 | 165 | J. R. Prestifilippo | United States | Hotchkiss School (USHS-CT) |
| 8 | 192 | Evgeny Korolev | Russia | Peterborough Petes (OHL) |
| 9 | 218 | Mike Muzechka | Canada | Calgary Hitmen (WHL) |