The 1995–96 NHL season was the 79th regular season of the National Hockey League. Twenty-six teams each played 82 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the Colorado Avalanche. They swept the Florida Panthers in four games. This was the first year the team was named Avalanche.

League Business
1995–96 was the first season in Denver for the Avalanche, who had relocated from Quebec City where they were previously known as the Quebec Nordiques. 

It was also the last season of existence for the Winnipeg Jets, as they announced that they would be moving from Manitoba to Arizona and become the Phoenix Coyotes at the season's end.

1995–96 would mark the last season the Buffalo Sabres would play in the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, the Flyers at the Spectrum, and Canadiens at the Montreal Forum.

Regular season

The Detroit Red Wings had a great season, finishing with the second-highest regular-season point total in NHL history (131 points), yet they fell to the Avalanche in the Western Conference final, the sixth game of which marked the beginning of the heated Detroit-Colorado rivalry.

Final standings
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points

Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Stanley Cup playoffs

Playoff bracket

[[Image:Hhof stanley cup.jpg|right|175px|thumb|The Stanley Cup]]

Conference quarterfinals
Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Conference semifinals

Conference finals

Finals

Scoring leadersNote:''' GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

NHL Awards

All-Star teams

First games
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1995–96 (listed with their first team, stars(*) mark start in playoffs):

Kyle McLaren, Boston Bruins
Jay McKee, Buffalo Sabres
Martin Biron, Buffalo Sabres
Jarome Iginla*, Calgary Flames
Stephane Yelle, Colorado Avalanche
Jere Lehtinen, Dallas Stars
Miroslav Satan, Edmonton Oilers
Ed Jovanovski, Florida Panthers
Jeff O'Neill, Hartford Whalers
Sami Kapanen, Hartford Whalers
Darcy Tucker, Montreal Canadiens
Jose Theodore, Montreal Canadiens
Saku Koivu, Montreal Canadiens
Patrik Elias, New Jersey Devils
Petr Sykora, New Jersey Devils
Steve Sullivan, New Jersey Devils
Bryan McCabe, New York Islanders
Todd Bertuzzi, New York Islanders
Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators
Daymond Langkow, Tampa Bay Lightning
Andrew Brunette, Washington Capitals
Brendan Witt, Washington Capitals

Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1995–96 (listed with their last team):
Cam Neely, Boston Bruins
Alexei Kasatonov, Boston Bruins
Troy Murray, Colorado Avalanche
Paul Cavallini, Dallas Stars
Jimmy Carson, Hartford Whalers
Glenn Anderson, St. Louis Blues
Greg Gilbert, St. Louis Blues
Jim Sandlak, Vancouver Canucks

1996 Trading Deadline
 Trading Deadline: MARCH 20, 1996 
March 20, 1996: C Jesse Belanger traded from Florida to Vancouver for Vancouver's 3rd round pick in 1996 Entry Draft and future considerations.
March 20, 1996: LW Ken Baumgartner traded from Toronto to Anaheim for Winnipeg's 4th round pick in 1996 Entry Draft (previously acquired).
March 20, 1996: D J-J Daigneault traded from St. Louis to Pittsburgh for Pittsburgh's 6th round pick in 1996 Entry Draft.
March 20, 1996: LW Kevin Miller traded from San Jose to Pittsburgh for Pittsburgh's 5th round choice in 1996 Entry Draft and future considerations.
March 20, 1996: LW Pat Conacher and Calgary's 6th round pick in 1997 Entry Draft traded from Calgary to NY Islanders for C Bob Sweeney.
March 20, 1996: RW Kirk Maltby traded from Edmonton to Detroit for D Dan McGillis.
March 20, 1996: D Jaroslav Modry and Ottawa's 8th round pick in 1996 Entry Draft traded from Ottawa to Los Angeles for RW Kevin Brown.
March 20, 1996: LW Patrick Poulin, D Igor Ulanov and Chicago's 2nd round pick in 1996 Entry Draft traded from Chicago to Tampa Bay for D Enrico Ciccone and Tampa Bay's 2nd round pick in 1996 Entry Draft.
March 20, 1996: LW Yuri Khmylev and Buffalo's 8th round pick in 1996 Entry Draft traded from Buffalo to St. Louis for D Jean-Luc Grand Pierre, Ottawa's 2nd round pick in 1996 Entry Draft (previously acquired) and St. Louis' 3rd round pick in 1997 Entry Draft.
March 20, 1996: C Dave Hannan traded from Buffalo to Colorado for Colorado's 6th round pick in 1996 Entry Draft.
March 20, 1996: RW Alek Stojanov traded from Vancouver to Pittsburgh for RW Markus Naslund. 
March 20, 1996: RW Ravil Gusmanov traded from Winnipeg to Chicago for Chicago's 4th round pick in 1996 Entry Draft.
March 20, 1996: RW Joe Kocur traded from NY Rangers to Vancouver for G Kay Whitmore.

References

Other websites
Hockey Database
http://nhl.com/