1996–97 Phoenix Coyotes season

The 1996–97 season was the Coyotes' first in Phoenix.
==Offseason==
===NHL Draft===
Round	Pick	Player 	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team
1 	24 	Danny Brière (C)	 	Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL)
==Regular season==
The Winnipeg Jets team was sold to Phoenix businessmen Steven Gluckstern and Richard Burke, and in 1996, the club moved to Arizona and became the Phoenix Coyotes.
In the summer that the move took place, the franchise saw the exit of Jets stars like Teemu Selanne and Alexei Zhamnov, while the team added established superstar Jeremy Roenick from the Chicago Blackhawks. Roenick teamed up with power wingers Keith Tkachuk and Rick Tocchet to form a dynamic 1–2–3 offensive punch that led the Coyotes through their first years in Arizona. Also impressive were young players like Shane Doan (the last remaining original Jet), Oleg Tverdovsky, and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, whom the fans nicknamed the "Bulin Wall." 
===Final standings===
===Game log===
No.	R	Date 	Score 	Opponent 	Record
1 	L	October 5, 1996 	0–1 	@ Hartford Whalers (1996–97) 	0–1–0
2 	W	October 7, 1996 	5–2 	@ Boston Bruins (1996–97) 	1–1–0
3 	W	October 10, 1996 	4–1 	San Jose Sharks (1996–97) 	2–1–0
4 	W	October 12, 1996 	4–2 	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97) 	3–1–0
5 	L	October 14, 1996 	3–6 	Edmonton Oilers (1996–97) 	3–2–0
6 	L	October 18, 1996 	1–3 	Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) 	3–3–0
7 	T	October 20, 1996 	1–1 OT	Florida Panthers (1996–97) 	3–3–1
8 	L	October 22, 1996 	1–2 	St. Louis Blues (1996–97) 	3–4–1
9 	L	October 26, 1996 	2–5 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97) 	3–5–1
10 	W	October 28, 1996 	5–4 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) 	4–5–1
11 	L	October 30, 1996 	1–4 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1996–97) 	4–6–1
12 	W	November 1, 1996 	3–2 OT	@ Calgary Flames (1996–97) 	5–6–1
13 	T	November 3, 1996 	4–4 OT	Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) 	5–6–2
14 	L	November 6, 1996 	2–3 	Dallas Stars (1996–97) 	5–7–2
15 	L	November 8, 1996 	1–4 	Colorado Avalanche (1996–97) 	5–8–2
16 	L	November 14, 1996	1–2 	Hartford Whalers (1996–97) 	5–9–2
17 	W	November 16, 1996	3–2 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97) 	6–9–2
18 	T	November 18, 1996	2–2 OT	Detroit Red Wings (1996–97) 	6–9–3
19 	L	November 20, 1996	0–6 	@ Colorado Avalanche (1996–97) 	6–10–3
20 	L	November 21, 1996	3–4 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (1996–97) 	6–11–3
21 	T	November 23, 1996	3–3 OT	New York Islanders (1996–97) 	6–11–4
22 	L	November 26, 1996	1–3 	New York Rangers (1996–97) 	6–12–4
23 	W	November 28, 1996	4–3 OT	New Jersey Devils (1996–97) 	7–12–4
24 	W	November 30, 1996	3–1 	Calgary Flames (1996–97) 	8–12–4
25 	L	December 3, 1996 	1–4 	Los Angeles Kings (1996–97) 	8–13–4
26 	W	December 5, 1996 	3–0 	@ St. Louis Blues (1996–97) 	9–13–4
27 	W	December 7, 1996 	4–3 OT	@ New Jersey Devils (1996–97) 	10–13–4
28 	L	December 9, 1996 	2–5 	@ New York Rangers (1996–97) 	10–14–4
29 	L	December 10, 1996	2–8 	@ New York Islanders (1996–97) 	10–15–4
30 	W	December 13, 1996	4–2 	@ Ottawa Senators (1996–97) 	11–15–4
31 	W	December 14, 1996	5–3 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97) 	12–15–4
32 	W	December 17, 1996	4–3 	Washington Capitals (1996–97) 	13–15–4
33 	W	December 20, 1996	5–2 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97) 	14–15–4
34 	L	December 22, 1996	2–7 	Calgary Flames (1996–97) 	14–16–4
35 	W	December 23, 1996	2–1 	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97)	15–16–4
36 	L	December 26, 1996	2–5 	@ Los Angeles Kings (1996–97) 	15–17–4
37 	W	December 27, 1996	7–4 	Vancouver Canucks (1996–97) 	16–17–4
38 	W	December 30, 1996	5–3 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1996–97) 	17–17–4
39 	W	January 2, 1997 	4–2 	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97) 	18–17–4
40 	L	January 3, 1997 	0–3 	@ Washington Capitals (1996–97) 	18–18–4
41 	L	January 5, 1997 	1–5 	@ Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 	18–19–4
42 	L	January 9, 1997 	4–5 OT	Detroit Red Wings (1996–97) 	18–20–4
43 	W	January 10, 1997 	4–3 	@ Dallas Stars (1996–97) 	19–20–4
44 	L	January 12, 1997 	2–3 OT	Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 	19–21–4
45 	L	January 13, 1997 	4–5 	@ San Jose Sharks (1996–97) 	19–22–4
46 	L	January 15, 1997 	1–4 	St. Louis Blues (1996–97) 	19–23–4
47 	W	January 23, 1997 	6–3 	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97) 	20–23–4
48 	W	January 25, 1997 	4–0 	Vancouver Canucks (1996–97) 	21–23–4
49 	L	January 28, 1997 	1–4 	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) 	21–24–4
50 	W	January 29, 1997 	3–0 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1996–97) 	22–24–4
51 	L	February 1, 1997 	1–4 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 	22–25–4
52 	L	February 4, 1997 	0–2 	Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 	22–26–4
53 	W	February 6, 1997 	3–2 	Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97) 	23–26–4
54 	L	February 8, 1997 	4–5 OT	Dallas Stars (1996–97) 	23–27–4
55 	W	February 10, 1997	4–2 	@ St. Louis Blues (1996–97) 	24–27–4
56 	W	February 12, 1997	5–0 	@ Dallas Stars (1996–97) 	25–27–4
57 	L	February 13, 1997	2–3 	Colorado Avalanche (1996–97) 	25–28–4
58 	W	February 15, 1997	5–4 OT	Boston Bruins (1996–97) 	26–28–4
59 	W	February 18, 1997	6–1 	Los Angeles Kings (1996–97) 	27–28–4
60 	L	February 22, 1997	2–4 	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97)	27–29–4
61 	L	February 24, 1997	3–5 	Detroit Red Wings (1996–97) 	27–30–4
62 	W	February 26, 1997	5–2 	@ Calgary Flames (1996–97) 	28–30–4
63 	L	February 27, 1997	2–6 	@ Vancouver Canucks (1996–97) 	28–31–4
64 	L	March 2, 1997 	0–4 	Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97) 	28–32–4
65 	W	March 5, 1997 	3–0 	@ Florida Panthers (1996–97) 	29–32–4
66 	W	March 6, 1997 	5–0 	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 	30–32–4
67 	W	March 8, 1997 	2–0 	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97) 	31–32–4
68 	L	March 10, 1997 	1–4 	Ottawa Senators (1996–97) 	31–33–4
69 	T	March 12, 1997 	5–5 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 	31–33–5
70 	W	March 14, 1997 	4–1 	@ San Jose Sharks (1996–97) 	32–33–5
71 	W	March 17, 1997 	3–2 	St. Louis Blues (1996–97) 	33–33–5
72 	L	March 19, 1997 	2–7 	@ Dallas Stars (1996–97) 	33–34–5
73 	W	March 20, 1997 	4–2 	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97) 	34–34–5
74 	W	March 22, 1997 	3–0 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97) 	35–34–5
75 	T	March 27, 1997 	1–1 OT	Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97) 	35–34–6
76 	L	March 29, 1997 	1–3 	Edmonton Oilers (1996–97) 	35–35–6
77 	W	April 1, 1997 	7–1 	San Jose Sharks (1996–97) 	36–35–6
78 	W	April 3, 1997 	5–4 	@ Los Angeles Kings (1996–97) 	37–35–6
79 	L	April 6, 1997 	1–2 	@ Colorado Avalanche (1996–97) 	37–36–6
80 	T	April 7, 1997 	2–2 OT	Dallas Stars (1996–97) 	37–36–7
81 	L	April 9, 1997 	4–6 	@ Vancouver Canucks (1996–97) 	37–37–7
82 	W	April 11, 1997 	6–2 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1996–97) 	38–37–7
==Player stats==
===Regular season===
;Scoring
Player	Pos 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	LW 	81	52	34	86 	228	-1 	9 	2 	7
 	C 	72	29	40	69 	115	-7 	10 	3 	7
 	RW 	82	32	31	63 	38 	-11	13 	1 	7
 	D 	82	10	45	55 	30 	-5 	3 	1 	2
 	C 	77	15	38	53 	26 	-1 	5 	0 	1
 	C 	69	19	32	51 	26 	-9 	8 	0 	2
 	RW 	63	17	19	36 	52 	-11	5 	1 	1
 	D 	82	2 	25	27 	28 	-3 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	82	11	13	24 	41 	4 	1 	0 	2
 	C 	80	9 	11	20 	40 	-7 	0 	1 	3
 	D 	66	3 	17	20 	164	-25	2 	0 	0
 	C 	55	4 	11	15 	36 	-4 	2 	0 	1
 	LW 	81	3 	11	14 	185	-7 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	27	3 	11	14 	4 	-4 	1 	0 	0
 	D 	32	4 	9 	13 	24 	-11	1 	0 	1
 	RW 	63	4 	8 	12 	49 	-3 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	65	3 	7 	10 	40 	-8 	1 	0 	1
 	D 	55	3 	7 	10 	74 	5 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	41	3 	7 	10 	28 	-5 	2 	0 	0
 	LW 	65	5 	3 	8 	200	-5 	0 	0 	1
 	LW 	24	4 	3 	7 	13 	-5 	1 	0 	0
 	D 	23	1 	6 	7 	37 	10 	0 	0 	1
 	D 	37	1 	5 	6 	18 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	33	1 	3 	4 	4 	-3 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	11	1 	2 	3 	23 	2 	1 	0 	0
 	G 	72	0 	3 	3 	16 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	2 	1 	0 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	1
 	G 	16	0 	1 	1 	4 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	8 	0 	0 	0 	4 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	4 	0 	0 	0 	10 	-3 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	C/LW	7 	0 	0 	0 	2 	-4 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	1 	0 	0 	0 	7 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN 	GP	W 	L 	T	GA 	GAA 	SO	SA 	SV 	SV%
 	4091	72	30	33	6	193	2.83	7 	2094	1901	.908
 	782 	16	8 	3 	1	39 	2.99	1 	386 	347 	.899
 	29 	1 	0 	0 	0	1 	2.07	0 	8 	7 	.875
 	59 	2 	0 	1 	0	2 	2.03	0 	24 	22 	.917
Team: 	4961	82	38	37	7	235	2.84	8 	2512	2277	.906
===Playoffs===
;Scoring
Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	C 	7 	0	7	7 	12 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	7 	6	0	6 	7 	2 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	3	3	6 	0 	1 	0 	1
 	C 	6 	2	4	6 	4 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	7 	3	1	4 	4 	0 	0 	1
 	C 	7 	2	2	4 	4 	0 	0 	1
 	RW 	7 	1	2	3 	4 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	7 	0	3	3 	4 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	0	2	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	7 	0	1	1 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	0	1	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	1 	0	0	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	0	0	0 	10 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	4 	0	0	0 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	1 	0	0	0 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	6 	0	0	0 	4 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	7 	0	0	0 	6 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	7 	0	0	0 	17 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	1 	0	0	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	2 	0	0	0 	4 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	7 	0	0	0 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	0	0	0 	7 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	7 	0	0	0 	14 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA 	SO	SA 	SV 	SV%
 	426	7 	3	4	15	2.11	1 	222	207	.932
Team: 	426	7 	3	4	15	2.11	1 	222	207	.932
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes; PPG=Power-play goals; SHG=Short-handed goals; GWG=Game-winning goals
      MIN=Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; SO = Shutouts; SA=Shots Against; SV=Shots saved; SV% = Save Percentage; 
==Playoffs==
Phoenix vs. Anaheim 	Phoenix vs. Anaheim 	Phoenix vs. Anaheim 	Phoenix vs. Anaheim
Date 	Away 	Home 	
April 16 	Phoenix 2 	4 Anaheim 	
April 18 	Phoenix 2 	4 Anaheim 	
April 20 	Anaheim 1 	4 Phoenix 	
April 22 	Anaheim 0 	2 Phoenix 	
April 24 	Phoenix 5 	2 Anaheim 	
April 27 	Anaheim 3 	2 Phoenix 	OT
April 29 	Phoenix 0 	3 Anaheim 	
Anaheim wins series 4–3	Anaheim wins series 4–3	Anaheim wins series 4–3	Anaheim wins series 4–3
==Roster==
==Awards and records==
==Transactions==
===Trades===
June 22, 1996 	To Toronto Maple Leafs4th round pick in 1996 - Vladimir Antipov 	To Phoenix CoyotesMike Gartner
July 1, 1996 	To Calgary Flames3rd round pick in 1997 - Erik Andersson 	To Phoenix CoyotesCompensation for head coach Don Hay
August 16, 1996 	To Chicago BlackhawksAlexei Zhamnov Craig Mills 1st round pick in 1997 - Ty Jones	To Phoenix CoyotesJeremy Roenick
February 6, 1997	To New York RangersMike Eastwood Dallas Eakins 	To Phoenix CoyotesJay More
March 18, 1997 	To Montreal CanadiensDave Manson Steve Cheredaryk 	To Phoenix CoyotesMurray Baron Pat Jablonski Chris Murray
===Waivers===
September 30, 1996	From Philadelphia FlyersBob Corkum
===Free agents===
{| cellspacing="10"
| valign="top" |
Player 	Former Team
Cliff Ronning 	Vancouver Canucks
Brad McCrimmon 	Hartford Whalers
Jim Johnson 	Dallas Stars
Darcy Wakaluk 	Dallas Stars
Reggie Savage 	Colorado Avalanche
Kevin Dahl 	Calgary Flames
Scott Levins 	Ottawa Senators
Mike Hudson 	St. Louis Blues
Jocelyn Lemieux	Calgary Flames
{| cellspacing="10"
| valign="top" |
Player 	New Team
Dominic Roussel	Philadelphia Flyers
Ed Olczyk 	Los Angeles Kings
Craig Martin 	Florida Panthers
Iain Fraser 	San Jose Sharks
Denis Chasse 	Ottawa Senators
==References==
* Coyotes on Hockey Database
</div>
Category:Phoenix Coyotes seasons
Phoenix Coyotes season, 1996–97
Phoenix Coyotes season, 1996–97