1997–98 New Jersey Devils season

The 1997–98 New Jersey Devils season was the team's 16th in the National Hockey League since the franchise relocated to New Jersey. The Devils won the Atlantic Division title, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Ottawa Senators.
==Regular season==
===Final standings===
===Game log===
No.	R	Date 	Score 	Opponent 	Record
1 	W	October 3, 1997 	4–3 	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1997–98) 	1–0–0
2 	L	October 4, 1997 	1–4 	@ Washington Capitals (1997–98) 	1–1–0
3 	W	October 8, 1997 	4–1 	Philadelphia Flyers (1997–98) 	2–1–0
4 	L	October 10, 1997 	1–2 	@ Carolina Hurricanes (1997–98) 	2–2–0
5 	W	October 11, 1997 	3–2 	Buffalo Sabres (1997–98) 	3–2–0
6 	L	October 17, 1997 	2–4 	@ Ottawa Senators (1997–98) 	3–3–0
7 	W	October 18, 1997 	5–0 	Tampa Bay Lightning (1997–98) 	4–3–0
8 	W	October 23, 1997 	2–1 OT	Montreal Canadiens (1997–98) 	5–3–0
9 	L	October 25, 1997 	3–4 	San Jose Sharks (1997–98) 	5–4–0
10 	W	October 27, 1997 	5–0 	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1997–98) 	6–4–0
11 	W	October 30, 1997 	8–1 	Vancouver Canucks (1997–98) 	7–4–0
12 	W	November 1, 1997 	3–1 	Washington Capitals (1997–98) 	8–4–0
13 	L	November 4, 1997 	0–3 	Los Angeles Kings (1997–98) 	8–5–0
14 	W	November 5, 1997 	4–2 	@ Florida Panthers (1997–98) 	9–5–0
15 	W	November 8, 1997 	2–0 	Boston Bruins (1997–98) 	10–5–0
16 	W	November 10, 1997	3–1 	@ New York Islanders (1997–98) 	11–5–0
17 	W	November 12, 1997	3–2 	@ New York Rangers (1997–98) 	12–5–0
18 	W	November 14, 1997	4–1 	Colorado Avalanche (1997–98) 	13–5–0
19 	W	November 15, 1997	3–2 	@ Buffalo Sabres (1997–98) 	14–5–0
20 	W	November 18, 1997	2–1 	Calgary Flames (1997–98) 	15–5–0
21 	W	November 20, 1997	5–1 	New York Islanders (1997–98) 	16–5–0
22 	L	November 22, 1997	1–2 OT	Florida Panthers (1997–98) 	16–6–0
23 	L	November 26, 1997	0–2 	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1997–98)	16–7–0
24 	W	November 28, 1997	4–2 	@ San Jose Sharks (1997–98) 	17–7–0
25 	L	November 29, 1997	1–4 	@ Los Angeles Kings (1997–98) 	17–8–0
26 	L	December 2, 1997 	1–3 	St. Louis Blues (1997–98) 	17–9–0
27 	W	December 4, 1997 	4–0 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1997–98) 	18–9–0
28 	W	December 6, 1997 	4–2 	Tampa Bay Lightning (1997–98) 	19–9–0
29 	W	December 10, 1997	4–2 	Edmonton Oilers (1997–98) 	20–9–0
30 	W	December 12, 1997	5–2 	Montreal Canadiens (1997–98) 	21–9–0
31 	W	December 13, 1997	3–0 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1997–98) 	22–9–0
32 	W	December 16, 1997	4–3 	New York Rangers (1997–98) 	23–9–0
33 	T	December 18, 1997	4–4 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (1997–98) 	23–9–1
34 	L	December 19, 1997	4–5 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1997–98) 	23–10–1
35 	T	December 23, 1997	1–1 OT	@ Washington Capitals (1997–98) 	23–10–2
36 	W	December 26, 1997	4–3 	New York Islanders (1997–98) 	24–10–2
37 	W	December 29, 1997	3–1 	@ Buffalo Sabres (1997–98) 	25–10–2
38 	L	December 30, 1997	2–6 	Chicago Blackhawks (1997–98) 	25–11–2
39 	L	January 1, 1998 	1–2 OT	@ Florida Panthers (1997–98) 	25–12–2
40 	W	January 3, 1998 	4–2 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1997–98) 	26–12–2
41 	L	January 5, 1998 	3–4 OT	Dallas Stars (1997–98) 	26–13–2
42 	W	January 7, 1998 	3–1 	Pittsburgh Penguins (1997–98) 	27–13–2
43 	W	January 9, 1998 	4–1 	Tampa Bay Lightning (1997–98) 	28–13–2
44 	L	January 10, 1998 	1–4 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1997–98) 	28–14–2
45 	T	January 12, 1998 	1–1 OT	@ Boston Bruins (1997–98) 	28–14–3
46 	W	January 14, 1998 	4–1 	New York Rangers (1997–98) 	29–14–3
47 	W	January 20, 1998 	3–1 	Detroit Red Wings (1997–98) 	30–14–3
48 	L	January 22, 1998 	2–3 	Pittsburgh Penguins (1997–98) 	30–15–3
49 	T	January 24, 1998 	3–3 OT	@ New York Rangers (1997–98) 	30–15–4
50 	W	January 25, 1998 	3–1 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1997–98) 	31–15–4
51 	T	January 28, 1998 	1–1 OT	@ Edmonton Oilers (1997–98) 	31–15–5
52 	L	January 30, 1998 	1–3 	@ Vancouver Canucks (1997–98) 	31–16–5
53 	T	January 31, 1998 	2–2 OT	@ Calgary Flames (1997–98) 	31–16–6
54 	W	February 2, 1998 	1–0 	@ Ottawa Senators (1997–98) 	32–16–6
55 	W	February 4, 1998 	2–0 	Ottawa Senators (1997–98) 	33–16–6
56 	W	February 7, 1998 	3–2 	@ New York Islanders (1997–98) 	34–16–6
57 	W	February 25, 1998	3–2 	@ Florida Panthers (1997–98) 	35–16–6
58 	W	February 26, 1998	4–1 	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1997–98) 	36–16–6
59 	W	February 28, 1998	4–3 	Carolina Hurricanes (1997–98) 	37–16–6
60 	W	March 2, 1998 	4–3 	Philadelphia Flyers (1997–98) 	38–16–6
61 	T	March 5, 1998 	1–1 OT	Boston Bruins (1997–98) 	38–16–7
62 	W	March 7, 1998 	6–3 	New York Rangers (1997–98) 	39–16–7
63 	T	March 9, 1998 	2–2 OT	@ New York Rangers (1997–98) 	39–16–8
64 	T	March 10, 1998 	2–2 OT	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1997–98) 	39–16–9
65 	W	March 12, 1998 	2–0 	@ Carolina Hurricanes (1997–98) 	40–16–9
66 	L	March 14, 1998 	2–4 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1997–98) 	40–17–9
67 	W	March 18, 1998 	3–0 	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1997–98) 	41–17–9
68 	L	March 20, 1998 	0–2 	@ Washington Capitals (1997–98) 	41–18–9
69 	W	March 21, 1998 	3–2 	Washington Capitals (1997–98) 	42–18–9
70 	W	March 24, 1998 	3–2 	Philadelphia Flyers (1997–98) 	43–18–9
71 	W	March 26, 1998 	2–0 	@ Colorado Avalanche (1997–98) 	44–18–9
72 	W	March 28, 1998 	3–0 	@ Phoenix Coyotes (1997–98) 	45–18–9
73 	L	March 29, 1998 	1–3 	@ Dallas Stars (1997–98) 	45–19–9
74 	L	April 1, 1998 	0–4 	Carolina Hurricanes (1997–98) 	45–20–9
75 	L	April 3, 1998 	2–3 	Ottawa Senators (1997–98) 	45–21–9
76 	W	April 5, 1998 	3–2 	Phoenix Coyotes (1997–98) 	46–21–9
77 	L	April 8, 1998 	2–3 	@ New York Islanders (1997–98) 	46–22–9
78 	W	April 11, 1998 	3–2 	@ Boston Bruins (1997–98) 	47–22–9
79 	T	April 12, 1998 	5–5 OT	Florida Panthers (1997–98) 	47–22–10
80 	W	April 15, 1998 	5–4 OT	Buffalo Sabres (1997–98) 	48–22–10
81 	T	April 16, 1998 	1–1 OT	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1997–98) 	48–22–11
82 	L	April 18, 1998 	1–2 	New York Islanders (1997–98) 	48–23–11
==Playoffs==
==Player stats==
===Regular season===
;Scoring
Player	Pos 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	C 	82	29	36	65 	100	23 	8 	0 	8
 	D 	81	14	43	57 	27 	5 	11 	0 	1
 	C 	63	13	40	53 	68 	10 	3 	0 	5
 	RW 	74	24	24	48 	86 	30 	8 	0 	5
 	LW 	75	14	34	48 	26 	19 	4 	0 	2
 	LW 	74	18	19	37 	28 	18 	5 	0 	6
 	RW 	58	16	20	36 	22 	0 	3 	1 	4
 	C/RW	76	16	14	30 	16 	7 	0 	2 	1
 	C/RW	80	15	13	28 	97 	-6 	7 	0 	1
 	D 	80	4 	22	26 	80 	19 	1 	0 	1
 	LW 	55	14	10	24 	32 	4 	3 	0 	4
 	D 	79	4 	19	23 	171	11 	1 	0 	0
 	C 	66	9 	9 	18 	22 	-4 	0 	1 	1
 	C 	35	5 	10	15 	21 	-8 	3 	0 	2
 	RW 	26	3 	8 	11 	14 	-6 	1 	0 	1
 	D 	49	5 	5 	10 	25 	-1 	3 	0 	0
 	RW 	19	5 	5 	10 	13 	0 	1 	0 	2
 	D 	60	3 	7 	10 	85 	18 	0 	0 	1
 	LW 	35	2 	8 	10 	32 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	11	5 	4 	9 	0 	3 	0 	0 	1
 	D 	50	1 	8 	9 	12 	12 	1 	0 	0
 	D 	43	1 	5 	6 	8 	11 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	18	2 	3 	5 	0 	4 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	73	2 	3 	5 	295	3 	0 	0 	2
 	LW 	23	1 	3 	4 	4 	-4 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	70	0 	3 	3 	10 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	26	0 	3 	3 	102	1 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	5 	0 	3 	3 	0 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	37	0 	1 	1 	57 	3 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	15	0 	1 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	2 	0 	1 	1 	0 	1 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	2 	0 	0 	0 	5 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	6 	0 	0 	0 	16 	-2 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	13	0 	0 	0 	6 	1 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN 	GP	W 	L 	T 	GA 	GAA 	SO	SA 	SV 	SV%
 	4128	70	43	17	8 	130	1.89	10	1569	1439	.917
 	773 	15	5 	5 	3 	29 	2.25	1 	332 	303 	.913
 	62 	1 	0 	1 	0 	2 	1.94	0 	30 	28 	.933
 	20 	1 	0 	0 	0 	1 	3.00	0 	8 	7 	.875
Team: 	4983	82	48	23	11	162	1.95	11	1939	1777	.916
===Playoffs===
;Scoring
Player	Pos 	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	C 	6 	5	2	7 	4 	1 	0 	1
 	LW 	6 	0	3	3 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	6 	1	1	2 	21 	1 	0 	1
 	C/RW	6 	1	1	2 	2 	0 	1 	0
 	C 	5 	0	2	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	6 	0	2	2 	4 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	3 	0	2	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	6 	1	0	1 	4 	1 	0 	0
 	C 	6 	1	0	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	5 	1	0	1 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	C/RW	6 	1	0	1 	2 	0 	1 	0
 	D 	6 	1	0	1 	8 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	6 	0	1	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	6 	0	1	1 	10 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	4 	0	1	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	6 	0	1	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	3 	0	1	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	3 	0	1	1 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	5 	0	0	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	1 	0	0	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	5 	0	0	0 	8 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	6 	0	0	0 	23 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	2 	0	0	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA 	SO	SA 	SV 	SV%
 	366	6 	2	4	12	1.97	0 	164	152	.927
Team: 	366	6 	2	4	12	1.97	0 	164	152	.927
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; 
==Awards and records==
==Transactions==
==Roster==
==Draft picks==
Team's picks at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the Civic Arena.
Rd #	Pick #	Player 	Nat 	Pos 	Team (league) 	Notes 	 	 	
1 	24 	Jean-Francois Damphousse 	 	G 	Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL) 	 	 	 	
2 	38 	Stanislav Gron 	 	LW 	Bratislava (Slovak Extraliga) 	The Devils acquired the 1997 second-round pick from Ottawa for the Devils' 1997 third-round pick (used on Jani Hurme) and the Senators' 1997 third-round pick (used on Josh Langfeld) on June 21, 1997. The Devils had originally received the pick from Ottawa in a trade for Tom Chorske on October 5, 1995. Gron's game with the Devils is the only NHL game in his career. The Devils traded their original 1997 second-round pick, along with Jim Dowd, to Hartford in a trade for Jocelyn Lemieux and a 1998 second-round pick (later transferred to Dallas and used on John Erskine) on December 19, 1995.	 	 	
3 	78 	No third-round pickThe Devils traded their 1997 third-round pick (later transferred to Colorado and used on Ville Nieminen) to St. Louis for Esa Tikkanen on November 1, 1995.	No third-round pickThe Devils traded their 1997 third-round pick (later transferred to Colorado and used on Ville Nieminen) to St. Louis for Esa Tikkanen on November 1, 1995.	No third-round pickThe Devils traded their 1997 third-round pick (later transferred to Colorado and used on Ville Nieminen) to St. Louis for Esa Tikkanen on November 1, 1995.	No third-round pickThe Devils traded their 1997 third-round pick (later transferred to Colorado and used on Ville Nieminen) to St. Louis for Esa Tikkanen on November 1, 1995.	No third-round pickThe Devils traded their 1997 third-round pick (later transferred to Colorado and used on Ville Nieminen) to St. Louis for Esa Tikkanen on November 1, 1995. 	No third-round pickThe Devils traded their 1997 third-round pick (later transferred to Colorado and used on Ville Nieminen) to St. Louis for Esa Tikkanen on November 1, 1995.	No third-round pickThe Devils traded their 1997 third-round pick (later transferred to Colorado and used on Ville Nieminen) to St. Louis for Esa Tikkanen on November 1, 1995.	No third-round pickThe Devils traded their 1997 third-round pick (later transferred to Colorado and used on Ville Nieminen) to St. Louis for Esa Tikkanen on November 1, 1995.
4 	104 	Lucas Nehrling 	 	D 	Sarnia Sting (OHL) 	 	 	 	
5 	131 	Jiri Bicek 	 	LW 	HC Košice (Slovak Extraliga) 	 	 	 	
6 	159 	Sascha Goc 	 	D 	Schwenningen Wild Wings (DEL) 	 	 	 	
7 	188 	Mathieu Benoit 	 	RW 	Chicoutimi Saguenéens (QMJHL) 	 	 	 	
8 	215 	Scott Clemmensen 	 	G 	Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) 	 	 	 	
9 	241 	Jan Sorinko 	 	D 	? (Czech Extraliga) 	 	 	 	
==See also==
*1997–98 NHL season
==References==
* 
Category:New Jersey Devils seasons
New Jersey Devils season, 1997–98
New Jersey Devils season, 1997–98