1996–97 Ottawa Senators season

The 1996–97 Ottawa Senators season was a season of great improvement by the club, as the team finished out of last place in the NHL for the first time in team history, and went on to qualify for the 1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. In the playoffs, the Senators lost in the first round (Conference quarter-finals) to the Buffalo Sabres.
==Regular season==
Ottawa would get off to a slow start, with a 7–12–6 record in their first 25 games, but as the season would go on, the team would get better, finishing with a .500 record in their remaining 57 games, and would earn 45 points in the last 41 games of the regular season. The Sens would go 10–4–2 in their final 16 games of the season, including a 1–0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in the final game of the season to earn a playoff berth.
Alexei Yashin and Daniel Alfredsson would lead the club offensively, while Ron Tugnutt and Damian Rhodes would provide very solid goaltending for the team throughout the season.
===Final standings===
===Game log===
 Regular season schedule
No.	R	Date 	Score 	Opponent 	Record
1 	T	October 5, 1996 	3–3 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) 	0–0–1
2 	T	October 9, 1996 	3–3 OT	New York Islanders (1996–97) 	0–0–2
3 	W	October 11, 1996 	3–2 	Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 	1–0–2
4 	L	October 12, 1996 	2–3 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 	1–1–2
5 	T	October 18, 1996 	2–2 OT	@ New Jersey Devils (1996–97) 	1–1–3
6 	W	October 19, 1996 	6–3 	Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) 	2–1–3
7 	L	October 23, 1996 	2–5 	@ Florida Panthers (1996–97) 	2–2–3
8 	W	October 24, 1996 	5–2 	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 	3–2–3
9 	L	October 26, 1996 	1–5 	@ Dallas Stars (1996–97) 	3–3–3
10 	T	October 30, 1996 	2–2 OT	Los Angeles Kings (1996–97) 	3–3–4
11 	T	November 1, 1996 	2–2 OT	Detroit Red Wings (1996–97) 	3–3–5
12 	L	November 2, 1996 	3–7 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 	3–4–5
13 	W	November 7, 1996 	6–2 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97) 	4–4–5
14 	L	November 9, 1996 	3–4 	Boston Bruins (1996–97) 	4–5–5
15 	L	November 10, 1996	0–2 	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97) 	4–6–5
16 	L	November 13, 1996	0–4 	Edmonton Oilers (1996–97) 	4–7–5
17 	W	November 15, 1996	4–3 	Chicago Blackhawks (1996–97) 	5–7–5
18 	W	November 16, 1996	4–1 	@ New York Islanders (1996–97) 	6–7–5
19 	L	November 19, 1996	1–2 	New Jersey Devils (1996–97) 	6–8–5
20 	T	November 23, 1996	3–3 OT	Hartford Whalers (1996–97) 	6–8–6
21 	W	November 27, 1996	2–1 	@ Washington Capitals (1996–97) 	7–8–6
22 	L	November 29, 1996	0–3 	@ Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 	7–9–6
23 	L	November 30, 1996	3–4 	Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) 	7–10–6
24 	L	December 4, 1996 	2–4 	Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 	7–11–6
25 	L	December 6, 1996 	2–5 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1996–97) 	7–12–6
26 	W	December 7, 1996 	3–2 	@ Vancouver Canucks (1996–97) 	8–12–6
27 	T	December 10, 1996	5–5 OT	@ Calgary Flames (1996–97) 	8–12–7
28 	L	December 13, 1996	2–4 	Phoenix Coyotes (1996–97) 	8–13–7
29 	L	December 15, 1996	0–4 	Dallas Stars (1996–97) 	8–14–7
30 	W	December 19, 1996	5–2 	Florida Panthers (1996–97) 	9–14–7
31 	L	December 21, 1996	2–3 	Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 	9–15–7
32 	W	December 23, 1996	6–0 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) 	10–15–7
33 	W	December 26, 1996	5–2 	New York Rangers (1996–97) 	11–15–7
34 	L	December 28, 1996	2–3 	@ Hartford Whalers (1996–97) 	11–16–7
35 	L	December 30, 1996	3–4 OT	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97) 	11–17–7
36 	W	January 1, 1997 	3–2 	Boston Bruins (1996–97) 	12–17–7
37 	L	January 3, 1997 	0–1 	New Jersey Devils (1996–97) 	12–18–7
38 	L	January 4, 1997 	4–6 	@ New York Rangers (1996–97) 	12–19–7
39 	L	January 6, 1997 	3–4 	Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 	12–20–7
40 	L	January 9, 1997 	0–2 	Colorado Avalanche (1996–97) 	12–21–7
41 	T	January 11, 1997 	3–3 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 	12–21–8
42 	W	January 13, 1997 	4–3 	@ Boston Bruins (1996–97) 	13–21–8
43 	W	January 15, 1997 	5–1 	Washington Capitals (1996–97) 	14–21–8
44 	L	January 22, 1997 	1–4 	Boston Bruins (1996–97) 	14–22–8
45 	T	January 24, 1997 	2–2 OT	Calgary Flames (1996–97) 	14–22–9
46 	W	January 27, 1997 	5–3 	Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 	15–22–9
47 	T	January 29, 1997 	1–1 OT	@ New Jersey Devils (1996–97) 	15–22–10
48 	L	January 30, 1997 	2–5 	St. Louis Blues (1996–97) 	15–23–10
49 	W	February 1, 1997 	2–1 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1996–97) 	16–23–10
50 	W	February 3, 1997 	6–4 	Vancouver Canucks (1996–97) 	17–23–10
51 	W	February 4, 1997 	4–3 	@ Boston Bruins (1996–97) 	18–23–10
52 	T	February 8, 1997 	3–3 OT	San Jose Sharks (1996–97) 	18–23–11
53 	L	February 9, 1997 	1–2 	@ Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 	18–24–11
54 	T	February 11, 1997	5–5 OT	@ New York Islanders (1996–97) 	18–24–12
55 	L	February 13, 1997	2–4 	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) 	18–25–12
56 	L	February 15, 1997	1–2 	@ Hartford Whalers (1996–97) 	18–26–12
57 	W	February 16, 1997	4–2 	Hartford Whalers (1996–97) 	19–26–12
58 	W	February 18, 1997	6–1 	@ Washington Capitals (1996–97) 	20–26–12
59 	T	February 20, 1997	1–1 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (1996–97) 	20–26–13
60 	L	February 23, 1997	3–4 	@ Colorado Avalanche (1996–97) 	20–27–13
61 	L	February 26, 1997	5–8 	Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) 	20–28–13
62 	W	February 28, 1997	4–1 	New York Islanders (1996–97) 	21–28–13
63 	L	March 1, 1997 	1–3 	Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 	21–29–13
64 	L	March 5, 1997 	1–4 	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1996–97)	21–30–13
65 	L	March 6, 1997 	0–2 	@ San Jose Sharks (1996–97) 	21–31–13
66 	L	March 8, 1997 	1–3 	@ Los Angeles Kings (1996–97) 	21–32–13
67 	W	March 10, 1997 	4–1 	@ Phoenix Coyotes (1996–97) 	22–32–13
68 	L	March 14, 1997 	3–4 OT	New York Rangers (1996–97) 	22–33–13
69 	T	March 15, 1997 	2–2 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) 	22–33–14
70 	W	March 17, 1997 	4–3 	@ New York Rangers (1996–97) 	23–33–14
71 	T	March 20, 1997 	2–2 OT	Florida Panthers (1996–97) 	23–33–15
72 	W	March 22, 1997 	5–4 	@ Boston Bruins (1996–97) 	24–33–15
73 	L	March 25, 1997 	0–5 	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1996–97) 	24–34–15
74 	W	March 27, 1997 	3–2 	@ Florida Panthers (1996–97) 	25–34–15
75 	W	March 29, 1997 	5–2 	Montreal Canadiens (1996–97) 	26–34–15
76 	W	April 2, 1997 	2–0 	@ Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 	27–34–15
77 	W	April 3, 1997 	4–0 	Washington Capitals (1996–97) 	28–34–15
78 	L	April 5, 1997 	2–5 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1996–97) 	28–35–15
79 	L	April 6, 1997 	1–2 	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97) 	28–36–15
80 	W	April 9, 1997 	5–4 	Hartford Whalers (1996–97) 	29–36–15
81 	W	April 11, 1997 	3–2 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1996–97) 	30–36–15
82 	W	April 12, 1997 	1–0 	Buffalo Sabres (1996–97) 	31–36–15
==Playoffs==
The Ottawa Senators ended the 1996–97 regular season as the Eastern Conference's seventh seed. The Senators faced the Buffalo Sabres, and nearly pulled off the upset against their heavily favoured opponent, losing to the Sabres in overtime in the seventh game of the series, ending a very memorable season for the team.
====Eastern Conference Quarter-finals: vs. (2) Buffalo Sabres====
Buffalo wins series 4–3
#	Date 	Visitor	Score	Home 	Record
1	April 17	Ottawa 	0 – 1	Buffalo	0 – 1
2	April 19	Ottawa 	3 – 1	Buffalo	1 – 1
3	April 21	Buffalo	3 – 2	Ottawa 	1 – 2
4	April 23	Buffalo	0 – 1	Ottawa 	2 – 2
5	April 25	Ottawa 	4 – 1	Buffalo	3 – 2
6	April 27	Buffalo	3 – 0	Ottawa 	3 – 3
7	April 29	Ottawa 	2 – 3	Buffalo	3 – 4
==Player stats==
===Regular season===
;Scoring
Player	Pos 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	C 	82	35	40	75 	44 	-7 	10 	0 	5
 	RW 	76	24	47	71 	30 	5 	11 	1 	1
 	C 	82	26	25	51 	33 	-33	4 	0 	5
 	D 	78	19	28	47 	38 	-9 	10 	2 	3
 	LW 	76	12	24	36 	99 	-7 	6 	0 	3
 	RW 	79	12	19	31 	8 	-6 	2 	0 	3
 	RW 	65	11	20	31 	18 	-5 	0 	1 	2
 	D 	82	6 	24	30 	41 	1 	2 	0 	1
 	C 	57	12	16	28 	19 	2 	5 	0 	0
 	LW 	68	18	8 	26 	16 	-1 	1 	1 	1
 	C 	80	11	14	25 	35 	-8 	1 	1 	2
 	RW 	67	11	10	21 	49 	4 	0 	1 	2
 	D 	75	4 	17	21 	67 	-8 	1 	0 	0
 	D 	76	3 	18	21 	76 	-14	2 	0 	0
 	LW 	80	4 	16	20 	217	-4 	0 	0 	1
 	C 	53	5 	13	18 	14 	-4 	0 	1 	0
 	D 	66	5 	5 	10 	91 	2 	0 	0 	1
 	LW 	22	3 	3 	6 	9 	5 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	25	2 	3 	5 	10 	-5 	1 	0 	0
 	RW 	22	1 	4 	5 	19 	3 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	57	0 	5 	5 	58 	6 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	34	2 	2 	4 	8 	-1 	0 	1 	1
 	G 	50	0 	2 	2 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	21	0 	1 	1 	8 	-4 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	26	0 	1 	1 	30 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	37	0 	1 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D/LW	11	0 	1 	1 	25 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	6 	0 	1 	1 	7 	-3 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	5 	0 	0 	0 	4 	1 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	5 	0 	0 	0 	2 	2 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN 	GP	W 	L 	T 	GA 	GAA 	SO	SA 	SV 	SV%
 	1991	37	17	15	1 	93 	2.80	3 	882 	789 	.895
 	2934	50	14	20	14	133	2.72	1 	1213	1080	.890
 	52 	1 	0 	1 	0 	4 	4.62	0 	18 	14 	.778
Team: 	4977	82	31	36	15	230	2.77	4 	2113	1883	.891
===Playoffs===
;Scoring
Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	RW 	7 	5	2	7 	6 	-1 	3 	0 	2
 	C 	7 	1	5	6 	2 	-2 	1 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	1	4	5 	0 	-3 	1 	0 	1
 	D 	7 	1	3	4 	2 	-4 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	7 	2	0	2 	8 	-1 	1 	0 	0
 	LW 	7 	1	1	2 	10 	-3 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	7 	1	1	2 	0 	0 	1 	0 	0
 	RW 	7 	1	0	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	7 	0	1	1 	4 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	5 	0	1	1 	2 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	7 	0	1	1 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	6 	0	1	1 	9 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	0	1	1 	6 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	7 	0	1	1 	4 	-3 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	0	0	0 	8 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	3 	0	0	0 	16 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	7 	0	0	0 	2 	-5 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	0	0	0 	4 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	7 	0	0	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	0	0	0 	4 	-3 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA 	SO	SA 	SV 	SV%
 	425	7 	3	4	14	1.98	1 	169	155	.917
Team: 	425	7 	3	4	14	1.98	1 	169	155	.917
Note: Pos = Position; 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==
* Molson Cup - Alexei Yashin
==Transactions==
===Trades===
May 21, 1996 	To Washington Capitalsfuture considerations 	To Ottawa SenatorsMichel Picard
June 22, 1996 	To Boston BruinsTrent McClearyOttawa's third-round pick in 1996 Draft (Eric Naud) 	To Ottawa SenatorsShawn McEachern
October 1, 1996 	To Mighty Ducks of AnaheimTed DruryMarc Moro 	To Ottawa SenatorsMika StrombergJason YorkShaun Van Allen
November 27, 1996	To St. Louis BluesPavol Demitra 	To Ottawa SenatorsChrister Olsson
March 18, 1997 	To Chicago BlackhawksDenis ChasseKevin BolibruckOttawa's sixth-round pick 1998 Entry Draft (Ottawa later reacquired pick -Chris Neil)	To Ottawa SenatorsMike Prokopec
===Waivers===
No waiver transactions.
===Free agents===
{|class="wikitable"	
Player 	Former team
Sergei Zholtok	Las Vegas Thunder (IHL)
Denny Lambert 	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Phil Crowe 	Philadelphia Flyers
Ron Tugnutt 	Washington Capitals
Denis Chasse 	Winnipeg Jets
Source: 
==Roster==
						
Goaltenders
* 
* 
*		
Defensemen
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
*		
Wingers
* - C
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
*		
Centres
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
*GM: Pierre Gauthier
*Coach: Jacques Martin
Sources: 
* 
* 
==Draft picks==
Ottawa's draft picks at the 1996 NHL Entry Draft in St. Louis, Missouri.
Round	# 	Player 	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1 	1 	Chris Phillips 	 	Prince Albert Raiders (WHL)
4 	81 	Antti-Jussi Niemi	 	Jokerit Helsinki (SM-liiga)
6 	136	Andreas Dackell 	 	Brynäs IF (Elitserien)
7 	163	Francois Hardy 	 	Val d'Or Foreurs (QMJHL)
8 	212	Erich Goldmann 	 	Mannheim Eagles (DEL)
9 	216	Ivan Ciernik 	 	MHC Plastika Nitra (Slovakia)
9 	239	Sami Salo 	 	HC TPS Turku (SM-liiga)
==Farm teams==
* Worcester IceCats (American Hockey League)
* Raleigh IceCaps (East Coast Hockey League)
==See also==
*1996–97 NHL season
==References==
*Total Hockey: "Ottawa Senators 1992–93 to Date" by Bruce Garrioch, 1998
*Ottawa Senators Media Guide 2007
*The Internet Hockey Database
*National Hockey League Guide & Record Book 2007
Category:Ottawa Senators
Category:Ottawa Senators seasons
Ottawa Senators season, 1996–97
Ottawa Senators season, 1996–97