1995–96 NHL season

**The 1995–96 NHL season** was the 79th regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL) which lasted from October 6, 1995 to June 10, 1996.

The Stanley Cup winners were the Colorado Avalanche who swept the Florida Panthers in the finals in four games.

## League Business

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

Prior to the season, Colorado was assigned to the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They played at McNichols Arena (the building that the New Jersey Devils played in from 1976 to 1982 when they were known as the Colorado Rockies).The Avalanche would play in that building until they moved to the Pepsi Center in 1999.

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

The NHL wouldn't return to Manitoba until the Atlanta Thrashers moved there to become the "new" Winnipeg Jets following the 2010–11 season.

This season would mark the last season that the Buffalo Sabres would play in the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, the Philadelphia Flyers at the CoreStates Spectrum, the Senators at the Ottawa Civic Centre, and the Canadiens at the Montreal Forum.

The Sabres made their new home at the Marine Midland Arena, the Flyers at the CoreStates Center, the Senators at the Corel Centre, and the Canadiens at the Molson Centre. The latter two arenas opened before the end of this season.

With the Montreal Forum closed, Maple Leaf Gardens was the last remaining arena from the Original Six era at the time.

The Boston Bruins played their first season at Fleet Center after spending the last 67 at the old Boston Garden, and the Vancouver Canucks played their first game at General Motors Place.

During the 1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons, each team played 84 games (including two neutral site games).

Starting in the 1995–96 season, the neutral site games were eliminated, which reduced the regular season to 82 games per team where it remains to this very day.

## Regular Season

The Detroit Red Wings had a spectacular season, finishing with the second-highest regular-season point total in NHL history (with 131 points), and setting the NHL record for most wins ever in the regular season (with 62 wins).

However, they fell to the Avalanche in the Western Conference Final, the sixth game of which marked the beginning of the heated Detroit-Colorado rivalry, which would last for years to come.

Jaromir Jagr broke the record for assists and points by a right winger in a single season.

Mario Lemieux had the NHL's last 150+ point season with 161 points in 70 games.

This would be the last season in which at least one player would score at least 60 goals (Jagr and Lemieux) until 2008.

The New Jersey Devils became the first team since the 1969–70 Montreal Canadiens to miss the playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup the previous season.

## Player Statistics

### Scoring leaders

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

## Milestones

### Debuts

* 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
* Shane Doan, Winnipeg Jets

### Last games

* Cam Neely, Boston Bruins
* Alexei Kasatonov, Boston Bruins
* Troy Murray, Colorado Avalanche
* Paul Cavallini, Dallas Stars
* Bob Kudelski, Florida Panthers
* Jimmy Carson, Hartford Whalers
* Brett Lindros, New York Islanders
* Joe Cirella, Ottawa Senators (the last active player to have been a member of the Colorado Rockies)
* Glenn Anderson, St. Louis Blues
* Greg Gilbert, St. Louis Blues
* Jim Sandlak, Vancouver Canucks