1997–98 Pittsburgh Penguins season

1997–98 Pittsburgh Penguins
	Northeast Division champions
Division	1st Northeast
Conference	2nd Eastern
1997–98 record	40–24–18
Goals for	228
Goals against	188
Team information
General Manager	Craig Patrick
Coach	Kevin Constantine
Captain	Ron Francis
Alternate captains	Kevin Hatcher; Jaromír Jágr
Arena	Pittsburgh Civic Arena
Team leaders
Goals	Jaromír Jágr (35)
Assists	Jaromir Jagr (67)
Points	Jaromir Jagr (102)
Penalty minutes	Chris Tamer (181)
Wins	Tom Barrasso (31)
Goals against average	Peter Skudra (1.83)

The 1997–98 Pittsburgh Penguins season was the team's 31st in the National Hockey League (NHL). It was their first season under Head Coach Kevin Constantine and first after the initial retirement of Mario Lemieux.

Offseason

Following the 1996–97 season which saw their Hall of Fame star Mario Lemieux retire, the Penguins attempted to continue keeping their recent success. Over the previous nine seasons, no NHL team had been more successful than Pittsburgh in terms of regular season points, although the team had not won a Stanley Cup since 1992 (part of the reason why Head Coach Eddie Johnston was asked to resign down following the 1996–97 season). Former San Jose Sharks Head Coach Kevin Constantine was hired as Johnston's successor, promising to replace his predecessor's free-form style of play with a more disciplined approach. Additionally, Ron Francis was named captain in Lemieux's absence, and the team acquired center Martin Straka via free agency to add offense. The team also acquired the rights to defensive-defenseman Jiri Slegr, who had spent the 1996–97 season playing for Sodertalje SK in Sweden.

Regular season

The Penguins tied the Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers and New York Islanders for most short-handed goals allowed, with 16.[1]

Final standings

Northeast Division
No.		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	Pittsburgh Penguins	82	40	24	18	228	188	98
2	Boston Bruins	82	39	30	13	221	194	91
3	Buffalo Sabres	82	36	29	17	211	187	89
4	Montreal Canadiens	82	37	32	13	235	208	87
5	Ottawa Senators	82	34	33	15	193	200	83
6	Carolina Hurricanes	82	33	41	8	200	219	74

Eastern Conference[2]
R		Div	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	New Jersey Devils	ATL	82	48	23	11	225	166	107
2	Pittsburgh Penguins	NE	82	40	24	18	228	188	98
3	Philadelphia Flyers	ATL	82	42	29	11	242	193	95
4	Washington Capitals	ATL	82	40	30	12	219	202	92
5	Boston Bruins	NE	82	39	30	13	221	194	91
6	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	36	29	17	211	187	89
7	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	37	32	13	235	208	87
8	Ottawa Senators	NE	82	34	33	15	193	200	83

9	Carolina Hurricanes	NE	82	33	41	8	200	219	74
10	New York Islanders	ATL	82	30	41	11	212	225	71
11	New York Rangers	ATL	82	25	39	18	197	231	68
12	Florida Panthers	ATL	82	24	43	15	203	256	63
13	Tampa Bay Lightning	ATL	82	17	55	10	151	269	44

Divisions: ATL – Atlantic, NE – Northeast

bold – Qualified for playoffs

Schedule and results

1997–98 Schedule

October: 7–5–2 (Home: 1–2–1 ; Road: 6–3–1), 16 Points

November: 7–4–3 (Home: 5–2–2 ; Road: 2–2–1), 17 Points

December: 7–3–3 (Home: 3–2–1 ; Road: 4–1–2), 17 Points

January: 8–3–2 (Home: 4–1–1 ; Road: 4–2–1), 18 Points

February: 1–2–3 (Home: 0–1–1 ; Road: 1–1–2), 5 Points

March: 6–3–4 (Home: 6–0–3 ; Road: 0–3–1), 16 Points

April: 4–4–1 (Home: 2–2–1 ; Road: 2–2–0), 9 Points

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie

Playoffs

1998 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Round 1: 2–4 (Home: 1–2 ; Road: 1–2)

Legend: = Win = Loss

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season[3]
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Jaromír Jágr	77	35	67	102	17	64
Ron Francis	81	25	62	87	12	20
Stu Barnes	78	30	35	65	15	30
Kevin Hatcher	74	19	29	48	–3	66
Martin Straka	75	19	23	42	–1	28
Robert Brown	82	15	25	40	–1	59
Fredrik Olausson	76	6	27	33	13	42
Aleksey Morozov	76	13	13	26	–4	8
Robert Lang^†	51	9	13	22	6	14
Eddie Olczyk	56	11	11	22	–9	35
Alex Hicks	58	7	13	20	4	54
Brad Werenka	71	3	15	18	15	46
Jiří Šlégr	73	5	12	17	10	109
Andreas Johansson	50	5	10	15	4	20
Darius Kasparaitis	81	4	8	12	3	127
Róbert Döme	30	5	2	7	–1	12
Chris Ferraro	46	3	4	7	–2	43
Chris Tamer	79	0	7	7	4	181
Ian Moran	37	1	6	7	0	19
Peter Ferraro^‡	29	3	4	7	–2	12
Tyler Wright	82	3	4	7	–3	112
Neil Wilkinson	34	2	4	6	0	24
Tuomas Grönman	22	1	2	3	3	25
Garry Valk	39	2	1	3	–3	33
Greg Johnson^‡	5	1	0	1	0	2
Sean Pronger^†	5	1	0	1	–1	2
Sven Butenschön	8	0	0	0	–1	6
Total		228	397	625	—	1,193

Playoffs[4]
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Jaromír Jágr	6	4	5	9	5	2
Ron Francis	6	1	5	6	5	2
Stu Barnes	6	3	3	6	2	2
Jiří Šlégr	6	0	4	4	3	2
Robert Lang	6	0	3	3	–4	2
Fredrik Olausson	6	0	3	3	0	2
Martin Straka	6	2	0	2	–3	2
Eddie Olczyk	6	2	0	2	–3	4
Aleksey Morozov	6	0	1	1	–3	2
Tyler Wright	6	0	1	1	0	4
Robert Brown	6	1	0	1	–4	4
Chris Tamer	6	0	1	1	–1	4
Brad Werenka	6	1	0	1	–3	8
Kevin Hatcher	6	1	0	1	1	12
Alex Hicks	6	0	0	0	–5	2
Ian Moran	6	0	0	0	–1	2
Darius Kasparaitis	5	0	0	0	–2	8
Tuomas Grönman	1	0	0	0	0	0
Andreas Johansson	1	0	0	0	0	0
Sean Pronger	5	0	0	0	–1	4
Total		15	26	41	—	68

Goaltenders

Regular Season[5]
Player	GP	GS	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	A	PIM
Tom Barrasso	63	60	3542:07	31	14	13	122	2.07	1556	0.922	7	2	14
Peter Skudra	17	12	851:23	6	4	3	26	1.83	341	0.924	0	1	2
Ken Wregget	15	9	611:26	3	6	2	28	2.75	293	0.904	0	0	6
Total		81	5004:56	40	24	18	176	2.11	2190	0.920	7	3	22

Playoffs[6]
Player	GP	GS	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	G	A	PIM
Tom Barrasso	6	6	376:19	2	4	0	17	2.71	171	0.901	0	0	0	2
Total		6	376:19	2	4	0	17	2.71	171	0.901	0	0	0	2

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Penguins. Stats reflect time with the Penguins only.
^‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Penguins only.

Awards and records

Transactions

The Penguins have been involved in the following transactions during the 1997–98 season:[7]

Trades

August 12, 1997	To Edmonton Oilers 1998 3rd round pick	To Pittsburgh Penguins Jiri Slegr
September 24, 1997	To Buffalo Sabres Jason Woolley	To Pittsburgh Penguins 1998 5th round pick
September 28, 1997	To Colorado Avalanche Francois Leroux	To Pittsburgh Penguins 1998 3rd round pick
October 27, 1997	To Chicago Blackhawks Greg Johnson	To Pittsburgh Penguins Tuomas Gronman
March 24, 1998	To Anaheim Ducks rights to Patrick Lalime	To Pittsburgh Penguins Sean Pronger
June 16, 1998	To Edmonton Oilers rights to Josef Beranek	To Pittsburgh Penguins Bobby Dollas Tony Hrkac
June 17, 1998	To Calgary Flames David Roche Ken Wregget	To Pittsburgh Penguins Todd Hlushko German Titov

Free agents lost

Player	New team	Date
Jeff Christian	Phoenix Coyotes	August 4, 1997
Robert Lang[8]	Boston Bruins	September 28, 1997
Drake Berehowsky	Edmonton Oilers	September 30, 1997

Claimed via waivers

Date	Player	Previous team
October 1, 1997[9]	Peter Ferraro	New York Rangers
October 1, 1997[9]	Chris Ferraro	New York Rangers
October 25, 1997[10]	Robert Lang	Boston Bruins

Lost via waivers

Date	Player	New team
January 14, 1998[11]	Peter Ferraro	New York Rangers
June 26, 1998	Tony Hrkac	Nashville Predators

Player signings

Player	Date
Brad Werenka	July 31, 1997
Ian Moran	August 1, 1997
Martin Straka	August 6, 1997
Robert Lang[12]	September 2, 1997
Joe Dziedzic[13]	September 10, 1997
Alexei Morozov[14]	September 24, 1997
Peter Skudra[15]	September 25, 1997
Rob Brown[16]	October 1, 1997
Jaromir Jagr	January 27, 1998
Peter Skudra	June 17, 1998

Roster

#	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	NHL Draft	Birthplace
14	Stu Barnes	C	R	27	1989	Spruce Grove, Alberta
35	Tom Barrasso	G	R	33	1983	Boston, Massachusetts
44	Robert Brown	RW	L	30	1986	Kingston, Ontario
22	Sven Butenschon	D	L	22	1994	Itzehoe, Germany
15	Robert Dome	LW	L	19	1997	Senica, Slovakia
57	Chris Ferraro	C	R	25	1992	Port Jefferson, New York
10	Ron Francis (C)	C	L	35	1981	Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
42	Tuomas Gronman	D	L	24	1992	Viitasaari, Finland
4	Kevin Hatcher (A)	D	R	31	1984	Detroit, Michigan
33	Alex Hicks	LW	L	28	Undrafted	Calgary, Alberta
68	Jaromir Jagr (A)	RW	L	26	1990	Kladno, Czech Republic
38	Andreas Johansson	LW	L	25	1991	Hofors, Sweden
11	Darius Kasparaitis	D	L	25	1992	Elektrenai, Lithuania
20	Robert Lang	C	R	27	1990	Teplice, Czech Republic
24	Ian Moran	D	R	25	1990	Cleveland, Ohio
95	Aleksey Morozov	RW	L	21	1995	Moscow, Russia
23	Fredrik Olausson	D	R	31	1985	Dadesjo, Sweden
16	Eddie Olczyk	RW	L	31	1984	Chicago, Illinois
12	Sean Pronger	C	L	25	1991	Thunder Bay, Ontario
1	Peter Skudra	G	L	25	Undrafted	Riga, Latvia
71	Jiri Slegr	D	L	27	1990	Jihlava, Czech Republic
82	Martin Straka	C	L	25	1992	Plzen, Czech Republic
2	Chris Tamer	D	L	27	1990	Dearborn, Michigan
18	Garry Valk	LW	L	30	1987	Edmonton, Alberta
5	Brad Werenka	D	L	29	1987	Two Hills, Alberta
6	Neil Wilkinson	D	R	30	1986	Selkirk, Manitoba
31	Ken Wregget	G	L	34	1982	Brandon, Manitoba
29	Tyler Wright	C	R	25	1991	Kamsac, Saskatchewan

Draft picks

The Penguins drafted the following players at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh:[17]

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	17	Robert Dome	Left Wing	Slovakia	Las Vegas Thunder (IHL)
2	44	Brian Gaffaney	Defense	United States	North Iowa Huskies (USHL)
3	71	Josef Melichar	Defense	Czech Republic	HC Ceske Budejovice (Czech)
4	97	Alexandre Mathieu	Center	Canada	Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)
5	124	Harlan Pratt	Defense	Canada	Prince Albert Raiders (WHL)
6	152	Petr Havelka	Left Wing	Czech Republic	Sparta Prague (Czech)
7	179	Mark Moore	Defense	Canada	Harvard University (ECACHL)
8	208	Andrew Ference	Defense	Canada	Portland Winter Hawks (WHL)
9	234	Eric Lind	Defense	United States	Avon Old Farms (USHS–CT)

Farm teams

The Johnstown Chiefs of the East Coast Hockey League finished last overall in the Northern Conference with a record of 23–41–6.

The American Hockey League (AHL)'s Syracuse Crunch finished in third place in the Empire State Division with a record of 35–32–11–2 record. They were eliminated by the Hamilton Bulldogs in the first round of the playoffs.

References

https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1998.html
"1997–1998 Conference Standings". National Hockey League. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
"1997–1998 – Regular Season – Pittsburgh Penguins – All Skaters – Summary – Points – NHL.com – Stats". NHL.
"1997–1998 – Playoffs – Pittsburgh Penguins – All Skaters – Summary – Points – NHL.com – Stats". NHL.
"1997–1998 – Regular Season – Pittsburgh Penguins – Goalie – Summary – Wins – NHL.com – Stats". NHL.
"1997–1998 – Playoffs – Pittsburgh Penguins – Goalie – Summary – Wins – NHL.com – Stats". NHL.
"Hockey Transactions Search Results". ProSportsTransactions. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
"PENGUINS TRADE FRANCOIS LEROUX TO COLORADO; LOSE ROBERT LANG IN WAIVER DRAFT". Pittsburgh Penguins. September 28, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
"PENGUINS CLAIM PETER AND CHRIS FERRARO". Pittsburgh Penguins. October 1, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
"PENGUINS CLAIM ROBERT LANG OFF WAIVERS". Pittsburgh Penguins. October 25, 1997. Archived from the original on January 12, 1998. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
"PETER FERRARO CLAIMED ON WAIVERS BY NY RANGERS". Pittsburgh Penguins. January 14, 1998. Archived from the original on January 15, 1998. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
"PENGUINS SIGN ROBERT LANG". Pittsburgh Penguins. September 2, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
"PENGUINS SIGN JOE DZIEDZIC". Pittsburgh Penguins. September 10, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
"PENGUINS SIGN ALEXEI MOROZOV". Pittsburgh Penguins. September 24, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
"PENGUINS SIGN GOALTENDER PETER SKUDRA". Pittsburgh Penguins. September 25, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
"PENGUINS SIGN ROB BROWN". Pittsburgh Penguins. October 1, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
"NHL Entry Draft Year by Year Results". NHL.com. Retrieved July 14, 2012.

"1997–98 Pittsburgh Penguins Games". Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-05-06.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] ttps://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1998.html

[2] "1997–1998 Conference Standings". National Hockey League. Retrieved July 4, 2014.

[3] "1997–1998 – Regular Season – Pittsburgh Penguins – All Skaters – Summary – Points – NHL.com – Stats". NHL.

[4] "1997–1998 – Playoffs – Pittsburgh Penguins – All Skaters – Summary – Points – NHL.com – Stats". NHL.

[5] "1997–1998 – Regular Season – Pittsburgh Penguins – Goalie – Summary – Wins – NHL.com – Stats". NHL.

[6] "1997–1998 – Playoffs – Pittsburgh Penguins – Goalie – Summary – Wins – NHL.com – Stats". NHL.

[7] "Hockey Transactions Search Results". ProSportsTransactions. Retrieved September 14, 2012.

[tradewaiver-8] "PENGUINS TRADE FRANCOIS LEROUX TO COLORADO; LOSE ROBERT LANG IN WAIVER DRAFT". Pittsburgh Penguins. September 28, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.

[bro-9] "PENGUINS CLAIM PETER AND CHRIS FERRARO". Pittsburgh Penguins. October 1, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.

[10] "PENGUINS CLAIM ROBERT LANG OFF WAIVERS". Pittsburgh Penguins. October 25, 1997. Archived from the original on January 12, 1998. Retrieved September 24, 2012.

[11] "PETER FERRARO CLAIMED ON WAIVERS BY NY RANGERS". Pittsburgh Penguins. January 14, 1998. Archived from the original on January 15, 1998. Retrieved September 24, 2012.

[12] "PENGUINS SIGN ROBERT LANG". Pittsburgh Penguins. September 2, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.

[13] "PENGUINS SIGN JOE DZIEDZIC". Pittsburgh Penguins. September 10, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.

[14] "PENGUINS SIGN ALEXEI MOROZOV". Pittsburgh Penguins. September 24, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.

[15] "PENGUINS SIGN GOALTENDER PETER SKUDRA". Pittsburgh Penguins. September 25, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.

[16] "PENGUINS SIGN ROB BROWN". Pittsburgh Penguins. October 1, 1997. Archived from the original on October 22, 1997. Retrieved September 24, 2012.

[17] "NHL Entry Draft Year by Year Results". NHL.com. Retrieved July 14, 2012.