The 1997–98 San Jose Sharks season was the Sharks' seventh season of operation in the National Hockey League (NHL). Following their second last-place finish in as many years, the Sharks unceremoniously fired first-year head coach Al Sims; he was replaced by Darryl Sutter, who had previously coached the Chicago Blackhawks. At the time of his hiring, Sutter was the first head coach in franchise history to have previously coached another NHL team.
1997–98 San Jose Sharks | |
---|---|
Division | 4th Pacific |
Conference | 8th Western |
1997–98 record | 34–38–10 |
Home record | 17–19–5 |
Road record | 17–19–5 |
Goals for | 210 |
Goals against | 216 |
Team information | |
General manager | Dean Lombardi |
Coach | Darryl Sutter |
Captain | Todd Gill (Oct-Mar) Vacant (Mar-Apr) |
Arena | San Jose Arena |
Average attendance | 17,111 |
Minor league affiliate(s) | Kentucky Thoroughblades Louisville RiverFrogs |
Team leaders | |
Goals | Jeff Friesen (31) |
Assists | Jeff Friesen (32) |
Points | Jeff Friesen (63) |
Penalty minutes | Owen Nolan (144) |
Plus/minus | Bill Houlder (+13) |
Wins | Mike Vernon (30) |
Goals against average | Mike Vernon (2.46) |
The Sharks' coaching switch was accompanied by a handful of player acquisitions and debuts. Of these, the addition of five-time NHL All-Star goaltender Mike Vernon proved most important. On August 18, 1997, the Sharks acquired Vernon from the Detroit Red Wings for a pair of second-round picks; at the time of the trade, Vernon was only two months removed from backstopping the Red Wings to victory in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals. Additionally, the Sharks drafted highly-touted forward Patrick Marleau with the second overall pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. Despite a lackluster rookie season, Marleau would enjoy considerable success with the Sharks over the following two decades. Lastly, 1996 first-found pick Marco Sturm was added to the roster early in the season. Sturm and Marleau, in particular, supplemented a burgeoning collection of young forwards that already included mainstays Jeff Friesen and Owen Nolan.
In Sutter's first season at the helm, the Sharks' play improved substantially. While they once again failed to post a winning record, the team managed to clinch the Western Conference's eighth (and final) playoff berth. In the first round of the 1998 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Sharks faced the top-seeded Dallas Stars. The Sharks quickly dropped their first two games in Dallas; upon returning to San Jose, however, the Sharks rallied to tie the series at two games apiece. An upset was not to be, however, as the Stars responded with a pair of one-goal victories to win the series in six games. Despite a quick exit from the playoffs, the 1997-98 season would prove to be a turning point for the franchise. After finishing with the Western Conference's worst record in four of their first six seasons of play, the Sharks would miss the postseason just twice between 1998 and 2019.
Offseason
editThis section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010) |
Regular season
editCaptain Todd Gill was traded to the St. Louis Blues, in March.
Final standings
editNo. | CR | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 39 | 26 | 17 | 231 | 205 | 95 |
2 | 5 | Los Angeles Kings | 82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 227 | 225 | 87 |
3 | 7 | Edmonton Oilers | 82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 215 | 224 | 80 |
4 | 8 | San Jose Sharks | 82 | 34 | 38 | 10 | 210 | 216 | 78 |
5 | 11 | Calgary Flames | 82 | 26 | 41 | 15 | 217 | 252 | 67 |
6 | 12 | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | 82 | 26 | 43 | 13 | 205 | 261 | 65 |
7 | 13 | Vancouver Canucks | 82 | 25 | 43 | 14 | 224 | 273 | 64 |
Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.
R | Div | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | p – Dallas Stars | CEN | 82 | 49 | 22 | 11 | 242 | 167 | 109 |
2 | x – Colorado Avalanche | PAC | 82 | 39 | 26 | 17 | 231 | 205 | 95 |
3 | Detroit Red Wings | CEN | 82 | 44 | 23 | 15 | 250 | 196 | 103 |
4 | St. Louis Blues | CEN | 82 | 45 | 29 | 8 | 256 | 204 | 98 |
5 | Los Angeles Kings | PAC | 82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 227 | 225 | 87 |
6 | Phoenix Coyotes | CEN | 82 | 35 | 35 | 12 | 224 | 227 | 82 |
7 | Edmonton Oilers | PAC | 82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 215 | 224 | 80 |
8 | San Jose Sharks | PAC | 82 | 34 | 38 | 10 | 210 | 216 | 78 |
9 | Chicago Blackhawks | CEN | 82 | 30 | 39 | 13 | 192 | 199 | 73 |
10 | Toronto Maple Leafs | CEN | 82 | 30 | 43 | 9 | 194 | 237 | 69 |
11 | Calgary Flames | PAC | 82 | 26 | 41 | 15 | 217 | 252 | 67 |
12 | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | PAC | 82 | 26 | 43 | 13 | 205 | 261 | 65 |
13 | Vancouver Canucks | PAC | 82 | 25 | 43 | 14 | 224 | 273 | 64 |
Divisions: CEN – Central, PAC – Pacific
bold – Qualified for playoffs; x – Won Division; p – Won Presidents' Trophy
Playoffs
editIn a Conference Quarterfinals series, the Sharks met the #1 seeded and Presidents' Trophy-winning Dallas Stars. The Sharks were eliminated by the Stars in six games.
Schedule and results
editRegular season
edit1997–98 regular season[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 4–9–0 (home: 2–5–0; road: 2–4–0)
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November: 5–8–2 (home: 2–4–1; road: 3–4–1)
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December: 5–3–3 (home: 1–1–2; road: 4–2–1)
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January: 6–5–2 (home: 5–4–1; road: 1–1–1)
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February: 2–4–0 (home: 1–1–0; road: 1–3–0)
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March: 7–8–0 (home: 3–4–0; road: 4–4–0)
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April: 5–1–3 (home: 3–0–1; road: 2–1–2)
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Legend:
Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
Playoffs
edit1998 Stanley Cup playoffs[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Western Conference Quarterfinals vs. (1) Dallas Stars – Stars win 4–2
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Legend:
Win Loss |
Player statistics
editScoring
edit- Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
- † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Sharks only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Sharks only.
Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
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No. | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
39 | Jeff Friesen | LW | 79 | 31 | 32 | 63 | 8 | 40 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 2 |
11 | Owen Nolan | RW | 75 | 14 | 27 | 41 | −2 | 144 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −1 | 26 |
15 | John MacLean† | RW | 51 | 13 | 19 | 32 | 0 | 28 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
14 | Patrick Marleau | C | 74 | 13 | 19 | 32 | 5 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 0 |
2 | Bill Houlder | D | 82 | 7 | 25 | 32 | 13 | 48 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
19 | Marco Sturm | LW | 74 | 10 | 20 | 30 | −2 | 40 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
37 | Stephane Matteau | LW | 73 | 15 | 14 | 29 | 4 | 60 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
22 | Murray Craven | LW | 67 | 12 | 17 | 29 | 4 | 25 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 0 |
9 | Bernie Nicholls | C | 60 | 6 | 22 | 28 | −4 | 26 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 5 | −2 | 8 |
21 | Tony Granato | RW | 59 | 16 | 9 | 25 | 3 | 70 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
10 | Marcus Ragnarsson | D | 79 | 5 | 20 | 25 | −11 | 65 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
18 | Mike Ricci† | C | 59 | 9 | 14 | 23 | −4 | 30 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
23 | Todd Gill‡ | D | 64 | 8 | 13 | 21 | −13 | 31 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
40 | Mike Rathje | D | 81 | 3 | 12 | 15 | −4 | 59 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −3 | 6 |
20 | Andrei Zyuzin | D | 56 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 8 | 66 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 14 |
28 | Shawn Burr | LW | 42 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 50 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 8 |
33 | Marty McSorley | D | 56 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 140 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
3 | Doug Bodger‡ | D | 28 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
8 | Jarrod Skalde‡†‡† | C | 22 | 4 | 6 | 10 | −2 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
17 | Joe Murphy† | RW | 10 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 20 |
43 | Al Iafrate | D | 21 | 2 | 7 | 9 | −1 | 28 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −4 | 10 |
12 | Ron Sutter | C | 57 | 2 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 22 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 14 |
26[a] | Dave Lowry† | LW | 50 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 51 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
25 | Viktor Kozlov‡ | C | 18 | 5 | 2 | 7 | −2 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
42 | Shean Donovan‡ | RW | 20 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
27 | Alexander Korolyuk | LW | 19 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −5 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
7 | Rich Brennan‡ | D | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
27 | Bryan Marchment† | D | 12 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 43 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
17 | Steve Guolla | C | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
62 | Andrei Nazarov‡ | LW | 40 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −4 | 112 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
29 | Mike Vernon | G | 62 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
24 | Barry Potomski | LW | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 30 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
34 | Niklas Andersson | LW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
32 | Kelly Hrudey | G | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
30 | Jason Muzzatti† | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
5 | Ken Sutton† | D | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
16 | Dody Wood‡ | C | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 40 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Goaltending
edit- † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Sharks only.
Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||||
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No. | Player | GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI | GP | W | L | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
29 | Mike Vernon | 62 | 30 | 22 | 8 | 1401 | 146 | 2.46 | .896 | 5 | 3564 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 138 | 14 | 2.41 | .899 | 1 | 348 |
32 | Kelly Hrudey | 28 | 4 | 16 | 2 | 600 | 62 | 2.73 | .897 | 1 | 1360 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 3.00 | .833 | 0 | 20 |
30 | Jason Muzzatti† | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 4.49 | .846 | 0 | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Awards and records
editAwards
editType | Award/honor | Recipient | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
League (in-season) |
NHL Rookie of the Month | Marco Sturm (November) | [3] |
Team | Sharks Player of the Year | Mike Vernon | [4] |
Sharks Rookie of the Year | Patrick Marleau | [4] | |
Marco Sturm | |||
Andrei Zyuzin |
Milestones
editMilestone | Player | Date | Ref |
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1,000th game played | Murray Craven | March 30, 1998 | [5] |
Transactions
editThis section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010) |
Draft picks
editSan Jose's picks at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[6]
Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Patrick Marleau | Center | Canada | Seattle Thunderbirds |
1 | 23 | Scott Hannan | Defense | Canada | Kelowna Rockets |
4 | 82 | Adam Colagiacomo | Right Wing | Canada | Oshawa Generals |
5 | 107 | Adam Spylo | Right Wing | Canada | Erie Otters |
7 | 163 | Joe Dusbabek | Right Wing | United States | Notre Dame |
8 | 192 | Cam Severson | Left Wing | Canada | Prince Albert Raiders |
9 | 219 | Mark Smith | Center | Canada | Lethbridge Hurricanes |
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Lowry wore number 15 until MacLean was acquired.
References
edit- "San Jose Sharks 1997-98 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- "1997-98 San Jose Sharks Roster, Stats, Injuries, Scores, Results, Shootouts". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- ^ "1997-1998 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
- ^ a b "1997-98 San Jose Sharks Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- ^ "NHL Rookies of the Month". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- ^ a b 2014–15 San Jose Sharks Media Guide, p.255–58
- ^ Cooper, Tony (March 31, 1998). "Sharks Take a Shot Where It Hurts / Injury to Hrudey leads to Blues' rout". SFGATE. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
Left wing Murray Craven, out the past five games with a neck injury, returned to play the 1,000th game of his NHL career.
- ^ "1997 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.