The 1996–97 NHL season was the 80th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Philadelphia Flyers in four games and won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 42 years.
The regular season saw a decline in scoring and rise in the number of shutouts, to an all-time record of 127.^[1] This trend continued into the playoffs, during which an all-time record of 18 shutouts were recorded.^[2] Only two players, Mario Lemieux and Teemu Selanne, reached the 100-point plateau during the regular season^[3] (compared with 12 who reached the plateau in 1995-96^[4]). Many factors, including fewer power-plays, more calls of the skate-in-the-crease rule, fewer shots on goal, and more injuries to star players than the season before contributed to the reduction in scoring and skyrocketing in shutouts. Paradoxically, teams actually averaged more even-strength goals scored (174)^[5] than in 1995-96 (172).^[6]
This was the first time in 30 years - and in the entire expansion era - that the Boston Bruins had either a losing record or missed the playoffs, ending a still-unsurpassed North American professional sports streak of 29 straight seasons in the playoffs. Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996%E2%80%9397_NHL_season.


Here are the season standings:

Eastern Conference	W	L	T	PTS	Western Conference	W	L	T	PTS
Atlantic Division					Central Division
New Jersey Devils*	45	23	14	104	Dallas Stars*	48	26	8	104
Philadelphia Flyers*	45	24	13	103	Detroit Red Wings*	38	26	18	94
Florida Panthers*	35	28	19	89	Phoenix Coyotes*	38	37	7	83
New York Rangers*	38	34	10	86	St. Louis Blues*	36	35	11	83
Washington Capitals	33	40	9	75	Chicago Blackhawks*	34	35	13	81
Tampa Bay Lightning	32	40	10	74	Toronto Maple Leafs	30	44	8	68
New York Islanders	29	41	12	70	Pacific Division
Northeast Division					Colorado Avalanche*	49	24	9	107
Buffalo Sabres*	40	30	12	92	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim*	36	33	13	85
Pittsburgh Penguins*	38	36	8	84	Edmonton Oilers*	36	37	9	81
Ottawa Senators*	31	36	15	77	Vancouver Canucks	35	40	7	77
Montreal Canadiens*	31	36	15	77	Calgary Flames	32	41	9	73
Hartford Whalers	32	39	11	75	Los Angeles Kings	28	43	11	67
Boston Bruins	26	47	9	61	San Jose Sharks	27	47	8	62