The 1998–99 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 73rd season. The Rangers missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season in what was Wayne Gretzky's final season in the National Hockey League.
1998–99 New York Rangers | |
---|---|
Division | 4th Atlantic |
Conference | 11th Eastern |
1998–99 record | 33–38–11 |
Home record | 17–19–5 |
Road record | 16–19–6 |
Goals for | 217 |
Goals against | 227 |
Team information | |
General manager | Neil Smith |
Coach | John Muckler |
Captain | Brian Leetch |
Alternate captains | Adam Graves Jeff Beukeboom |
Arena | Madison Square Garden |
Average attendance | 18,200 (100%) |
Minor league affiliate(s) | Hartford Wolf Pack Charlotte Checkers |
Team leaders | |
Goals | Adam Graves (38) |
Assists | Wayne Gretzky (53) |
Points | Wayne Gretzky (62) |
Penalty minutes | Ulf Samuelsson (93) |
Plus/minus | Ulf Samuelsson (+6) |
Wins | Mike Richter (27) |
Goals against average | Mike Richter (2.63) |
Regular season
editFinal standings
editR | CR | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | New Jersey Devils | 82 | 47 | 24 | 11 | 248 | 196 | 105 |
2 | 5 | Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 37 | 26 | 19 | 231 | 196 | 93 |
3 | 8 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 82 | 38 | 30 | 14 | 242 | 225 | 90 |
4 | 10 | New York Rangers | 82 | 33 | 38 | 11 | 217 | 227 | 77 |
5 | 13 | New York Islanders | 82 | 24 | 48 | 10 | 194 | 244 | 58 |
R | Div | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | y – New Jersey Devils | ATL | 82 | 47 | 24 | 11 | 248 | 196 | 105 |
2 | y – Ottawa Senators | NE | 82 | 44 | 23 | 15 | 239 | 179 | 103 |
3 | y – Carolina Hurricanes | SE | 82 | 34 | 30 | 18 | 210 | 202 | 86 |
4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NE | 82 | 45 | 30 | 7 | 268 | 231 | 97 |
5 | Philadelphia Flyers | ATL | 82 | 37 | 26 | 19 | 231 | 196 | 93 |
6 | Boston Bruins | NE | 82 | 39 | 30 | 13 | 214 | 181 | 91 |
7 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 82 | 37 | 28 | 17 | 207 | 175 | 91 |
8 | Pittsburgh Penguins | ATL | 82 | 38 | 30 | 14 | 242 | 225 | 90 |
9 | Florida Panthers | SE | 82 | 30 | 34 | 18 | 210 | 228 | 78 |
10 | New York Rangers | ATL | 82 | 33 | 38 | 11 | 217 | 227 | 77 |
11 | Montreal Canadiens | NE | 82 | 32 | 39 | 11 | 184 | 209 | 75 |
12 | Washington Capitals | SE | 82 | 31 | 45 | 6 | 200 | 218 | 68 |
13 | New York Islanders | ATL | 82 | 24 | 48 | 10 | 194 | 244 | 58 |
14 | Tampa Bay Lightning | SE | 82 | 19 | 54 | 9 | 179 | 292 | 47 |
Divisions: ATL – Atlantic Division, NE – Northeast Division, SE – Southeast Division
bold – Qualified for playoffs; y – Won division
The Great One retires
editWayne Gretzky's last NHL game in Canada was on April 16, 1999, in a 2–2 tie with the Ottawa Senators. His 1,487th and final game was a 2–1 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins which had Jaromir Jagr, a future Ranger captain, scoring the game-winning goal on April 18, 1999, at Madison Square Garden. The national anthems in that game were adjusted to accommodate Gretzky's departure. In place of "O Canada, we stand on guard for thee," Bryan Adams sang "We're going to miss you Wayne Gretzky."[3] John Amirante changed lyrics in "The Star-Spangled Banner" from "the land of the free" to "the land of Wayne Gretzky." He scored his final point in this game, assisting on the lone New York goal scored by team captain Brian Leetch. Gretzky was named as the first, second and third star of both games; only Maurice Richard had such an honour previously, for his performance in a 1944 playoff game.
At the time of his retirement, Gretzky was the second-to-last former WHA player still active in professional hockey, Mark Messier being the last. Messier, himself a former Ranger who would return to spend his final four playing years there, along with other representatives of the great Edmonton Oilers dynasty of the 1980s, attended the game.[4] Gretzky's final game was considered a "national retirement party" in Canada,[4] and Bryan Adams' rendition of "O Canada" was like a "lullaby."[4] As the final seconds ticked away, the crowd at Madison Square Garden gave him a standing ovation, capping off "an entirely satisfying, weekend-long going-away party" in Canada,[4] as there would be "No Regretzkys."[4]
Gretzky told Scott Morrison that the final game of his career was his greatest day.[5] He recounted:
My last game in New York was my greatest day in hockey...Everything you enjoy about the sport of hockey as a kid, driving to practice with mom [Phyllis] and dad [Walter], driving to the game with mom and dad, looking in the stands and seeing your mom and dad and your friends, that all came together in that last game in New York.[5]
Schedule and results
edit1998–99 regular season[6] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
October: 3–4–3 (home: 3–3–1; road: 0–1–2)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
November: 3–5–4 (home: 1–1–1; road: 2–4–3)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
December: 7–6–0 (home: 3–2–0; road: 4–4–0)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
January: 6–7–0 (home: 3–4–0; road: 3–3–0)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
February: 6–6–0 (home: 4–4–0; road: 2–2–0)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
March: 6–5–3 (home: 2–3–3; road: 4–2–0)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
April: 2–5–1 (home: 1–2–0; road: 1–3–1)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Legend:
Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
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 Rangers only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Rangers only.
No. | Player | Pos | Regular season | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | |||
99 | Wayne Gretzky | C | 70 | 9 | 53 | 62 | −23 | 14 |
15 | John MacLean | RW | 82 | 28 | 27 | 55 | 5 | 46 |
2 | Brian Leetch | D | 82 | 13 | 42 | 55 | −7 | 42 |
9 | Adam Graves | LW | 82 | 38 | 15 | 53 | −12 | 47 |
93 | Petr Nedved† | C | 56 | 20 | 27 | 47 | −6 | 50 |
33 | Marc Savard | C | 70 | 9 | 36 | 45 | −7 | 38 |
17 | Kevin Stevens | LW | 81 | 23 | 20 | 43 | −10 | 64 |
24 | Niklas Sundstrom | LW | 81 | 13 | 30 | 43 | −2 | 20 |
22 | Mike Knuble | RW | 82 | 15 | 20 | 35 | −7 | 26 |
25 | Mathieu Schneider† | D | 75 | 10 | 24 | 34 | −19 | 71 |
20 | Todd Harvey | RW | 37 | 11 | 17 | 28 | −1 | 72 |
6 | Manny Malhotra | C | 73 | 8 | 8 | 16 | −2 | 13 |
5 | Ulf Samuelsson‡ | D | 67 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 6 | 93 |
37 | Brent Fedyk | LW | 67 | 4 | 6 | 10 | −11 | 30 |
23 | Jeff Beukeboom | D | 45 | 0 | 9 | 9 | −2 | 60 |
27 | Alexei Kovalev‡ | RW | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −6 | 12 |
21 | Scott Fraser | RW | 28 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −12 | 14 |
4[a] | Chris Tamer† | D | 52 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −12 | 92 |
34 | Peter Popovic | D | 68 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −12 | 40 |
12 | Rich Brennan | D | 24 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −4 | 23 |
36 | Rumun Ndur† | D | 31 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −2 | 46 |
28 | Eric Lacroix† | LW | 30 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −5 | 4 |
32 | Sean Pronger†‡ | C | 14 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −3 | 4 |
10 | Esa Tikkanen | LW | 32 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −5 | 38 |
8 | Jan Mertzig | D | 23 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −5 | 8 |
25 | Alexander Karpovtsev‡ | D | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
18 | Derek Armstrong | C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
39 | Dan Cloutier | G | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
14 | Christian Dube | C | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
26 | Jeff Finley‡ | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
19 | Darren Langdon | LW | 44 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 80 |
26 | Mike Maneluk† | RW | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 |
3 | Stan Neckar†‡ | D | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 8 |
35 | Mike Richter | G | 68 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
14 | Geoff Smith‡ | D | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −5 | 2 |
28 | P. J. Stock | LW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 6 |
14 | Johan Witehall | LW | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
32 | Harry York‡ | C | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 |
Goaltending
editNo. | Player | Regular season | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI | ||
35 | Mike Richter | 68 | 27 | 30 | 8 | 1897 | 170 | 2.63 | .910 | 4 | 3878 |
39 | Dan Cloutier | 22 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 570 | 49 | 2.68 | .914 | 0 | 1097 |
Awards and honors
editAwards
editType | Award/honor | Recipient | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
League (annual) |
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy | Wayne Gretzky | [7] |
League (in-season) |
NHL All-Star Game selection | Wayne Gretzky[b] | [9] |
NHL Player of the Week | Wayne Gretzky (April 19) | [10] | |
Team | Ceil Saidel Memorial Award | Adam Graves | [11] |
"Crumb Bum" Award | Rod Gilbert | [11] | |
Frank Boucher Trophy | Mike Richter | [11] | |
Good Guy Award | Kevin Stevens | [11] | |
Lars-Erik Sjoberg Award | Manny Malhotra | [11] | |
Players' Player Award | Adam Graves | [11] | |
Rangers MVP | Brian Leetch | [11] | |
Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award | Adam Graves | [11] |
Milestones
editMilestone | Player | Date | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
1,000th game played | John MacLean | November 11, 1998 | [12] |
Ulf Samuelsson | January 13, 1999 | [13] |
Draft picks
editNew York's picks at the 1998 NHL Entry Draft in Buffalo, New York at the Marine Midland Arena.[14]
Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7 | Manny Malhotra | C | Canada | Guelph Storm (OHL) |
2 | 40 | Randy Copley | LW | Canada | Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL) |
3 | 66 | Jason LaBarbera | G | Canada | Portland Winter Hawks (WHL) |
4 | 114 | Boyd Kane | LW | Canada | Regina Pats (WHL) |
5 | 122 | Pat Leahy | RW | United States | Miami University (Ohio) (NCAA) |
5 | 131 | Tomas Kloucek | D | Czech Republic | Slavia Prague (Czech Extraliga) |
7 | 180 | Stefan Lundqvist | RW | Sweden | Brynas IF (SEL) |
8 | 207 | Johan Witehall | LW | Sweden | Leksands IF (SEL) |
9 | 235 | Jan Mertzig | D | Sweden | Lulea HF (SEL) |
Notes
editReferences
edit- "New York Rangers 1998-99 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
- "1998-99 New York Rangers Roster, Stats, Injuries, Scores, Results, Shootouts". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
- Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Toronto: Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5.
- ^ Dinger 2011, p. 155.
- ^ "1998-1999 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
- ^ Brady, Erik (April 19, 1999). "He loved 'every part of the game'". USA Today. Retrieved November 24, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e Cole, Stephen (2004). The Best of Hockey Night in Canada. Toronto: McArthur & Company. p. 133. ISBN 1-55278-408-8.
- ^ a b Morrison, Scott (2008). Hockey Night in Canada: My Greatest Day. Toronto: Key Porter Books. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-55470-086-8.
- ^ "1998-99 New York Rangers Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
- ^ "Lady Byng Memorial Trophy". records.nhl.com. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
- ^ "Wayne Gretzky at the All-Star Game". NHL.com. October 2, 2004. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
- ^ "1999 NHL All-Star Game Rosters". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ "Gretzky Named Player of the Week". NHL.com. April 19, 1999. Archived from the original on October 9, 1999. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h 2014–15 New York Rangers Media Guide. New York Rangers. 2014. pp. 349–352.
- ^ "Bruins Rally To Tie Rangers - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. November 14, 1998. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
Before the game, the Rangers presented MacLean with an award for playing in his 1,000th NHL game last Wednesday in Florida. MacLean is the 129th player to reach that milestone.
- ^ Lapointe, Joe (January 16, 1999). "HOCKEY; Last-Place Blackhawks Too Good for Rangers". The New York Times. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
In a pre-game ceremony, the Rangers and the league honored defenseman ULF SAMUELSSON, who played in his 1,000th. N.H.L. game on Wednesday night.
- ^ "1998 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved June 28, 2023.