1994–95 Hartford Whalers season

1994–95 Hartford Whalers
Division5th Northeast
Conference10th Eastern
1994–95 record19–24–5
Home record12–10–2
Road record7–14–3
Goals for127
Goals against141
Team information
General managerJim Rutherford
CoachPaul Holmgren
CaptainPat Verbeek (Oct.–Mar.)
Vacant (Mar.–May)
Alternate captainsGlen Wesley
Andrew Cassels
Adam Burt (Mar.–May)
ArenaHartford Civic Center
Average attendance11,835 (75.7%)[1]
Minor league affiliate(s)Springfield Falcons (AHL)
Richmond Renegades (ECHL)
Team leaders
GoalsGeoff Sanderson (18)
AssistsAndrew Cassels (30)
PointsAndrew Cassels (37)
Penalty minutesKelly Chase (141)
Plus/minusBrad McCrimmon (+7)
Andrei Nikolishin (+7)
WinsSean Burke (17)
Goals against averageSean Burke (2.68)

The 1994–95 Hartford Whalers season was the 23rd season of the franchise, 16th season in the NHL. Despite trading away star forward Pat Verbeek to the New York Rangers on March 23, 1995, the Whalers played solid over the next 16 games from March 25 to April 24, with a record of 8-7-1. However, the Whalers could not keep pace with the New York Rangers who went on to take 8th place in the Eastern Conference. It was the third consecutive season that the Whalers missed the playoffs. On a positive note, the Whalers had the most overtime wins and the best overtime record in the NHL, going 4-0-5. Darren Turcotte led all NHL skaters in overtime goals scored with 2.

Off-season

The Whalers announced on May 19 that head coach Pierre McGuire would not return to the club. McGuire took over the head coaching duties early in the 1993-94, as Paul Holmgren focused on his role as general manager of the team. In 67 games, McGuire led the Whalers to a 23-37-7 record.

On June 28, the Whalers selected Steve Martins in the 1994 NHL Supplemental Draft. Martins played the 1993-94 season with Harvard University, where he 25 goals and 60 points in 32 games.

At the 1994 NHL Entry Draft held at the Hartford Civic Center on June 28, the Whalers selected Jeff O'Neill from the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League with their first round, fifth overall selection. O'Neill scored 45 goals and 126 points in 66 games with the Storm during the 1993-94 season. The only other player that the Whalers selected in the draft that played in the NHL was Hnat Domenichelli, who Hartford selected in the fourth round.

On June 28, the NHL announced that the Whalers ownership transferred to the Compuware group, led by Peter Karmanos Jr., Thomas Thewes and Jim Rutherford. The group owned the Detroit Junior Red Wings of the Ontario Hockey League, originally named the Detroit Compuware Ambassadors, since they were awarded an OHL expansion franchise on December 11, 1989. Rutherford took over the general manager duties of the Whalers at this time, replacing Paul Holmgren, who returned to head coaching duties. Rutherford was a former NHL goaltender, amassing a 151-227-59 record with a 3.66 GAA in 457 games with the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings in a career that spanned from 1970-1983. Following his playing career, Rutherford was the general manager of the Windsor Compuware Spitfires from 1985-1989. He then became the general manager of the Detroit Compuware Ambassadors/Detroit Junior Red Wings franchise from 1989-1994.

The Whalers signed free agent Jimmy Carson on July 13. Carson split the 1993-94 season between the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks, as he scored 14 goals and 28 points in 59 games. Carson's best NHL season was in 1987-88 with the Kings, when he scored 55 goals and 107 points in 80 games. On August 9, 1988, Carson was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in a blockbuster trade in which Wayne Gretzky was traded to Los Angeles.

On August 18, the Whalers signed restricted free agent Steven Rice from the Edmonton Oilers. In 63 games, Rice scored 17 goals and 32 points during the 1993-94 season. As compensation for signing Rice, Hartford sent Bryan Marchment to the Oilers on August 30.

The Whalers acquired Glen Wesley from the Boston Bruins in a trade on August 26, sending their first round draft picks in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, 1996 NHL Entry Draft and 1997 NHL Entry Draft to the Bruins. Wesley scored 14 goals and 58 points in 81 games during the 1993-94 season. He was drafted third overall by Boston in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft, and had accumulated 77 goals and 307 points in 537 games since beginning his career in the 1987-88 season.

Following the 1994-95 NHL lockout, which postponed the start of the season until January 1995, the Whalers participated in the waiver draft on January 18. Hartford selected Brian Glynn from the Vancouver Canucks and Kelly Chase from the St. Louis Blues. Glynn split the 1993-94 season with the Ottawa Senators and Canucks, scoring two goals and 15 points in 64 games. In 17 playoff games with Vancouver, Glynn had three assists. Chase played in 68 games with the Blues during the 1993-94, scoring two goals and seven points, along with 278 penalty minutes.

Regular season

The Whalers tied the Dallas Stars and the Toronto Maple Leafs for the lowest shooting percentage during the regular season, with just 127 goals on 1,428 shots (8.9%).[2]

Final standings

Northeast Division
No. CR GP W L T GF GA Pts
1 1 Quebec Nordiques 48 30 13 5 185 134 65
2 3 Pittsburgh Penguins 48 29 16 3 181 158 61
3 4 Boston Bruins 48 27 18 3 150 127 57
4 7 Buffalo Sabres 48 22 19 7 130 119 51
5 10 Hartford Whalers 48 19 24 5 127 141 43
6 11 Montreal Canadiens 48 18 23 7 125 148 43
7 14 Ottawa Senators 48 9 34 5 117 174 23

[3]

Eastern Conference[4]
R Div GP W L T GF GA Pts
1 Quebec Nordiques NE 48 30 13 5 185 134 65
2 Philadelphia Flyers AT 48 28 16 4 150 132 60
3 Pittsburgh Penguins NE 48 29 16 3 181 158 61
4 Boston Bruins NE 48 27 18 3 150 127 57
5 New Jersey Devils AT 48 22 18 8 136 121 52
6 Washington Capitals AT 48 22 18 8 136 120 52
7 Buffalo Sabres NE 48 22 19 7 130 119 51
8 New York Rangers AT 48 22 23 3 139 134 47
9 Florida Panthers AT 48 20 22 6 115 127 46
10 Hartford Whalers NE 48 19 24 5 127 141 43
11 Montreal Canadiens NE 48 18 23 7 125 148 43
12 Tampa Bay Lightning AT 48 17 28 3 120 144 37
13 New York Islanders AT 48 15 28 5 126 158 35
14 Ottawa Senators NE 48 9 34 5 117 174 23

Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast

bold – Qualified for playoffs


Schedule and results

1994–95 regular season[5]
January: 1–2–2 (home: 1–1–2; road: 0–1–0)
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Attendance Recap
1 T January 21, 1995 1–1 OT Washington Capitals (1994–95) 0–0–1 15,635 Recap
2 T January 22, 1995 2–2 OT New Jersey Devils (1994–95) 0–0–2 12,054 Recap
3 W January 25, 1995 4–1 Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 1–0–2 8,567 Recap
4 L January 26, 1995 2–3 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95) 1–1–2 16,557 Recap
5 L January 28, 1995 1–2 Florida Panthers (1994–95) 1–2–2 9,419 Recap
February: 6–7–1 (home: 3–2–0; road: 3–5–1)
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Attendance Recap
6 W February 1, 1995 2–1 @ Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 2–2–2 9,663 Recap
7 L February 4, 1995 4–5 @ Boston Bruins (1994–95) 2–3–2 14,448 Recap
8 L February 5, 1995 1–3 @ Quebec Nordiques (1994–95) 2–4–2 13,207 Recap
9 L February 8, 1995 2–3 Quebec Nordiques (1994–95) 2–5–2 8,032 Recap
10 L February 10, 1995 3–4 @ Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95) 2–6–2 16,639 Recap
11 L February 11, 1995 3–4 @ Florida Panthers (1994–95) 2–7–2 14,311 Recap
12 T February 13, 1995 2–2 OT @ Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 2–7–3 16,370 Recap
13 W February 15, 1995 4–1 Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 3–7–3 11,445 Recap
14 L February 16, 1995 2–5 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 3–8–3 13,179 Recap
15 W February 18, 1995 4–2 Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 4–8–3 12,888 Recap
16 W February 22, 1995 3–2 OT Boston Bruins (1994–95) 5–8–3 14,021 Recap
17 W February 24, 1995 2–1 @ New York Rangers (1994–95) 6–8–3 18,200 Recap
18 L February 25, 1995 1–3 Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 6–9–3 13,117 Recap
19 W February 28, 1995 6–3 @ Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 7–9–3 9,174 Recap
March: 6–6–2 (home: 5–4–0; road: 1–2–2)
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Attendance Recap
20 L March 1, 1995 2–5 New York Rangers (1994–95) 7–10–3 15,011 Recap
21 W March 4, 1995 3–2 OT Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95) 8–10–3 9,151 Recap
22 L March 5, 1995 2–5 Boston Bruins (1994–95) 8–11–3 15,635 Recap
23 L March 7, 1995 1–3 @ New York Islanders (1994–95) 8–12–3 10,371 Recap
24 W March 9, 1995 2–1 Quebec Nordiques (1994–95) 9–12–3 8,886 Recap
25 L March 12, 1995 1–4 Florida Panthers (1994–95) 9–13–3 9,741 Recap
26 W March 14, 1995 6–4 New York Islanders (1994–95) 10–13–3 8,137 Recap
27 T March 16, 1995 2–2 OT @ New Jersey Devils (1994–95) 10–13–4 16,032 Recap
28 L March 20, 1995 0–5 Washington Capitals (1994–95) 10–14–4 8,219 Recap
29 W March 22, 1995 4–3 Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95) 11–14–4 10,149 Recap
30 W March 25, 1995 5–1 New York Islanders (1994–95) 12–14–4 13,337 Recap
31 W March 26, 1995 4–3 OT @ Washington Capitals (1994–95) 13–14–4 11,739 Recap
32 T March 29, 1995 4–4 OT @ Florida Panthers (1994–95) 13–14–5 13,507 Recap
33 L March 31, 1995 0–2 @ Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95) 13–15–5 17,961 Recap
April: 6–8–0 (home: 3–3–0; road: 3–5–0)
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Attendance Recap
34 L April 4, 1995 3–6 @ Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 13–16–5 13,751 Recap
35 W April 5, 1995 8–4 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 14–16–5 15,091 Recap
36 W April 8, 1995 4–2 Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 15–16–5 13,409 Recap
37 L April 9, 1995 0–3 Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95) 15–17–5 10,725 Recap
38 W April 12, 1995 4–2 Ottawa Senators (1994–95) 16–17–5 10,509 Recap
39 W April 14, 1995 4–3 OT Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 17–17–5 15,635 Recap
40 L April 16, 1995 2–3 @ New Jersey Devils (1994–95) 17–18–5 13,613 Recap
41 W April 18, 1995 2–1 @ Buffalo Sabres (1994–95) 18–18–5 15,123 Recap
42 L April 20, 1995 2–3 @ New York Rangers (1994–95) 18–19–5 18,200 Recap
43 L April 21, 1995 3–6 @ Washington Capitals (1994–95) 18–20–5 15,721 Recap
44 L April 23, 1995 2–4 Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95) 18–21–5 14,813 Recap
45 W April 24, 1995 4–3 @ Montreal Canadiens (1994–95) 19–21–5 16,794 Recap
46 L April 26, 1995 0–1 @ Boston Bruins (1994–95) 19–22–5 14,448 Recap
47 L April 28, 1995 3–4 Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95) 19–23–5 15,515 Recap
May: 0–1–0 (home: 0–0–0; road: 0–1–0)
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Attendance Recap
48 L May 3, 1995 1–4 @ Quebec Nordiques (1994–95) 19–24–5 15,399 Recap
Legend:

  Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

Player statistics

Scoring

  • 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 Whalers only.
  • ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Whalers only.
No. Player Pos Regular season
GP G A Pts +/- PIM
21 Andrew Cassels C 46 7 30 37 −3 18
89 Darren Turcotte C 47 17 18 35 1 22
8 Geoff Sanderson LW 46 18 14 32 −10 24
12 Steven Rice RW 40 11 10 21 2 61
28 Paul Ranheim LW 47 6 14 20 −3 10
4 Frantisek Kucera D 48 3 17 20 3 30
33 Jimmy Carson C 38 9 10 19 5 29
18 Robert Kron LW 37 10 8 18 −3 10
11 Andrei Nikolishin C 39 8 10 18 7 10
6 Adam Burt D 46 7 11 18 0 65
16 Pat Verbeek‡ RW 29 7 11 18 0 53
20 Glen Wesley D 48 2 14 16 −6 50
44 Chris Pronger D 43 5 9 14 −12 54
26 Jocelyn Lemieux RW 41 6 5 11 −7 32
13 Ted Drury C 34 3 6 9 −3 21
22 Mark Janssens C 46 2 5 7 −8 93
7[a] Brian Glynn D 43 1 6 7 −2 32
14 Kevin Smyth LW 16 1 5 6 −3 13
32 Igor Chibirev C 8 3 1 4 1 0
27 Kelly Chase RW 28 0 4 4 1 141
24 Jim Storm LW 6 0 3 3 2 0
36 Glen Featherstone† D 13 1 1 2 −7 32
17 Scott Daniels LW 12 0 2 2 1 55
1 Sean Burke G 42 0 1 1 8
23 Marek Malik D 1 0 1 1 1 0
10 Brad McCrimmon D 33 0 1 1 7 42
5 Alexander Godynyuk D 14 0 0 0 1 8
39 Robert Petrovicky C 2 0 0 0 0 0
35 Jeff Reese G 11 0 0 0 0
52 Jim Sandlak RW 13 0 0 0 −10 0

Goaltending

No. Player Regular season
GP W L T SA GA GAA SV% SO TOI
1 Sean Burke 42 17 19 4 1233 108 2.68 .912 0 2418
35 Jeff Reese 11 2 5 1 234 26 3.27 .889 0 477

Awards and records

Awards

Type Award/honor Recipient Ref
Team Booster Club MVP Award Sean Burke [6]
Favorite Whaler Award Jocelyn Lemieux [6]
Frank Keys Memorial Award Adam Burt [6]
Mark Kravitz Award Sean Burke [6]
Most Valuable Defenseman Frantisek Kucera [6]
Three Star Award of Excellence Sean Burke [6]
Top Gun Award Andrew Cassels [6]
True Grit Award Andrei Nikolishin [6]

Milestones

Milestone Player Date Ref
First game Andrei Nikolishin January 21, 1995 [7]
Marek Malik January 22, 1995

Transactions

The Whalers were involved in the following transactions during the 1994–95 season.

Trades

August 26, 1994 To Boston Bruins
1st round pick in 1995 - Kyle McLaren
1st round pick in 1996 - Johnathan Aitken
1st round pick in 1997 - Sergei Samsonov 		To Hartford Whalers
Glen Wesley
August 30, 1994 To Edmonton Oilers
Bryan Marchment (Compensation for Restricted Free Agent) 		To Hartford Whalers
Steven Rice (Restricted Free Agent)
March 23, 1995 To New York Rangers
Pat Verbeek 		To Hartford Whalers
Glen Featherstone
Michael Stewart
1st round pick in 1995 - Jean-Sébastien Giguère
4th round pick in 1996 - Steve Wasylko

Waivers

January 18, 1995 From Vancouver Canucks
Brian Glynn
January 18, 1995 From St. Louis Blues
Kelly Chase

Free agents

Player Former Team
Jeff Chychrun Edmonton Oilers
Jimmy Carson Vancouver Canucks
Steven Rice Edmonton Oilers
Bob Wren Los Angeles Kings
Player New Team
Marc Potvin Boston Bruins
Frank Pietrangelo New York Islanders

Draft picks

Hartford's draft picks at the 1994 NHL Entry Draft.[8]

Round # Player Position Nationality College/Junior/Club team (League)
1 5 Jeff O'Neill Center  Canada Guelph Storm (OHL)
4 83 Hnat Domenichelli Left Wing  Canada Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
5 109 Ryan Risidore Defense  Canada Guelph Storm (OHL)
8 187 Tom Buckley Center  United States St. Joseph's High School (USHS-NY)
9 213 Ashlin Halfnight Defense  Canada Harvard University (ECAC)
9 230 Matt Ball Right Wing  Canada Detroit Junior Red Wings (OHL)
10 239 Brian Regan Goaltender  United States Westminster School (USHS-CT)
11 265 Steve Nimigon Left Wing  Canada Niagara Falls Thunder (OHL)
S 5 Steve Martins Center  Canada Harvard University (ECAC)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Glynn wore number 3 in his first two games.

References

  • "Hartford Whalers 1994-95 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  • "1994-95 Hartford Whalers Roster, Stats, Injuries, Scores, Results, Shootouts". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  1. ^ "Hartford Whalers Yearly Attendance Graph". hockeydb.com.
  2. ^ "1994-95 NHL Summary". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  3. ^ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
  4. ^ "1994-1995 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
  5. ^ "1994-95 Hartford Whalers Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "Whalers Team Awards". www.whalershockey.com. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  7. ^ "1994-95 NHL Debuts". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
  8. ^ "1994 NHL Entry Draft". hockeydb.com.