Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux were tied for the most assists in 1996-97, with 72 assists.

Interpreted as:

1997 most assists by a player

	NAME	A	SEASON	TM	GP	G	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	PPA	SHG	SHA	GWG	OTG	S	S%
1	Wayne Gretzky W. Gretzky	72	1996-97	NYR	82	25	97	+12	28	6	25	0	1	2	0	286	8.7
2	Mario Lemieux M. Lemieux	72	1996-97	PIT	76	50	122	+27	65	15	22	3	3	7	0	327	15.3
3	Ron Francis R. Francis	63	1996-97	PIT	81	27	90	+7	20	10	24	1	1	2	0	183	14.8
4	Steve Yzerman S. Yzerman	63	1996-97	DET	81	22	85	+22	78	8	18	0	2	3	0	232	9.5
5	Doug Weight D. Weight	61	1996-97	EDM	80	21	82	+1	80	4	35	0	0	2	0	235	8.9
6	Doug Gilmour D. Gilmour	60	1996-97	TOT	81	22	82	+2	68	4	18	1	0	1	0	143	15.4
7	Adam Oates A. Oates	60	1996-97	TOT	80	22	82	-5	14	3	16	2	4	5	1	160	13.8
8	Pierre Turgeon P. Turgeon	59	1996-97	TOT	78	26	85	+8	14	5	22	0	0	7	0	216	12.0
9	Peter Forsberg P. Forsberg	58	1996-97	COL	65	28	86	+31	73	5	21	4	3	4	0	188	14.9
10	Brian Leetch B. Leetch	58	1996-97	NYR	82	20	78	+31	40	9	21	0	2	2	0	256	7.8
11	Teemu Selanne T. Selanne	58	1996-97	ANA	78	51	109	+28	34	11	21	1	0	8	1	273	18.7
12	Paul Kariya P. Kariya	55	1996-97	ANA	69	44	99	+36	6	15	19	3	1	10	0	340	12.9
13	Jozef Stumpel J. Stumpel	55	1996-97	BOS	78	21	76	-22	14	6	18	0	0	1	0	168	12.5
14	Vincent Damphousse V. Damphousse	54	1996-97	MTL	82	27	81	-6	82	7	14	2	3	3	0	244	11.1
15	Mats Sundin M. Sundin	53	1996-97	TOR	82	41	94	+6	59	7	13	4	3	8	0	281	14.6
16	Joe Sakic J. Sakic	52	1996-97	COL	65	22	74	-10	34	10	26	2	1	5	0	261	8.4
17	Jaromir Jagr J. Jagr	48	1996-97	PIT	63	47	95	+22	40	11	14	2	1	6	0	234	20.1
18	Mark Messier M. Messier	48	1996-97	NYR	71	36	84	+12	88	7	11	5	6	9	0	227	15.9
19	Mike Modano M. Modano	48	1996-97	DAL	80	35	83	+43	42	9	8	5	2	9	1	291	12.0
20	Steve Rucchin S. Rucchin	48	1996-97	ANA	79	19	67	+26	24	6	10	1	2	2	2	153	12.4
21	Daniel Alfredsson D. Alfredsson	47	1996-97	OTT	76	24	71	+5	30	11	20	1	2	1	0	247	9.7
22	John LeClair J. LeClair	47	1996-97	PHI	82	50	97	+44	58	10	6	0	0	5	0	324	15.4
23	Eric Lindros E. Lindros	47	1996-97	PHI	52	32	79	+31	136	9	14	0	0	7	2	198	16.2
24	Mark Recchi M. Recchi	46	1996-97	MTL	82	34	80	-1	58	7	13	2	1	3	0	202	16.8
25	Sandis Ozolinsh S. Ozolinsh	45	1996-97	COL	80	23	68	+4	88	13	29	0	1	4	0	232	9.9