who scored the most points by a defenseman in 1997

Brian Leetch recorded the most points by a defenseman in 1996-97, with 78 points.

	NAME	P	SEASON	TM	GP	G	A	+/-	PIM	PPG	PPA	SHG	SHA	GWG	OTG	S	S%
1	Brian Leetch B. Leetch	78	1996-97	NYR	82	20	58	+31	40	9	21	0	2	2	0	256	7.8
2	Sandis Ozolinsh S. Ozolinsh	68	1996-97	COL	80	23	45	+4	88	13	29	0	1	4	0	232	9.9
3	Nicklas Lidstrom N. Lidstrom	57	1996-97	DET	79	15	42	+11	30	8	22	0	1	1	0	214	7.0
4	Oleg Tverdovsky O. Tverdovsky	55	1996-97	PHX	82	10	45	-5	30	3	27	1	0	2	0	144	6.9
5	Kevin Hatcher K. Hatcher	54	1996-97	PIT	80	15	39	+11	103	9	16	0	1	1	0	199	7.5
6	Dmitri Mironov D. Mironov	52	1996-97	TOT	77	13	39	+16	101	3	21	1	0	2	0	177	7.3
7	Ray Bourque R. Bourque	50	1996-97	BOS	62	19	31	-11	18	8	9	1	5	3	0	230	8.3
8	Bryan Berard B. Berard	48	1996-97	NYI	82	8	40	+1	86	3	17	0	0	1	1	172	4.7
9	Chris Chelios C. Chelios	48	1996-97	CHI	72	10	38	+16	112	2	18	0	1	2	0	194	5.2
10	Darryl Sydor D. Sydor	48	1996-97	DAL	82	8	40	+37	51	2	21	0	0	2	0	142	5.6
11	Steve Duchesne S. Duchesne	47	1996-97	OTT	78	19	28	-9	38	10	10	2	0	3	0	208	9.1
12	Eric Desjardins E. Desjardins	46	1996-97	PHI	82	12	34	+25	50	5	11	1	1	1	0	183	6.6
13	Larry Murphy L. Murphy	45	1996-97	TOT	81	9	36	+3	20	5	18	0	0	1	1	158	5.7
14	Robert Svehla R. Svehla	45	1996-97	FLA	82	13	32	+2	86	5	14	0	0	3	0	159	8.2
15	Janne Niinimaa J. Niinimaa	44	1996-97	PHI	77	4	40	+12	58	1	23	0	0	2	0	141	2.8
16	Al MacInnis A. MacInnis	43	1996-97	STL	72	13	30	+2	65	6	11	1	2	1	0	296	4.4
17	Sergei Zubov S. Zubov	43	1996-97	DAL	78	13	30	+19	24	1	9	0	2	3	0	133	9.8
18	Roman Hamrlik R. Hamrlik	40	1996-97	TBL	79	12	28	-29	57	6	16	0	1	0	0	238	5.0
19	Phil Housley P. Housley	40	1996-97	WSH	77	11	29	-10	24	3	17	1	0	2	0	167	6.6
20	Garry Galley G. Galley	38	1996-97	BUF	71	4	34	+10	102	1	13	1	0	1	0	84	4.8
21	Alexander Karpovtsev A. Karpovtsev	38	1996-97	NYR	77	9	29	+1	59	6	13	1	0	0	0	84	10.7
22	Vladimir Konstantinov V. Konstantinov	38	1996-97	DET	77	5	33	+38	151	0	7	0	2	0	0	141	3.5
23	Fredrik Olausson F. Olausson	38	1996-97	TOT	71	9	29	+16	32	3	13	0	0	3	1	110	8.2
24	Jason Woolley J. Woolley	36	1996-97	TOT	60	6	30	+4	30	2	13	0	0	1	0	86	7.0
25	Jyrki Lumme J. Lumme	35	1996-97	VAN	66	11	24	+8	32	5	10	0	1	2	1	107	10.3