| 1996–97 CHL season | |
| League: | Central Hockey League |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Season Champ Name: | Adams’ Cup |
| Season Champs: | Oklahoma City Blazers |
| Mvp: | Trevor Jobe (Columbus) |
| Top Scorer: | Trevor Jobe (Columbus) |
| Finals: | Finals |
| Finals Link: | Ray Miron President's Cup |
| Finals Champ: | Fort Worth Fire |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Memphis Riverkings |
| Seasonslistnames: | CHL |
| Prevseason Year: | 1995–96 |
| Nextseason Year: | 1997–98 |
The 1996–97 CHL season was the fifth season of the Central Hockey League (CHL).
| Eastern Division | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66 | 39 | 24 | 3 | 311 | 297 | 81 | ||
| 66 | 38 | 24 | 4 | 276 | 237 | 80 | ||
| 66 | 35 | 27 | 4 | 278 | 260 | 74 | ||
| 66 | 32 | 28 | 6 | 292 | 291 | 70 | ||
| 66 | 12 | 52 | 2 | 219 | 359 | 26 |
| Western Division | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66 | 48 | 12 | 6 | 307 | 200 | 102 | ||
| 66 | 43 | 16 | 5 | 279 | 210 | 95 | ||
| 66 | 30 | 32 | 4 | 286 | 284 | 64 | ||
| 66 | 25 | 31 | 10 | 279 | 324 | 60 | ||
| 66 | 26 | 36 | 4 | 261 | 326 | 56 |
y - clinched league title; x - clinched playoff spot; e - eliminated from playoff contention
| Ray Miron Cup | Fort Worth Fire | |
| Adams Cup: | Oklahoma City Blazers | |
| Coach of the Year: | Bill McDonald (Fort Worth) | |
| Most Valuable Player: | Trevor Jobe (Columbus) | |
| Playoff Most Valuable Player: | Steve Plouffe (Fort Worth) | |
| Most Outstanding Goaltender: | Jean-Ian Filiatrault (Oklahoma City) | |
| Most Outstanding Defenseman | Hardy Sauter (Oklahoma City) | |
| Rookie of the Year | Cory Dosdall (Wichita) | |
| Scoring Champion | Trevor Jobe (Columbus) |
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 61 | 61 | 73 | 134 | 139 | |||
| 66 | 27 | 100 | 127 | 250 | |||
| 63 | 50 | 65 | 115 | 138 | |||
| 63 | 51 | 58 | 109 | 74 | |||
| 65 | 36 | 69 | 105 | 42 | |||
| 66 | 32 | 69 | 101 | 54 | |||
| 57 | 37 | 58 | 95 | 90 | |||
| 62 | 60 | 35 | 95 | 57 | |||
| 66 | 49 | 46 | 95 | 14 | |||
| 65 | 53 | 41 | 94 | 39 |