1996–97 WHL season

The 1996–97 WHL season was the 31st season of the Western Hockey League (WHL), featuring eighteen teams and a 72-game regular season. The Lethbridge Hurricanes won both the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as regular season champions and the President's Cup as playoff champions, both for the first time in team history. The Hurricanes went on to finish as runners-up at the 1997 Memorial Cup tournament.

The Edmonton Ice joined the WHL as its eighteenth team, and the first to call Edmonton home since the second iteration of the Oil Kings left the city in 1979.

League notes

 * The addition of the Edmonton Ice to the Central Division precipitated a realignment for the Swift Current Broncos, who moved to the East Division.

Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes

Goaltending leaders
Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties ; GA = Goals against; SO = Total shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

1997 WHL Playoffs

 * Top eight teams in the Eastern Conference (East and Central divisions) qualified for playoffs
 * Top six teams in the Western Conference (division) qualified for the playoffs

All-Star game
On January 22, the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 7–5 at Spokane, Washington before a WHL record crowd of 10,455.