On this day, April 13th 1997, pro-hockey left Connecticut. Owner Peter Karmanos pledged to keep the Whalers in the city of Hartford for four years when he purchased the team in 1994. However, two years later, frustrated with lackluster attendance and little corporate support, he announced that if the Whalers were unable to sell at least 11,000 season tickets for the 1996–97 season, he would likely move the team.
The Whalers played their last game in Hartford, defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2–1. Team captain Kevin Dineen, who had returned to Hartford midway through the 1995–96 season after a brief stint with the Philadelphia Flyers, scored the final goal in Whalers history
Goaltender Jean-Sébastien Giguère was the final former Hartford Whalers player still playing in the NHL; he retired after the end of the 2013–14 season.[8] Robert Petrovicky was the last former Whaler active in professional hockey, playing in European leagues through the end of the 2016 season.