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The 2015–16 ECHL season is the 28th season of the ECHL. The regular season schedule will run from October  to April  with the Kelly Cup playoffs to follow.

Membership changes[]

As a result of a major shift of American Hockey League teams the ECHL also had a major shift of franchises as the league lost 3 California based teams to new AHL teams.

There were two other sets of cities that simply swapped the locations of the AHL and ECHL affiliates:

Two teams also rebranded this season.

  • The Gwinnett Gladiators were rebranded as the Atlanta Gladiators to reflect the entire metropolitan Atlanta area rather than just Gwinnett County.
  • The Greenville Road Warriors were rebranded as the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to give the team a stronger local connection.

Rule changes[]

The league held its annual Board of Governors meeting in late June and announced the following changes:

  • The league changes the overtime format to five minutes of sudden death 3 on 3 play, followed by a 3 round shoot out followed by a sudden death shoot out if needed
  • The "spin-o-rama" move was eliminated during shootouts
  • The league will use two referees for all playoff games up from using them for the semifinal and final rounds the past three seasons.
  • The Board of Governors approved changing the distance of the hash marks on the end-zone faceoff circles to 5 feet, 7 inches.

2015-16 League alignment[]

Notes
  1. An asterisk (*) denotes a franchise move. See the respective team articles for more information.

Standings[]

Eastern Conference
North Division
Team GP W L T OTL SOL GF GA PIM P
Toledo Walleye 72 47 20 - 2 3 225 174 665 99
Wheeling Nailers 72 37 26 - 5 4 214 211 1037 83
Kalamazoo Wings 72 38 28 - 5 1 233 230 957 82
Brampton Beast 72 23 38 - 7 4 179 255 932 57
East Division
Team GP W L T OTL SOL GF GA PIM P
Manchester Monarchs 72 39 24 - 4 5 222 213 1004 87
Adirondack Thunder 72 38 28 - 2 4 197 189 990 82
Reading Royals 72 36 26 - 6 4 222 194 883 82
Elmira Jackals 72 37 30 - 3 2 206 214 934 79
Norfolk Admirals 72 30 37 - 4 1 201 232 1193 65
South Division
Team GP W L T OTL SOL GF GA PIM P
South Carolina Stingrays 72 44 18 - 7 3 224 162 1273 98
Florida Everblades 72 46 23 - 1 2 226 175 892 95
Orlando Solar Bears 72 33 30 - 4 5 224 232 845 75
Atlanta Gladiators 72 34 31 - 5 2 189 224 913 75
Greenville Swamp Rabbits 72 29 33 - 9 1 205 243 1081 68
Western Conference
Midwest Division
Team GP W L T OTL SOL GF GA PIM P
Fort Wayne Komets 72 40 23 - 7 2 240 200 1196 89
Cincinnati Cyclones 72 36 27 - 5 4 222 210 847 81
Quad City Mallards 72 37 29 - 4 2 203 203 1007 80
Indy Fuel 72 32 36 - 4 0 174 201 786 68
Evansville IceMen 72 29 33 - 7 3 207 242 1028 68
Central Division
Team GP W L T OTL SOL GF GA PIM P
Missouri Mavericks 72 52 15 - 3 2 234 162 855 109
Allen Americans 72 41 24 - 3 4 222 204 1189 89
Tulsa Oilers 72 37 30 - 3 2 191 191 1083 79
Wichita Thunder 72 18 41 - 7 6 150 240 1152 49
West Division
Team GP W L T OTL SOL GF GA PIM P
Colorado Eagles 72 41 27 - 3 1 232 193 1427 86
Idaho Steelheads 72 38 24 - 7 3 203 187 917 86
Utah Grizzlies 72 39 27 - 3 3 223 206 942 84
Rapid City Rush 72 30 35 - 3 4 177 210 974 67
Alaska Aces 72 27 38 - 4 3 189 237 1171 61

Kelly Cup Playoffs[]

Format[]

As a result of the league re-aligning into 3 unbalanced divisions in each conference the playoff format was changed from a division based playoff to a conference based playoff with the division winners being seeded 1, 2, and 3 (based on points) and the next five highest point totals also qualify for the playoffs.  All four rounds will be a best-of-seven format.  This is the same format the NHL used prior to its most recent re-alignment.

Bracket[]

  Conference Quarterfinals Conference Semifinals Conference Finals Kelly Cup Finals
                                     
E1  Toledo Walleye 3  
E8  Reading Royals 4  
  E8  Reading 3  
  E5  Wheeling 4  
E4  Florida Everblades 2
E5  Wheeling Nailers 4  
  E5  Wheeling 4  
Eastern Conference
  E2  South Carolina 3  
E2  South Carolina Stingrays 4  
E7  Kalamazoo Wings 1  
  E2  South Carolina 4
  E6  Adirondack 3  
E3  Manchester Monarchs 1
E6  Adirondack Thunder 4  
  E5  Wheeling 2
  W4  Allen 4
W1  Missouri Mavericks 4  
W8  Quad City Mallards 0  
  W1  Missouri 2
  W4  Allen 4  
W4  Allen Americans 4
W5  Idaho Steelheads 3  
  W4  Allen 4
Western Conference
  W2  Fort Wayne 1  
W2  Fort Wayne Komets 4  
W7  Cincinnati Cyclones 3  
  W2  Fort Wayne 4
  W6  Utah 0  
W3  Colorado Eagles 2
W6  Utah Grizzlies 4  



Eastern Conference Quarterfinals[]

Western Conference Quarterfinals[]

Eastern Conference Semifinals[]

Western Conference Semifinals[]

Eastern Conference Final[]

Western Conference Final[]

Kelly Cup Final[]

2016 ECHL Kelly Cup Champs Allen Americans

2016 ECHL Kelly Cup Champions Allen Americans

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