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2015–16 NHL season
League National Hockey League
Sport Ice Hockey
Duration October 7, 2015 – April 10, 2016
Number of games 82
Number of teams 30
Regular season
Presidents' Trophy Washington Capitals
Playoffs
Eastern champions Pittsburgh Penguins
Western champions San Jose Sharks

The 2015–16 NHL season was the 99th season of operation (98th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). Thirty teams competed 82-game regular season schedules prior to the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs. The regular season began on Wednesday, October 7, 2015, and ended on Saturday, April 10, 2016. The playoffs began on Wednesday, April 13, 2016 and ended on June 12 with the Pittsburgh Penguins winning their fourth Stanley Cup.

Membership changes[]

Rule changes[]

The league approved the following rule changes at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the AHL Board of Governors in late June.

  • The overtime period was a five minute 3 on 3 sudden death period. There was a dry scrape of the entire ice prior to the start of the overtime period and the teams changed ends at the start of the overtime.  If the game is still tied a winner will be determined by a three player shoot out and if still tied sudden death shoot out.
  • The coaches are now able to use a "coach's challenge" to initiate an official video review but only on items that are by rule reviewable (potential offside on a goal and goaltender interference).  The challenge must be issued prior to the resumption of play.  The must have a time out available as if the review does not result in the original call being overturned the team will be charged with a time out.
  • For all face-offs (excluding center ice), the defending player shall place his stick on the ice first; for face-offs at center ice, the visiting player shall place his stick on the ice first.

Outdoor Games[]

The 2015-16 season featured 3 outdoor games:

Date Event Site Away Team Home Team Score Attendance
January 1, 2016 2016 Winter Classic Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, Massachusetts, Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 5-1 67,246
February 21, 2016 NHL Stadium Series TCF Bank Stadium,Minneapolis, Minnesota Chicago Blackhawks Minnesota Wild 1-6 50,426
February 27, 2016 NHL Stadium Series Coors Field, Denver, Colorado Detroit Red Wings Colorado Avalanche 5-3 50,095

2016 NHL All-Star Game[]

The 61st National Hockey League All-Star Game is an exhibition ice hockey game being played on Sunday, January 31, 2016. The game will be held in Nashville, Tennessee at Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators. This is Nashville's first time hosting the NHL All–Star Game.

The NHL announced a new format for the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Game on Wednesday November 18th.

The game, on Sunday, Jan. 31, will be a 3-on-3 tournament pitting the four divisions against one another in a winner-take-all format. The Atlantic Division will face the Metropolitan Division in one semifinal and the Central Division will face the Pacific Division in the other semifinal. The winners play in the championship game.

Games will be 40 minutes in length, teams will switch goals after 10 minutes in each quarter, and will be decided by a shootout if tied after the 40 minutes in Semi-Finals. In the All-Star Game final, if tied after 40 minutes, 20 minutes of overtime with teams switch goals after 10 minutes in overtime, and if tied after 20 minutes, a shootout will be decided.

Each division's roster will have six forwards, three defenseman and two goalies. One player from each division will be voted onto the team by the fans and the other 40 players will be selected by the League's Hockey Operations Department. Each team will have at least one player from every team in their division.

Teams[]

The National Hockey League currently consists of 30 teams, 23 of which are based in the United States and 7 in Canada.

371px-NHL teams and conferences map - 2013-2014 realignment

Location of NHL teams 2015-16

The league divides the teams into two conferences. Each conference has two divisions, and each division has seven (Western) or eight (Eastern) teams. The newest team alignment happened in after the 2012-2013 season due to the move of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg. On December 5, 2011, the NHL Board of Governors proposed a relocation plan. The NHLPA rejected it and said to wait for the Draft to see if they would change their decision. In February 2013, they proposed the idea again. On March 7, 2013, the NHLPA approved the plan which would move the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets to the Eastern conference and the Winnipeg Jets to the Western conference. The realignment started in the 2013/2014 season. The current league organization divides the teams into two conferences, the Eastern and Western. Each conference has two divisions. The Eastern conference includes the Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions. The Western conference includes the Pacific and Central divisions.

Eastern Conference[]

Division Team City Arena Capacity Joined NHL
Atlantic Boston Bruins Boston, Massachusetts TD Garden 17,565 1924
Buffalo Sabres Buffalo, New York First Niagara Center 18,690 1970
Detroit Red Wings Detroit, Michigan Joe Louis Arena; New Detroit Arena 2017 (planned) 20,066 1926
Florida Panthers Sunrise, Florida BB&T Center 19,452 1993
Montreal Canadiens Montreal, Quebec Bell Centre 21,273 1917
Ottawa Senators Ottawa, Ontario Canadian Tire Centre 20,500 1992
Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa, Florida Amalie Arena 19,500 1992
Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto, Ontario Air Canada Centre 18,800 1917
Metropolitan Carolina Hurricanes Raleigh, North Carolina PNC Arena 18,639 1979
Columbus Blue Jackets Columbus, Ohio Nationwide Arena 18,136 2000
New Jersey Devils Newark, New Jersey Prudential Center 17,625 1974
New York Islanders Brooklyn, New York Barclays Center 16,234 1972
New York Rangers New York, New York Madison Square Garden 18,200 1926
Philadelphia Flyers Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wells Fargo Center 19,500 1967
Pittsburgh Penguins Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Consol Energy Center 18,087 1967
Washington Capitals Washington, D.C. Verizon Center 18,277 1974

Western Conference[]

Division Team City Arena Capacity Joined NHL
Central Chicago Blackhawks Chicago, Illinois United Center 19,717 1926
Colorado Avalanche Denver, Colorado Pepsi Center 18,007 1979
Dallas Stars Dallas, Texas American Airlines Center 18,500 1967
Minnesota Wild St. Paul, Minnesota Xcel Energy Center 18,568 2000
Nashville Predators Nashville, Tennessee Bridgestone Arena 17,113 1998
St. Louis Blues St. Louis, Missouri Scottrade Center 19,022 1967
Winnipeg Jets Winnipeg, Manitoba MTS Center 18,750 2011
Pacific Anaheim Ducks Anaheim, California Honda Center 17,174 1993
Arizona Coyotes Glendale, Arizona Gila River Arena 18,000 1979
Calgary Flames Calgary, Alberta Scotiabank Saddledome 19,289 1972
Edmonton Oilers Edmonton, Alberta

Rexall Place (15-16);

Rogers Place (16-17)

16,839


18,641

1974


2016

Los Angeles Kings Los Angeles, California Staples Center 18,118 1967
San Jose Sharks San Jose, California SAP Center at San Jose 17,496 1991
Vancouver Canucks Vancouver, British Columbia Rogers Arena 18,630 1970

Standings[]

Eastern Conference[]

Metropolitan Division[]

Team GP W L OL ROW GF GA Pts
Washington Capitals 82 56 18 8 52 252 193 120
Pittsburgh Penguins 82 48 26 8 44 245 203 104
New York Rangers 82 46 27 9 43 236 217 101

Atlantic Division[]

Team GP W L OL ROW GF GA Pts
Florida Panthers 82 47 26 9 40 239 203 103
Tampa Bay Lightning 82 46 31 5 43 227 201 97
Detroit Red Wings 82 41 30 11 39 211 224 93

Eastern Conference Wild Card[]

Team GP W L OL ROW GF GA Pts
New York Islanders 82 45 27 10 40 232 216 100
Philadelphia Flyers 82 41 27 14 38 214 218 96
Boston Bruins 82 42 31 9 38 240 230 93
Carolina Hurricanes 82 35 31 16 33 198 226 86
Ottawa Senators 82 38 35 9 32 236 247 85
New Jersey Devils 82 38 36 8 36 184 208 84
Montreal Canadiens 82 38 38 6 33 221 236 82
Buffalo Sabres 82 35 36 11 33 201 222 81
Columbus Blue Jackets 82 34 40 8 28 219 252 76
Toronto Maple Leafs 82 29 42 11 23 198 246 69

Western Conference[]

Central Division Division[]

Team GP W L OL ROW GF GA Pts
Dallas Stars 82 50 23 9 48 267 230 109
St. Louis Blues 82 49 24 9 44 224 201 107
Chicago Blackhawks 82 47 26 9 46 235 209 103

Pacific Division[]

Team GP W L OL ROW GF GA Pts
Anaheim Ducks 82 46 25 11 43 218 192 103
Los Angeles Kings 82 48 28 6 46 225 195 102
San Jose Sharks 82 46 30 6 42 241 210 98

Western Conference Wild Card[]

Team GP W L OL ROW GF GA Pts
Nashville Predators 82 41 27 14 37 228 215 96
Minnesota Wild 82 38 33 11 35 216 206 87
Colorado Avalanche 82 39 39 4 35 216 240 82
Arizona Coyotes 82 35 39 8 34 209 245 78
Winnipeg Jets 82 35 39 8 32 215 239 78
Calgary Flames 82 35 40 7 33 231 260 77
Vancouver Canucks 82 31 38 13 26 191 243 75
Edmonton Oilers 82 31 43 8 27 203 245 70

Stanley Cup Playoffs[]

Format[]

The top three teams in each division qualify for the playoffs.  The next two best records in each conference also qualify as wildcard teams.  The wild card team with the fewer points plays the team with the best record in the conference regardless of division.  The other wild card team plays the other division winner.  The wild card team then stays in that division's playoffs. The division semifinal winners meet in the division finals.  The two division winners in each conference meet in the conference finals. The two conference winners meet in the Stanley Cup final.  All series are best-of-seven.

Bracket[]

  Division Semi-finals Division Finals Conference Finals Stanley Cup Final
                                     
A1  Florida Panthers 2  
WC1  New York Islanders 4  
  WC1  New York Islanders 1  
  A2  Tampa Bay Lightning 4  
A2  Tampa Bay Lightning 4
A3  Detroit Red Wings 1  
  A2  Tampa Bay Lightning 3  
Eastern Conference
  M2  Pittsburgh Penguins 4  
M1  Washington Capitals 4  
WC2  Philadelphia Flyers 2  
  M1  Washington Capitals 2
  M2  Pittsburgh Penguins 4  
M2  Pittsburgh Penguins 4
M3  New York Rangers 1  
  M2  Pittsburgh Penguins 4
  P3  San Jose Sharks 2
C1  Dallas Stars 4  
WC2  Minnesota Wild 2  
  C1  Dallas Stars 3
  C2  St. Louis Blues 4  
C2  St. Louis Blues 4
C3  Chicago Blackhawks 3  
  C2  St. Louis Blues 2
Western Conference
  P3  San Jose Sharks 4  
P1  Anaheim Ducks 3  
WC1  Nashville Predators 4  
  WC1  Nashville Predators 3
  P3  San Jose Sharks 4  
P2  Los Angeles Kings 1
P3  San Jose Sharks 4  

Atlantic Division Semifinals[]

Metropolitan Division Semifinals[]

Central Division Semifinals[]

Pacific Division Semifinals[]

Atlantic Division Final[]

Metropolitan Division Final[]

Central Division Final[]

Pacific Division Final[]

Eastern Conference Final[]

Western Conference Final[]

Stanley Cup Final[]

The Pittsburgh Penguins win their 4th Stanley Cup championship.

2016 Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 2015-16 NHL season. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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