# 2015–16 Minnesota Wild season

The 2015–16 Minnesota Wild season was the 16th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 25, 1997. Head coach Mike Yeo was relieved of his duties on February 13 after the teams thirteenth loss in fourteen games. He finished with a record of 173–132–44 in his four and a half years as head coach of the Wild. Iowa Wild head coach John Torchetti was promoted to interim head coach. Minnesota was the first team since the 2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers and the 2009–10 Montreal Canadiens to make the playoffs with fewer than 90 points.

## Standings

Central Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | z – Dallas Stars | 82 | 50 | 23 | 9 | 48 | 267 | 230 | +37 | 109 |
| 2 | x – St. Louis Blues | 82 | 49 | 24 | 9 | 44 | 224 | 201 | +23 | 107 |
| 3 | x – Chicago Blackhawks | 82 | 47 | 26 | 9 | 46 | 235 | 209 | +26 | 103 |
| 4 | x – Nashville Predators | 82 | 41 | 27 | 14 | 37 | 228 | 215 | +13 | 96 |
| 5 | x – Minnesota Wild | 82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 35 | 216 | 206 | +10 | 87 |
| 6 | Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 39 | 39 | 4 | 35 | 216 | 240 | −24 | 82 |
| 7 | Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 35 | 39 | 8 | 32 | 215 | 239 | −24 | 78 |
Western Conference Wild Card :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | CE | x – Nashville Predators | 82 | 41 | 27 | 14 | 37 | 228 | 215 | +13 | 96 |
| 2 | CE | x – Minnesota Wild | 82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 35 | 216 | 206 | +10 | 87 |
| 3 | CE | Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 39 | 39 | 4 | 35 | 216 | 240 | −24 | 82 |
| 4 | PA | Arizona Coyotes | 82 | 35 | 39 | 8 | 34 | 209 | 245 | −36 | 78 |
| 5 | CE | Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 35 | 39 | 8 | 32 | 215 | 239 | −24 | 78 |
| 6 | PA | Calgary Flames | 82 | 35 | 40 | 7 | 33 | 231 | 260 | −29 | 77 |
| 7 | PA | Vancouver Canucks | 82 | 31 | 38 | 13 | 26 | 191 | 243 | −52 | 75 |
| 8 | PA | Edmonton Oilers | 82 | 31 | 43 | 8 | 27 | 203 | 245 | −42 | 70 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

2015–16 Game Log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

### Playoffs

2016 Stanley Cup playoffs :

## Player statistics

Final stats

### Skaters

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Mikko Koivu | 82 | 17 | 39 | 56 | 6 | 40 |
| Zach Parise | 70 | 25 | 28 | 53 | −3 | 36 |
| Ryan Suter | 82 | 8 | 43 | 51 | 10 | 30 |
| Mikael Granlund | 82 | 13 | 31 | 44 | −12 | 20 |
| Nino Niederreiter | 82 | 20 | 23 | 43 | 9 | 36 |
| Charlie Coyle | 82 | 21 | 21 | 42 | 1 | 16 |
| Thomas Vanek | 74 | 18 | 23 | 41 | −10 | 22 |
| Jason Pominville | 75 | 11 | 25 | 36 | 10 | 12 |
| Erik Haula | 76 | 14 | 20 | 34 | 21 | 24 |
| Jared Spurgeon | 77 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 11 | 14 |
| Mathew Dumba | 81 | 10 | 16 | 26 | 1 | 38 |
| Jason Zucker | 71 | 13 | 10 | 23 | −4 | 20 |
| Marco Scandella | 73 | 5 | 16 | 21 | 6 | 22 |
| Justin Fontaine | 60 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 3 | 20 |
| Ryan Carter | 60 | 7 | 5 | 12 | −3 | 48 |
| Chris Porter | 61 | 4 | 3 | 7 | −6 | 6 |
| Jonas Brodin | 68 | 2 | 5 | 7 | −5 | 18 |
| Mike Reilly | 29 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −4 | 8 |
| Jarret Stoll$^†$ | 51 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −4 | 16 |
| Jordan Schroeder | 26 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Christian Folin | 26 | 0 | 4 | 4 | −1 | 11 |
| David Jones$^†$ | 16 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Nate Prosser | 54 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 39 |
| Zac Dalpe | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Tyson Strachan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Brett Bulmer | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 7 |
| Tyler Graovac | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Kurtis Gabriel | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| Christoph Bertschy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gustav Olofsson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Keranen$^‡$ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Jason Pominville | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6 |
| Nino Niederreiter | 6 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 4 |
| Mikko Koivu | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| Jared Spurgeon | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| Erik Haula | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Mikael Granlund | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −2 | 0 |
| Jonas Brodin | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Ryan Suter | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Charlie Coyle | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −4 | 6 |
| Jason Zucker | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −4 | 2 |
| Mathew Dumba | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −2 | 6 |
| Chris Porter | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Marco Scandella | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −7 | 4 |
| Jordan Schroeder | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0 |
| Nate Prosser | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −6 | 0 |
| David Jones | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jarret Stoll | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 |
| Ryan Carter | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 10 |
| Zac Dalpe | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Justin Fontaine | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Kurtis Gabriel | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Devan Dubnyk | 67 | 66 | 3861 | 32 | 26 | 6 | 150 | 2.33 | 1829 | .918 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Darcy Kuemper | 21 | 16 | 1063 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 43 | 2.43 | 507 | .915 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Devan Dubnyk | 6 | 6 | 359 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 3.34 | 163 | .877 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Wild. Stats reflect time with the Wild only. $^‡$Traded mid-season

## Awards and honours
### Awards

Regular Season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| M. Koivu | NHL Third Star of the Week | December 21, 2015 |
| D. Dubnyk | NHL All-Star game selection | January 6, 2016 |
| Z. Parise | NHL First Star of the Week | March 28, 2016 |
| D. Dubnyk | NHL Second Star of the Month | April 1, 2016 |

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| R. Suter | 300th Career NHL Assist | October 8, 2015 |
| Z. Parise | 3rd Career NHL Hat Trick | October 8, 2015 |
| J. Zucker | 100th Career NHL Game | October 10, 2015 |
| T. Vanek | 300th Career NHL Goal | October 15, 2015 |
| D. Dubnyk | 100th Career NHL Win | October 15, 2015 |
| J. Brodin | 200th Career NHL Game | October 18, 2015 |
| J. Spurgeon | 300th Career NHL Game | October 18, 2015 |
| Z. Parise | 700th Career NHL Game | October 27, 2015 |
| C. Coyle | 200th Career NHL Game | October 31, 2015 |
| C. Bertschy | 1st Career NHL Game | November 7, 2015 |
| M. Keranen | 1st Career NHL Game | November 17, 2015 |
| G. Olofsson | 1st Career NHL Game | November 19, 2015 |
| N. Prosser | 200th Career NHL Game | November 19, 2015 |
| M. Koivu | 700th Career NHL Game | November 21, 2015 |
| M. Granlund | 100th Career NHL Point | November 25, 2015 |
| C. Porter | 200th Career NHL Game | December 11, 2015 |
| M. Dumba | 100th Career NHL Game | December 15, 2015 |
| Z. Parise | 300th Career NHL Assist | December 15, 2015 |
| D. Dubnyk | 100th Career NHL Loss | December 21, 2015 |
| C. Coyle | 100th Career NHL Point | January 2, 2016 |
| Z. Parise | 4th Career NHL Hat Trick | January 5, 2016 |
| M. Reilly | 1st Career NHL Game | January 9, 2016 |
| M. Granlund | 200th Career NHL Game | January 10, 2016 |
| J. Pominville | 800th Career NHL Game | January 23, 2016 |
| J. Pominville | 600th Career NHL Point | February 2, 2016 |
| N. Niederreiter | 100th Career NHL Point | February 2, 2016 |
| R. Suter | 800th Career NHL Game | February 4, 2016 |
| M. Reilly | 1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Point | February 13, 2016 |
| Z. Parise | 600th Career NHL Point | February 17, 2016 |
| T. Vanek | 800th Career NHL Game | February 18, 2016 |
| M. Reilly | 1st Career NHL Assist | February 18, 2016 |
| J. Schroeder | 100th Career NHL Game | March 19, 2016 |
| Z. Parise | 5th Career NHL Hat Trick | March 24, 2016 |
| N. Niederreiter | 300th Career NHL Game | March 24, 2016 |
| M. Granlund | 100th Career NHL Assist | March 26, 2016 |
| R. Suter | 400th Career NHL Point | March 26, 2016 |
| M. Scandella | 300th Career NHL Game | April 3, 2016 |
Playoffs :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Z. Dalpe | 1st Career Playoff Game | April 14, 2016 |
| K. Gabriel | 1st Career Playoff Game | April 18, 2016 |
| J. Schroeder | 1st Career Playoff Goal 1st Career Playoff Point | April 22, 2016 |

## Transactions

The Wild have been involved in the following transactions during the 2015–16 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 27, 2015 (2015-06-27) | To Boston Bruins 5th-round pick in 2016 | To Minnesota Wild5th-round pick in 2015 |
| February 29, 2016 (2016-02-29) | To Calgary Flames Niklas Backstrom 6th-round pick in 2016 | To Minnesota WildDavid Jones |
| February 29, 2016 (2016-02-29) | To Ottawa Senators Michael Keranen | To Minnesota WildConor Allen |
| February 29, 2016 (2016-02-29) | To Los Angeles Kings Brett Sutter | To Minnesota WildScott Sabourin |
Player signings
DatePlayerContract terms (in U.S. dollars)Ref
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)Mikael Granlund2 years, $6 million
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)Nate Prosser2 years, $1.25 million
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)Ryan Carter1 year, $625,000
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)Steve Michalek2 years, entry-level contract
July 4, 2015 (2015-07-04)Devan Dubnyk6 years, $26 million
July 11, 2015 (2015-07-11)Christian Folin2 years, $1.45 million
July 13, 2015 (2015-07-13)Joel Eriksson Ek3 years, entry-level contract
August 2, 2015 (2015-08-02)Erik Haula2 years, $2 million
August 16, 2015 (2015-08-16)Brett Bulmer1 year, $600,000
December 21, 2015 (2015-12-21)Jared Spurgeon4 years, $20.75 million (extension)
April 11, 2016 (2016-04-11)Adam Gilmour2 years, entry-level contract
April 13, 2016 (2016-04-13)Alex Tuch3 years, entry-level contract
May 24, 2016 (2016-05-24)Chase Lang3 years, entry-level contract :

## Draft picks

Below are the Minnesota Wild's selections at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, to be held on June 26–27, 2015 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 20 | Joel Eriksson Ek | C | Sweden | Farjestad BK |
| 2 | 50 | Jordan Greenway | LW | United States | USA U-18 |
| 4 | 111 | Ales Stezka | G | Czech Republic | HC Bílí Tygři Liberec |
| 5 | 135 | Kirill Kaprizov | LW | Russia | Metallurg Novokuznetsk |
| 6 | 171 | Nicholas Boka | D | United States | USA U-18 |
| 7 | 201 | Gustav Bouramman | D | Sweden | Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds |
| 7 | 204 | Jack Sadek | D | United States | Lakeville North High School |

### Draft notes

* The Minnesota Wild's third-round pick went to the Arizona Coyotes as the result of a trade on January 14, 2015 that sent Devan Dubnyk to Minnesota in exchange for this pick.
* The Boston Bruins' fifth-round pick went to the Minnesota Wild as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent a fifth-round pick in 2016 to Boston in exchange for this pick.
* The Minnesota Wild's fifth-round pick went to the Columbus Blue Jackets as the result of a trade on March 2, 2015 that sent Jordan Leopold to Minnesota in exchange for Justin Falk and this pick.
* $^a$ The Vancouver Canucks' seventh-round pick went to the Minnesota Wild as the result of a trade on June 28, 2014 that sent a third-round pick in 2014 to Tampa Bay in exchange for a third-round pick in 2014 and this pick. Tampa Bay previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on June 27, 2014 that sent a second-round pick in 2014 to Vancouver in exchange for Jason Garrison, the rights to Jeff Costello and this pick.