# 2015–16 New York Islanders season

The 2015–16 New York Islanders season was the 44th season in the franchise's history. This season was the team's first at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs of New York City, which it shares with the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The team's regular season began on October 9, 2015, against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Islanders qualified for the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs after finishing the season in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division and fifth in the Eastern Conference with 100 points. The playoff berth was the team's third post-season berth in four seasons, having qualified in 2012–13 and 2014–15, but not in 2013–14. The Islanders' first round matchup had them up against the champions of the Atlantic Division, the Florida Panthers. The Islanders won the series in 6 games on a John Tavares goal in double overtime, marking the team's first playoff series victory since 1993. The Islanders' second round matchup had them matched up against the Tampa Bay Lightning, in which they lost the series in 5 games.

## Standings

Metropolitan Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | p – Washington Capitals | 82 | 56 | 18 | 8 | 52 | 252 | 193 | +59 | 120 |
| 2 | x – Pittsburgh Penguins | 82 | 48 | 26 | 8 | 44 | 245 | 203 | +42 | 104 |
| 3 | x – New York Rangers | 82 | 46 | 27 | 9 | 43 | 236 | 217 | +19 | 101 |
| 4 | x – New York Islanders | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 40 | 232 | 216 | +16 | 100 |
| 5 | x – Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 41 | 27 | 14 | 38 | 214 | 218 | −4 | 96 |
| 6 | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 35 | 31 | 16 | 33 | 198 | 226 | −28 | 86 |
| 7 | New Jersey Devils | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 36 | 184 | 208 | −24 | 84 |
| 8 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 82 | 34 | 40 | 8 | 28 | 219 | 252 | −33 | 76 |
Eastern Conference Wild Card :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | ME | x – New York Islanders | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 40 | 232 | 216 | +16 | 100 |
| 2 | ME | x – Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 41 | 27 | 14 | 38 | 214 | 218 | −4 | 96 |
| 3 | AT | Boston Bruins | 82 | 42 | 31 | 9 | 38 | 240 | 230 | +10 | 93 |
| 4 | ME | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 35 | 31 | 16 | 33 | 198 | 226 | −28 | 86 |
| 5 | AT | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 38 | 35 | 9 | 32 | 236 | 247 | −11 | 85 |
| 6 | ME | New Jersey Devils | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 36 | 184 | 208 | −24 | 84 |
| 7 | AT | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 38 | 38 | 6 | 33 | 221 | 236 | −15 | 82 |
| 8 | AT | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 35 | 36 | 11 | 33 | 201 | 222 | −21 | 81 |
| 9 | ME | Columbus Blue Jackets | 82 | 34 | 40 | 8 | 28 | 219 | 252 | −33 | 76 |
| 10 | AT | Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 29 | 42 | 11 | 23 | 198 | 246 | −48 | 69 |

## 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 :
Legend:
  Win
  Loss :

## Player statistics

Final Stats

### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| John Tavares | 78 | 33 | 37 | 70 | 6 | 38 |
| Kyle Okposo | 79 | 22 | 42 | 64 | −4 | 51 |
| Frans Nielsen | 81 | 20 | 32 | 52 | 1 | 12 |
| Brock Nelson | 81 | 26 | 14 | 40 | −3 | 30 |
| Nick Leddy | 81 | 5 | 35 | 40 | −9 | 25 |
| Anders Lee | 80 | 15 | 21 | 36 | −2 | 51 |
| Josh Bailey | 81 | 12 | 20 | 32 | −7 | 22 |
| Casey Cizikas | 80 | 8 | 21 | 29 | 4 | 31 |
| Ryan Strome | 71 | 8 | 20 | 28 | −9 | 28 |
| Johnny Boychuk | 70 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 17 | 31 |
| Mikhail Grabovski | 58 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 3 | 33 |
| Cal Clutterbuck | 77 | 15 | 8 | 23 | 7 | 22 |
| Nikolay Kulemin | 81 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 13 | 22 |
| Travis Hamonic | 72 | 5 | 16 | 21 | −5 | 35 |
| Matt Martin | 80 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 2 | 119 |
| Thomas Hickey | 62 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 9 | 30 |
| Marek Zidlicky | 53 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 5 | 20 |
| Calvin de Haan | 72 | 2 | 14 | 16 | 3 | 20 |
| Steve Bernier | 24 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| Brian Strait | 52 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 31 |
| Shane Prince† | 20 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| Ryan Pulock | 15 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Adam Pelech | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −1 | 0 |
| Alan Quine | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Scott Mayfield | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −4 | 11 |
| Bracken Kearns | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Eric Boulton | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 2 |
| Ross Johnston | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Taylor Beck‡ | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| John Tavares | 11 | 6 | 5 | 11 | −3 | 6 |
| Kyle Okposo | 11 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −3 | 4 |
| Frans Nielsen | 11 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 2 |
| Alan Quine | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 |
| Brock Nelson | 11 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −5 | 6 |
| Thomas Hickey | 11 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −5 | 8 |
| Shane Prince | 11 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −1 | 0 |
| Ryan Strome | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Nick Leddy | 11 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Nikolay Kulemin | 11 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −5 | 2 |
| Josh Bailey | 9 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −4 | 2 |
| Cal Clutterbuck | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 12 |
| Travis Hamonic | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −2 | 8 |
| Ryan Pulock | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −4 | 0 |
| Casey Cizikas | 11 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −1 | 16 |
| Calvin de Haan | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −5 | 2 |
| Marek Zidlicky | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Matt Martin | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 12 |
| Steve Bernier | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| Johnny Boychuk | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −7 | 4 |

### Goaltenders

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Thomas Greiss | 41 | 38 | 2287 | 23 | 11 | 4 | 90 | 2.36 | 1197 | 0.925 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Jaroslav Halak | 36 | 36 | 2091 | 18 | 13 | 4 | 80 | 2.30 | 984 | 0.919 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jean-Francois Berube | 7 | 6 | 399 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 2.71 | 210 | 0.914 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Christopher Gibson | 4 | 2 | 194 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 3.40 | 93 | 0.882 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Thomas Greiss | 11 | 11 | 733 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 30 | 2.46 | 388 | .923 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jean-Francois Berube | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Islanders. Stats reflect time with the Islanders only. $^‡$Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Islanders only. Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

## Transactions

Following the end of the Islanders' 2014–15 season, and during the 2015–16 season, this team has been involved in the following transactions:

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 26, 2015 (2015-06-26) | To Edmonton Oilers Griffin Reinhart | To New York Islanders PIT's 1st-round pick in 2015 2nd-round pick in 2015 |
| June 27, 2015 (2015-06-27) | To Tampa Bay Lightning EDM's 2nd-round pick in 2015 FLA's 3rd-round pick in 2015 | To New York Islanders NYR's 1st-round pick in 2015 |
| June 27, 2015 (2015-06-27) | To Florida Panthers 5th-round pick in 2016 | To New York Islanders MTL's 5th-round pick in 2015 |
| September 16, 2015 (2015-09-16) | To Toronto Maple Leafs Michael Grabner | To New York Islanders Taylor Beck Carter Verhaeghe Matt Finn Tom Nilsson Christopher Gibson |
| February 29, 2016 (2016-02-29) | To Colorado AvalancheTaylor Beck | To New York Islanders Marc-Andre Cliche |
| February 29, 2016 (2016-02-29) | To Ottawa Senators3rd-round pick in 2016 | To New York Islanders Shane Prince 7th-round pick in 2016 |

### Player signings

| Date | Player | Contract terms (in U.S. dollars) |
| June 30, 2015 (2015-06-30) | Anders Lee | 4 years, $15 million |
| July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01) | Thomas Hickey | 3 years, $6.6 million |
| July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01) | Kirill Petrov | 1 year, entry-level contract |
| August 11, 2015 (2015-08-11) | Kevin Poulin | 1 year, $600,000 |
| September 10, 2015 (2015-09-10) | Mathew Barzal | 3 years, entry-level contract |
| September 16, 2015 (2015-09-16) | Brock Nelson | 3 years, $7.5 million |
| October 13, 2015 (2015-10-13) | Eric Boulton | 1 year, $575,000 |
| October 23, 2015 (2015-10-23) | Anthony Beauvillier | 3 years, entry-level contract |
| March 23, 2016 (2016-03-23) | Eamon McAdam | 3 years, entry-level contract |
| March 29, 2016 (2016-03-29) | Kyle Schempp | 2 years, entry-level contract |
| April 15, 2016 (2016-04-15) | Devon Toews | 3 years, entry-level contract |
| May 2, 2016 (2016-05-02) | Parker Wotherspoon | 3 years, entry-level contract |
| June 1, 2016 (2016-06-01) | Bracken Kearns | 1 year, $800,000 |
| June 2, 2016 (2016-06-02) | Ben Holmstrom | 1 year, $800,000 |
| June 2, 2016 (2016-06-02) | Casey Cizikas | 5 years, $16.75 million |

## Draft picks

Below are the New York Islanders' 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 | 16 | Mathew Barzal | Centre | Canada | Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) |
| 1 | 28 | Anthony Beauvillier | LW | Canada | Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL) |
| 3 | 82 | Mitchell Vande Sompel | D | Canada | Oshawa Generals (OHL) |
| 4 | 112 | Parker Wotherspoon | D | Canada | Tri-City Americans (WHL) |
| 5 | 147 | Ryan Pilon | D | Canada | Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL) |
| 6 | 172 | Andong Song | D | China | Lawrenceville School (HS-New Jersey) |
| 7 | 202 | Peter Hansson | D | Sweden | Linköpings J20 (J20 SuperElit) |

### Draft notes

* The Pittsburgh Penguins' first-round pick went to the New York Islanders as the result of a trade on June 26, 2015, that sent Griffin Reinhart to Edmonton in exchange for a second-round pick in 2015 (33rd overall) and this pick.
    Edmonton previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on January 2, 2015, that sent David Perron to Pittsburgh in exchange for Rob Klinkhammer and this pick.
* The New York Islanders' first-round pick will go to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on October 27, 2013, that sent Thomas Vanek to New York in exchange for Matt Moulson, a second-round pick in 2015 and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – Buffalo will receive a first-round pick in 2014 or 2015 at New York's choice – was converted on May 22, 2014, when the Islanders elected to keep their 2014 first-round pick.
* The New York Islanders' first-round pick went to the Ottawa Senators as the result of a trade on June 26, 2015, that sent Robin Lehner and David Legwand to Buffalo in exchange for this pick.
    Buffalo previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on October 27, 2013, that sent Thomas Vanek to New York in exchange for Matt Moulson, a second-round pick in 2015 and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – Buffalo will receive a first-round pick in 2014 or 2015 at New York's choice – was converted on May 22, 2014, when the Islanders elected to keep their 2014 first-round pick.
The New York Rangers' first-round pick went to the New York Islanders as the result of a trade on June 26, 2015, that sent Edmonton's second-round pick in 2015 (33rd overall) and Florida's third-round pick in 2015 (72nd overall) to Tampa Bay in exchange for this pick.
    Tampa Bay previously acquired this pick as the result of trade on March 5, 2014, that sent Martin St. Louis and a conditional second-round pick in 2015 to New York in exchange for Ryan Callahan, a conditional first-round pick in 2014, a conditional seventh-round pick in 2015 and this pick.
* The New York Islanders' fifth-round pick went to the San Jose Sharks as the result of a trade on June 5, 2014, that sent Dan Boyle to New York in exchange for this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – San Jose will receive a fifth-round pick in 2015 if Boyle is not re-signed by the Islanders for the 2014–15 NHL season – was converted on July 1, 2014.
* The Montreal Canadiens' fifth-round pick went to the New York Islanders as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015, that sent a fifth-round pick in 2016 to Florida in exchange for this pick.
    Florida previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on March 4, 2014, that sent Mike Weaver to Montreal in exchange for this pick.