# 2015–16 Nashville Predators season

The 2015–16 Nashville Predators season was the 18th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 25, 1997. It was also the first time that the Predators played in a game 7 in a playoff series.

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

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

### Playoffs
#### Summary
##### First round: Anaheim

After trailing 2–1 in the second period, the Predators opened their playoff run with a 3–2 victory over the Ducks. The Predators took a 2–0 lead in the series with a 3–2 victory over the Ducks. Back home in Nashville for Game 3, the Predators were shut out in a 3–0 loss and the Ducks pushed the series to 2–1. The Ducks evened the series in a 4–1 victory in Game 4. The Ducks pulled to a one-game lead over the Predators with a 5–2 victory in Game 5. Back in Nashville for Game 6, the Predators kept the series alive with a 3–1 victory over the Ducks. The Predators scored two goals in the first period and held off a late rally by the Ducks to win Game 7 2–1 and advance on to the Western Conference semifinals.

##### Second round: San Jose

Despite scoring the first goal, the Predators fell 5–2 to the Sharks in Game 1 of the second round. The Predators fell to a two-game deficit in a 3–2 loss to the Sharks in Game 2. After allowing a power play goal in the first period, the Predators scored four unanswered goals – including two on power plays – to take Game 3. A third overtime goal by Mike Fisher gave the Predators a 4–3 victory in Game 4 and evened the series at two games a piece. The Predators fell 5–1 to the Sharks in Game 5. Despite trailing two goals in the first period of Game 6, the Predators rallied back to tie the game in the third period and score the winning goal in overtime to force a Game 7, which they lost 5–0.

#### Results

2016 Stanley Cup playoffs :

## Player stats

Final stats

### Skaters

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Filip Forsberg | 82 | 33 | 31 | 64 | 1 | 47 |
| Roman Josi | 81 | 14 | 47 | 61 | −3 | 43 |
| James Neal | 82 | 31 | 27 | 58 | 27 | 65 |
| Shea Weber | 78 | 20 | 31 | 51 | −7 | 27 |
| Mike Ribeiro | 81 | 7 | 43 | 50 | 11 | 62 |
| Craig Smith | 82 | 21 | 16 | 37 | 4 | 40 |
| Mattias Ekholm | 82 | 8 | 27 | 35 | 14 | 44 |
| Ryan Johansen$^†$ | 42 | 8 | 26 | 34 | 10 | 36 |
| Ryan Ellis | 79 | 10 | 22 | 32 | 13 | 35 |
| Calle Jarnkrok | 81 | 16 | 14 | 30 | 1 | 14 |
| Colin Wilson | 64 | 6 | 18 | 24 | −1 | 14 |
| Mike Fisher | 70 | 13 | 10 | 23 | −14 | 29 |
| Viktor Arvidsson | 56 | 8 | 8 | 16 | −8 | 35 |
| Seth Jones$^‡$ | 40 | 1 | 10 | 11 | −5 | 10 |
| Miikka Salomaki | 61 | 5 | 5 | 10 | −1 | 28 |
| Austin Watson | 57 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −4 | 32 |
| Cody Hodgson | 39 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 6 |
| Eric Nystrom | 46 | 7 | 0 | 7 | −6 | 20 |
| Colton Sissons | 34 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 12 |
| Paul Gaustad | 63 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −4 | 46 |
| Anthony Bitetto | 28 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 19 |
| Barret Jackman | 73 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 76 |
| Gabriel Bourque | 22 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 18 |
| Petter Granberg | 27 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
| Kevin Fiala | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Cody Bass | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 17 |
| Victor Bartley$^‡$ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Stefan Elliott$^†$ | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Corey Potter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Colin Wilson | 14 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 8 | 0 |
| Roman Josi | 14 | 1 | 8 | 9 | −6 | 12 |
| James Neal | 14 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| Ryan Johansen | 14 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 16 |
| Mike Fisher | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | −1 | 2 |
| Shea Weber | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −7 | 18 |
| Mattias Ekholm | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 |
| Ryan Ellis | 14 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 4 |
| Filip Forsberg | 14 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −11 | 2 |
| Craig Smith | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Miikka Salomaki | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Viktor Arvidsson | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −3 | 8 |
| Mike Ribeiro | 12 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −3 | 16 |
| Paul Gaustad | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Calle Jarnkrok | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −5 | 4 |
| Barret Jackman | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 |
| Eric Nystrom | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Cody Bass | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 2 |
| Anthony Bitetto | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Pontus Aberg | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Colton Sissons | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 8 |

### Goaltenders

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Pekka Rinne | 66 | 66 | 3895:22 | 34 | 21 | 10 | 161 | 2.48 | 1744 | .908 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Carter Hutton | 17 | 15 | 978:56 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 38 | 2.33 | 464 | .918 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Juuse Saros | 1 | 1 | 58:01 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3.10 | 23 | .870 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Pekka Rinne | 14 | 14 | 866 | 7 | 7 | 38 | 2.63 | 404 | .906 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Carter Hutton | 3 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.00 | 3 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Predators. Stats reflect time with the Predators only. $^‡$Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Predators only. Bold/italics denotes franchise record

## Awards and honours
### Awards

Regular Season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| S. Weber | NHL Second Star of the Week | December 7, 2015 |
| S. Weber | NHL All-Star game selection | January 6, 2016 |
| R. Josi | NHL All-Star game selection | January 6, 2016 |
| P. Rinne | NHL All-Star game selection | January 6, 2016 |
| J. Neal | NHL All-Star game replacement selection | January 28, 2016 |

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| V. Arvidsson | 1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Point | October 8, 2015 |
| C. Hodgson | 300th Career NHL Game | November 1, 2015 |
| S. Weber | 400th Career NHL Point | November 10, 2015 |
| S. Weber | 700th Career NHL Game | November 12, 2015 |
| C. Jarnkrok | 100th Career NHL Game | November 12, 2015 |
| R. Josi | 100th Career NHL Assist | November 17, 2015 |
| J. Neal | 500th Career NHL Game | November 23, 2015 |
| P. Rinne | 400th Career NHL Game | November 27, 2015 |
| C. Smith | 300th Career NHL Game | November 28, 2015 |

## Transactions

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

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01) | To Calgary Flames Conditional 4th-round pick in 2016 | To Nashville Predators Max Reinhart |
| July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01) | To New York Rangers Magnus Hellberg | To Nashville Predators 6th-round pick in 2017 |
| July 12, 2015 (2015-07-12) | To Toronto Maple Leafs Taylor Beck | To Nashville Predators Jamie Devane |
| January 6, 2016 (2016-01-06) | To Columbus Blue Jackets Seth Jones | To Nashville Predators Ryan Johansen |
| January 14, 2016 (2016-01-14) | To Ottawa Senators Conor Allen | To Nashville Predators Patrick Mullen |
| January 15, 2016 (2016-01-15) | To Arizona Coyotes Victor Bartley | To Nashville Predators Stefan Elliott |
| February 29, 2016 (2016-02-29) | To Arizona Coyotes Future considerations | To Nashville Predators Corey Potter |
| June 20, 2016 (2016-06-20) | To Buffalo Sabres Jimmy Vesey (rights) | To Nashville Predators MIN's 3rd-round pick in 2016 |
Player signings
DatePlayerContract terms (in U.S. dollars)Ref
June 26, 2015 (2015-06-26)Mike Fisher2 years, $8.8 million
June 29, 2015 (2015-06-29)Austin Watson2 years, $1.15 million
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)Mike Ribeiro2 years, $7 million
July 2, 2015 (2015-07-02)Gabriel Bourque1 year, $866,250
July 2, 2015 (2015-07-02)Max Reinhart1 year, $575,000
July 10, 2015 (2015-07-10)Vladislav Kamenev3 years, entry-level contract
July 10, 2015 (2015-07-10)Yakov Trenin3 years, entry-level contract
July 13, 2015 (2015-07-13)Anthony Bitetto1 year, $665,500
July 16, 2015 (2015-07-16)Taylor Aronson1 year, $605,000
July 17, 2015 (2015-07-17)Calle Jarnkrok1 year, $735,000
July 20, 2015 (2015-07-20)Craig Smith5 years, $21.25 million
July 24, 2015 (2015-07-24)Jack Dougherty3 years, entry-level contract
July 27, 2015 (2015-07-27)Colin Wilson4 years, $15.75 million
October 26, 2015 (2015-10-26)Mattias Ekholm6 years, $22.5 million contract extension
November 12, 2015 (2015-11-12)Alexandre Carrier3 years, entry-level contract
February 22, 2016 (2016-02-22)Colton Sissons3 years, $1.875 million contract extension
February 26, 2016 (2016-02-26)Anthony Bitetto2 years, $1.225 million contract extension
March 1, 2016 (2016-03-01)Miikka Salomaki2 years, $1.225 million contract extension
May 16, 2016 (2016-05-16)Justin Kirkland3 years, entry-level contract
June 1, 2016 (2016-06-01)Cody Bass2 years, $1.225 million contract extension
June 13, 2016 (2016-06-13)Marek Mazanec1 year, $575,000 :

## Draft picks

Below are the Nashville Predators' selections at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, that was held on June 26–27, 2015 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 2 | 55 | Iakov Trenin | C | Russia | Gatineau Olympiques (QMJHL) |
| 3 | 85 | Thomas Novak | C | United States | Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL) |
| 4 | 100 | Anthony Richards | C | Canada | Val-d'Or Foreurs (QMJHL) |
| 4 | 115 | Alexandre Carrier | D | Canada | Gatineau Olympiques (QMJHL) |
| 5 | 145 | Karel Vejmelka | G | Czech Republic | HC Dynamo Pardubice (Czech U20) |
| 6 | 175 | Tyler Moy | C | Canada | Harvard University (NCAA) |
| 7 | 205 | Evan Smith | G | United States | Austin Bruins (NAHL) |

### Draft notes

* The Nashville Predators' first-round pick was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs (later sent Philadelphia) as the result of a trade on February 15, 2015, that sent Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli to Nashville in exchange for Olli Jokinen, Brendan Leipsic and this pick.
* $^a$ The San Jose Sharks' fourth-round pick went to the Nashville Predators as the result of a trade on June 28, 2014, that sent Detroit's second-round pick in 2014 to San Jose in exchange for a second-round pick in 2014 and this pick.