# 2015–16 Detroit Red Wings season

The 2015–16 Detroit Red Wings season was the 90th season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on September 25, 1926. The regular season began on October 9, 2015, against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and former Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock, with a 4–0 victory. This season also involved the Red Wings extending their playoff streak to 25 straight seasons.

## Off-season

On June 9, 2015, Jeff Blashill was named the head coach of the Red Wings, following the departure of Mike Babcock to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
On June 23, 2015, the Red Wings finalized their coaching staff, Tony Granato will return as an assistant coach, along with Pat Ferschweiler, who was an assistant coach under Blashill with the Grand Rapids Griffins. Dave Noel-Bernier was named video coach, and Chris Chelios will evaluate in-game player performance, and will continue to play a role in player development, by working on-ice with the team's defensemen during practices. Jim Bedard will return for his 19th season with the organization as goaltending coach.

## Standings

Atlantic Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | y – Florida Panthers | 82 | 47 | 26 | 9 | 40 | 239 | 203 | +36 | 103 |
| 2 | x – Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 46 | 31 | 5 | 43 | 227 | 201 | +26 | 97 |
| 3 | x – Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 39 | 211 | 224 | −13 | 93 |
| 4 | Boston Bruins | 82 | 42 | 31 | 9 | 38 | 240 | 230 | +10 | 93 |
| 5 | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 38 | 35 | 9 | 32 | 236 | 247 | −11 | 85 |
| 6 | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 38 | 38 | 6 | 33 | 221 | 236 | −15 | 82 |
| 7 | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 35 | 36 | 11 | 33 | 201 | 222 | −21 | 81 |
| 8 | 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 :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Henrik Zetterberg | 82 | 13 | 37 | 50 | −15 | 24 |
| Pavel Datsyuk | 66 | 16 | 33 | 49 | 7 | 14 |
| Dylan Larkin | 80 | 23 | 22 | 45 | 11 | 34 |
| Tomas Tatar | 81 | 21 | 24 | 45 | 4 | 24 |
| Gustav Nyquist | 82 | 17 | 26 | 43 | −2 | 34 |
| Justin Abdelkader | 82 | 19 | 23 | 42 | −16 | 120 |
| Mike Green | 74 | 7 | 28 | 35 | −6 | 38 |
| Brad Richards | 68 | 10 | 18 | 28 | 4 | 8 |
| Darren Helm | 77 | 13 | 13 | 26 | −2 | 32 |
| Niklas Kronwall | 64 | 3 | 23 | 26 | −21 | 30 |
| Riley Sheahan | 81 | 14 | 11 | 25 | −8 | 12 |
| Luke Glendening | 81 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 4 | 46 |
| Danny DeKeyser | 78 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 2 | 44 |
| Jonathan Ericsson | 71 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 2 | 56 |
| Brendan Smith | 63 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 1 | 62 |
| Andreas Athanasiou | 37 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 1 | 5 |
| Teemu Pulkkinen | 36 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 14 |
| Kyle Quincey | 47 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 36 |
| Alexei Marchenko | 66 | 2 | 9 | 11 | −5 | 10 |
| Tomas Jurco | 44 | 4 | 2 | 6 | −6 | 16 |
| Jakub Kindl$^‡$ | 25 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 14 |
| Anthony Mantha | 10 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −6 | 2 |
| Joakim Andersson | 29 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Drew Miller | 28 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −5 | 2 |
| Johan Franzen | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Xavier Ouellet | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 0 |
| Eric Tangradi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tomas Nosek | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 2 |
| Landon Ferraro$^‡$ | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 7 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Tomas Tatar | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Mike Green | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 10 |
| Dylan Larkin | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 18 |
| Justin Abdelkader | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −3 | 35 |
| Darren Helm | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 6 |
| Gustav Nyquist | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Andreas Athanasiou | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Henrik Zetterberg | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Brad Richards | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −4 | 7 |
| Luke Glendening | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 0 |
| Niklas Kronwall | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| Jonathan Ericsson | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Kyle Quincey | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 4 |
| Brendan Smith | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Joakim Andersson | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 2 |
| Riley Sheahan | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Danny DeKeyser | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 4 |
| Pavel Datsyuk | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Alexei Marchenko | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 10 |

### Goaltenders

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Petr Mrazek | 54 | 49 | 2961 | 27 | 16 | 6 | 115 | 2.33 | 1448 | .921 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Jimmy Howard | 37 | 33 | 1974 | 14 | 14 | 5 | 92 | 2.80 | 979 | .906 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 |

#### Goaltenders

Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Petr Mrazek | 3 | 3 | 177 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1.36 | 73 | .945 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jimmy Howard | 2 | 2 | 117 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 3.59 | 64 | .891 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Red Wings. Stats reflect time with the Red Wings only. $^‡$Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

### Player suspensions/fines

| Player | Explanation | Length | Salary | Date issued |
| Teemu Pulkkinen | Diving/Embellishment during NHL Game No. 211 in Dallas on Sunday, November 8, 2015, at 12:36 of the first period. | — | $2,000.00 | November 13, 2015 |

## Awards and honours
### Awards

Regular Season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| Justin Abdelkader | NHL First Star of the Week | October 12, 2015 |
| Dylan Larkin | NHL Rookie of the Month | December 1, 2015 |
| Dylan Larkin | NHL All-Star game selection | January 6, 2016 |
| Petr Mrazek | NHL Second Star of the Week | January 11, 2016 |
| Pavel Datsyuk | NHL First Star of the Week | February 15, 2016 |

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Dylan Larkin | 1st Career NHL Game 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Point | October 9, 2015 |
| Jeff Blashill | 1st Career NHL Win (coach) | October 9, 2015 |
| Justin Abdelkader | 400th Career NHL Game | October 10, 2015 |
| Tomas Jurco | 100th Career NHL Game | October 13, 2015 |
| Brendan Smith | 200th Career NHL Game | October 23, 2015 |
| Petr Mrazek | 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point | October 24, 2015 |
| Henrik Zetterberg | 500th Career NHL Assist 800th Career NHL Point | October 31, 2015 |
| Drew Miller | 500th Career NHL Game | November 3, 2015 |
| Henrik Zetterberg | 300th Career NHL Goal | November 6, 2015 |
| Andreas Athanasiou | 1st Career NHL Game | November 8, 2015 |
| Andreas Athanasiou | 1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Point | November 10, 2015 |
| Tomas Tatar | 200th Career NHL Game | November 16, 2015 |
| Gustav Nyquist | 200th Career NHL Game | November 21, 2015 |
| Pavel Datsyuk | 300th Career NHL Goal | November 25, 2015 |
| Drew Miller | 100th Career NHL Point with Detroit | December 1, 2015 |
| Niklas Kronwall | 700th Career NHL Game | December 3, 2015 |
| Pavel Datsyuk | 900th Career NHL Game | December 8, 2015 |
| Mike Green | 600th Career NHL Game | December 14, 2015 |
| Tomas Nosek | 1st Career NHL Game | December 26, 2015 |
| Joakim Andersson | 200th Career NHL Game | January 20, 2016 |
| Danny DeKeyser | 200th Career NHL Game | January 23, 2016 |
| Andreas Athanasiou | 1st Career NHL Assist | February 6, 2016 |
| Brad Richards | 1,100th Career NHL Game | February 14, 2016 |
| Pavel Datsyuk | 900th Career NHL Point | February 14, 2016 |
| Henrik Zetterberg | 900th Career NHL Game | March 2, 2016 |
| Anthony Mantha | 1st Career NHL Game | March 15, 2016 |
| Anthony Mantha | 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point | March 22, 2016 |
| Anthony Mantha | 1st Career NHL Goal | March 24, 2016 |
| Pavel Datsyuk | 600th Career NHL Assist | March 26, 2016 |
Playoffs :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Dylan Larkin | 1st Career NHL Playoff Game | April 13, 2016 |
| Andreas Athanasiou | 1st Career NHL Playoff Game | April 13, 2016 |
| Dylan Larkin | 1st Career NHL Playoff Goal 1st Career NHL Playoff Point | April 15, 2016 |
| Andreas Athanasiou | 1st Career NHL Playoff Goal 1st Career NHL Playoff Point | April 17, 2016 |

## Transactions

The Red Wings have been involved in the following transactions during the 2015–16 season:

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| January 15, 2016 | To St. Louis Blues Richard Nedomlel | To Detroit Red Wings Future considerations |
| February 27, 2016 | To Florida Panthers Jakub Kindl | To Detroit Red Wings 6th round pick in 2017 |
| May 26, 2016 | To San Jose Sharks 3rd round pick in 2017 | To Detroit Red Wings Dylan Sadowy |

#### Notes

* $^a$ Detroit to retain 15% ($720,000) of salary as part of trade.

### Lost via waivers

| Player | New team | Date | Ref |
| Landon Ferraro | Boston Bruins | November 22, 2015 | |

### Player signings

| Date | Player | Contract terms (in U.S. dollars) |
| June 26, 2015 (2015-06-26) | Joakim Andersson | 1 year, $815,000 contract extension |
| June 30, 2015 (2015-06-30) | Brendan Smith | 2 years, $5.5 million contract extension |
| July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01) | Andy Miele | 1 year, $575,000 |
| July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01) | Tom McCollum | 1 year, $600,000 |
| July 3, 2015 (2015-07-03) | Vili Saarijarvi | 3 years, entry-level contract |
| July 5, 2015 (2015-07-05) | Landon Ferraro | 1 year, two-way contract |
| July 9, 2015 (2015-07-09) | Jared Coreau | 1 year, $600,000 |
| July 10, 2015 (2015-07-10) | Gustav Nyquist | 4 years, $19 million contract extension |
| July 13, 2015 (2015-07-13) | Mitch Callahan | 1 year, $600,000 |
| July 13, 2015 (2015-07-13) | Nick Jensen | 2 years, $1.764 million |
| July 15, 2015 (2015-07-15) | Louis-Marc Aubry | 1 year, $575,000 |
| July 21, 2015 (2015-07-21) | Teemu Pulkkinen | 1 year, $735,000 |
| July 24, 2015 (2015-07-24) | Tomas Jurco | 2 years, $1.8 million |
| September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04) | Daniel Cleary | 1 year, $950,000 |
| October 2, 2015 (2015-10-02) | Evgeny Svechnikov | 3 years, entry-level contract |
| November 12, 2015 (2015-11-12) | Justin Abdelkader | 7 years, $29.75 million contract extension |
| November 16, 2015 (2015-11-16) | Xavier Ouellet | 1 year, $715,000 contract extension |
| March 21, 2016 (2016-03-21) | Eric Tangradi | 2 years, $1.25 million contract extension |
| May 27, 2016 (2016-05-27) | Tomas Nosek | 2 years, $1.225 million contract extension |
| May 31, 2016 (2016-05-31) | Dylan Sadowy | 3 years, entry-level contract |
| June 16, 2016 (2016-06-16) | Riley Sheahan | 2 years, $4.15 million contract extension |
| June 16, 2016 (2016-06-16) | Brian Lashoff | 1 year, $650,000 contract extension |

## Draft picks

The Detroit Red Wings' picks at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, held on June 26–27, 2015 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 19 | Evgeny Svechnikov | LW | Russia | Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL) |
| 3 | 73 | Vili Saarijarvi | D | Finland | Green Bay Gamblers (USHL) |
| 4 | 110 | Joren van Pottelberghe | G | Switzerland | Linköpings HC (J20 SuperElit) |
| 5 | 140 | Chase Pearson | C | Canada | Youngstown Phantoms (USHL) |
| 6 | 170 | Patrick Holway | D | United States | Boston Advantage U18 (MWEHL) |
| 7 | 200 | Adam Marsh | LW | United States | Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL) |

### Draft notes

* The Detroit Red Wings' second-round pick went to the Dallas Stars as the result of a trade on March 1, 2015, that sent Erik Cole and a conditional third-round pick in 2015 to Detroit in exchange for Mattias Janmark, Mattias Backman and this pick.
* $^a$ The Dallas Stars' third-round pick went to the Detroit Red Wings as the result of a trade on March 1, 2015, that sent Mattias Janmark, Mattias Backman, and a second-round pick in 2015 to Dallas in exchange for Erik Cole and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – Detroit will receive a third-round pick in 2015 if they do not qualify for the 2015 Eastern Conference Final and Cole does not play in 50% of Detroit's playoff games – was converted on April 8, 2015, when Cole was injured for the remainder of the season.
* The Detroit Red Wings' third-round pick went to the Anaheim Ducks as the result of a trade on March 2, 2015, that sent Rene Bourque, William Karlsson and a second-round pick in 2015 to Columbus in exchange for James Wisniewski and this pick.
    Columbus previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on June 28, 2014, that sent Edmonton's third-round pick in 2014 to Detroit in exchange for a third-round pick in 2014 and this pick.