# 2015–16 Arizona Coyotes season

The 2015–16 Arizona Coyotes season was the 37th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 22, 1979, the 20th season since the franchise relocated from Winnipeg following the 1995–96 NHL season, and the 44th overall, including the World Hockey Association years.
The season began its regular games on October 9, 2015 against the Los Angeles Kings.
Despite being unable to play since 2011 following career-ending injuries, the Coyotes acquired Chris Pronger's contract from the Philadelphia Flyers in a trade that sent Pronger and Nicklas Grossmann to Phoenix in exchange for Sam Gagner and a conditional pick.

## Standings

Pacific Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | y – Anaheim Ducks | 82 | 46 | 25 | 11 | 43 | 218 | 192 | +26 | 103 |
| 2 | x – Los Angeles Kings | 82 | 48 | 28 | 6 | 46 | 225 | 195 | +30 | 102 |
| 3 | x – San Jose Sharks | 82 | 46 | 30 | 6 | 42 | 241 | 210 | +31 | 98 |
| 4 | Arizona Coyotes | 82 | 35 | 39 | 8 | 34 | 209 | 245 | −36 | 78 |
| 5 | Calgary Flames | 82 | 35 | 40 | 7 | 33 | 231 | 260 | −29 | 77 |
| 6 | Vancouver Canucks | 82 | 31 | 38 | 13 | 26 | 191 | 243 | −52 | 75 |
| 7 | Edmonton Oilers | 82 | 31 | 43 | 8 | 27 | 203 | 245 | −42 | 70 |
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

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

## Playoffs

The Arizona Coyotes didn't make the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

## Player statistics

Final stats
Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | 75 | 21 | 34 | 55 | −6 | 96 |
| Max Domi | 81 | 18 | 34 | 52 | 3 | 72 |
| Shane Doan | 72 | 28 | 19 | 47 | 4 | 98 |
| Anthony Duclair | 81 | 20 | 24 | 44 | 12 | 49 |
| Martin Hanzal | 64 | 13 | 28 | 41 | −5 | 77 |
| Mikkel Boedker$^‡$ | 62 | 13 | 26 | 39 | −28 | 10 |
| Antoine Vermette | 76 | 17 | 21 | 38 | −14 | 93 |
| Tobias Rieder | 82 | 14 | 23 | 37 | −21 | 10 |
| Michael Stone | 75 | 6 | 30 | 36 | −10 | 62 |
| Brad Richardson | 82 | 11 | 20 | 31 | 8 | 46 |
| Jordan Martinook | 81 | 9 | 15 | 24 | −9 | 18 |
| Connor Murphy | 78 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 5 | 48 |
| Alex Tanguay$^†$ | 18 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 8 |
| Kyle Chipchura | 70 | 4 | 8 | 12 | −10 | 38 |
| Kevin Connauton$^†$ | 38 | 4 | 5 | 9 | −3 | 39 |
| Klas Dahlbeck | 71 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −5 | 28 |
| Nicklas Grossmann | 58 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 24 |
| Zbynek Michalek | 70 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 20 |
| Steve Downie | 26 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 53 |
| Viktor Tikhonov$^†$ | 39 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −6 | 14 |
| Stefan Elliott$^‡$ | 19 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 4 |
| Boyd Gordon | 65 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −7 | 10 |
| Tyler Gaudet | 14 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −2 | 0 |
| Dustin Jeffrey$^‡$ | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Jiri Sekac$^†$ | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −4 | 10 |
| Laurent Dauphin | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Craig Cunningham | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 2 |
| Sergei Plotnikov$^†$ | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| John Scott$^‡$ | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 25 |
| Joe Vitale | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Alex Grant | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 7 |
| Eric Selleck | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Philip Samuelsson | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Christian Thomas$^†$ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jarred Tinordi$^†$ | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 12 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Louis Domingue | 39 | 36 | 2,206 | 15 | 18 | 5 | 101 | 2.75 | 1142 | 0.912 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Mike Smith | 32 | 32 | 1,754 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 77 | 2.63 | 921 | 0.916 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Anders Lindback | 19 | 13 | 906:08 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 47 | 3.11 | 443 | 0.894 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Niklas Treutle | 2 | 1 | 50 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6.00 | 20 | .750 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Coyotes. Stats reflect time with the Coyotes only. $^‡$Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

## Awards and honours
### Awards

Regular season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| M. Smith | NHL Third Star of the Week | October 12, 2015 |
| J. Scott | NHL All-Star game captain | January 2, 2016 |
| S. Doan | NHL Second Star of the Week | January 4, 2016 |
| L. Domingue | NHL Rookie of the Month | February 1, 2016 |

### Milestones

Regular season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| M. Domi | 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | October 9, 2015 |
| J. Martinook | 1st career NHL goal | October 10, 2015 |
| A. Duclair | 1st career NHL hat-trick | October 14, 2015 |
| S. Doan | 900th career NHL point | October 17, 2015 |
| O. Ekman-Larsson | 100th career NHL assist | October 17, 2015 |
| S. Doan | 1,400th career NHL game | October 20, 2015 |
| M. Hanzal | 500th career NHL game | October 22, 2015 |
| M. Smith | 400th career NHL game | November 10, 2015 |
| M. Boedker | 400th career NHL game | November 14, 2015 |
| K. Chipchura | 100th career NHL point | December 1, 2015 |
| T. Rieder | 100th career NHL game | December 8, 2015 |
| L. Domingue | 1st career NHL shutout | December 19, 2015 |

## Transactions

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

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 27, 2015 (2015-06-27) | To Philadelphia FlyersSam Gagner Conditional 4th-round pick in 2016 | To Arizona CoyotesNicklas Grossmann injured contract of Chris Pronger |
| June 27, 2015 (2015-06-27) | To Calgary FlamesNYR's 2nd-round pick in 2015 | To Arizona Coyotes3rd-round pick in 2015 WSH's 3rd-round pick in 2015 |
| June 30, 2015 (2015-06-30) | To Edmonton OilersLauri Korpikoski | To Arizona CoyotesBoyd Gordon |
| September 9, 2015 (2015-09-09) | To Colorado AvalancheBrandon Gormley | To Arizona CoyotesStefan Elliott |
| December 15, 2015 (2015-12-15) | To Montreal CanadiensLucas Lessio | To Arizona CoyotesChristian Thomas |
| January 15, 2016 (2016-01-15) | To Nashville PredatorsStefan Elliott | To Arizona CoyotesVictor Bartley |
| January 15, 2016 (2016-01-15) | To Montreal CanadiensVictor Bartley John Scott | To Arizona CoyotesJarred Tinordi Stefan Fournier |
| February 29, 2016 (2016-02-29) | To Pittsburgh PenguinsMatthias Plachta conditional 7th-round pick in 2017 | To Arizona CoyotesSergei Plotnikov |
| February 29, 2016 (2016-02-29) | To Colorado AvalancheMikkel Boedker | To Arizona CoyotesAlex Tanguay Conner Bleackley Kyle Wood |
| February 29, 2016 (2016-02-29) | To Nashville PredatorsCorey Potter | To Arizona CoyotesFuture Considerations |
| February 29, 2016 (2016-02-29) | To Pittsburgh PenguinsDustin Jeffrey Dan O'Donoghue James Melindy | To Arizona CoyotesMatia Marcantuoni |
| June 16, 2016 (2016-06-16) | To Dallas Stars5th-round pick in 2016 | To Arizona CoyotesAlex Goligoski (negotiating rights) |
| June 20, 2016 (2016-06-20) | To San Jose SharksMaxim Letunov 6th-round pick in 2017 | To Arizona Coyotes4th-round pick in 2016 DET's 3rd-round pick in 2017 |

### Player signings

The following players were signed by the Coyotes. Two-way contracts are marked with an asterisk (*).
| Date | Player | Contract terms (in U.S. dollars) |
| June 30, 2015 (2015-06-30) | Craig Cunningham | 1 year, $600,000* |
| July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01) | Dylan Reese | 1 year, $575,000* |
| July 6, 2015 (2015-07-06) | Dylan Strome | 3 years, entry-level contract* |
| July 7, 2015 (2015-07-07) | Mikkel Boedker | 1 year, $3.75 million |
| July 15, 2015 (2015-07-15) | Philip Samuelsson | 1 year, $600,000* |
| July 15, 2015 (2015-07-15) | Brendan Shinnimin | 1 year, $600,000* |
| July 20, 2015 (2015-07-20) | Klas Dahlbeck | 1 year, $605,000* |
| July 20, 2015 (2015-07-20) | Jordan Martinook | 1 year, $600,000* |
| July 23, 2015 (2015-07-23) | Michael Bunting | 3 years, entry-level contract* |
| September 3, 2015 (2015-09-03) | Nick Merkley | 3 years, entry-level contract* |
| September 5, 2015 (2015-09-05) | Louis Domingue | 1 year, $605,000 |
| December 23, 2015 (2015-12-23) | Conor Garland | 3 years, entry-level contract* |
| December 26, 2015 (2015-12-26) | Dysin Mayo | 3 years, entry-level contract* |
| March 30, 2016 (2016-03-30) | Kyle Wood | 3 years, entry-level contract* |
| April 5, 2016 (2016-04-05) | Adin Hill | 3 years, entry-level contract* |
| June 17, 2016 (2016-06-17) | Craig Cunningham | 1 year* |
| June 22, 2016 (2016-06-22) | Alex Goligoski | 5 years, $27.375 million |

## Draft picks

Below are the Arizona Coyotes' 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 | 3 | Dylan Strome | C | Canada | Erie Otters (OHL) |
| 1 | 30 | Nicholas Merkley | RW | Canada | Kelowna Rockets (WHL) |
| 2 | 32 | Christian Fischer | RW | United States | USA U-18 (USHL) |
| 3 | 63 | Kyle Capobianco | D | Canada | Sudbury Wolves (OHL) |
| 3 | 76 | Adin Hill | G | Canada | Portland Winterhawks (WHL) |
| 3 | 81 | Brendan Warren | LW | United States | USA U-18 (USHL) |
| 3 | 83 | Jens Looke | RW | Sweden | Brynäs IF (SHL) |
| 5 | 123 | Conor Garland | RW | United States | Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL) |
| 7 | 183 | Erik Kallgren | G | Sweden | Linköpings HC (SHL) |

### Draft notes

* $^a$ The Chicago Blackhawks' first-round pick went to the Arizona Coyotes as the result of a trade on February 28, 2015 that sent Antoine Vermette to Chicago in exchange for Klas Dahlbeck and this pick.
* $^b$ The Calgary Flames' third-round pick went to the Arizona Coyotes as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent a 2015 second-round pick to Calgary in exchange for a 2013 third round pick (from Washington) and this pick.
* $^c$ 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.
* $^d$ The Washington Capitals' third-round pick went to the Arizona Coyotes as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent Tampa Bay's second-round pick in 2015 (60th overall) to Calgary in exchange for a third-round pick in 2015 (76th overall) and this pick.
    Calgary previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on March 1, 2015 that sent Curtis Glencross to Washington in exchange for a second-round pick in 2015 and this pick.
* The Arizona Coyotes' fourth-round pick went to the Carolina Hurricanes as the result of a trade on February 28, 2015 that sent Tim Gleason to Washington in exchange for Jack Hillen and this pick.
    Washington previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on March 4, 2014 that sent Martin Erat and John Mitchell to Phoenix in exchange for Rostislav Klesla, Chris Brown and this pick.
* The Arizona Coyotes' sixth-round pick went to the Tampa Bay Lightning as the result of a trade on June 29, 2014 that sent Sam Gagner and B. J. Crombeen to Arizona in exchange for this pick.