# 2015–16 Columbus Blue Jackets season

The 2015–16 Columbus Blue Jackets season was the 16th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 25, 1997. Columbus hired head coach John Tortorella following the firing of Todd Richards, who started the season 0–8–0. The team began its regular season games on October 9, 2015 against the New York Rangers.
The Blue Jackets missed the playoffs for the second straight year.

## Regular season

After a seven game losing streak to start the season, the Blue Jackets fired head coach Todd Richards and hired John Tortorella on October 21.

## 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) :

## Player statistics

Final stats

### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Brandon Saad | 78 | 31 | 22 | 53 | 1 | 14 |
| Cam Atkinson | 81 | 27 | 26 | 53 | −8 | 22 |
| Boone Jenner | 82 | 30 | 19 | 49 | −15 | 77 |
| Scott Hartnell | 79 | 23 | 26 | 49 | −11 | 112 |
| Brandon Dubinsky | 75 | 17 | 31 | 48 | −16 | 71 |
| Alexander Wennberg | 69 | 8 | 32 | 40 | −1 | 2 |
| Nick Foligno | 72 | 12 | 25 | 37 | −14 | 53 |
| Ryan Johansen$^‡$ | 38 | 6 | 20 | 26 | −4 | 25 |
| David Savard | 65 | 4 | 21 | 25 | −7 | 45 |
| Ryan Murray | 82 | 4 | 21 | 25 | −10 | 40 |
| Matt Calvert | 73 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 1 | 51 |
| William Karlsson | 81 | 9 | 11 | 20 | −9 | 6 |
| Seth Jones$^†$ | 41 | 2 | 18 | 20 | −9 | 12 |
| Jack Johnson | 60 | 6 | 8 | 14 | −16 | 25 |
| Gregory Campbell | 82 | 3 | 8 | 11 | −6 | 78 |
| Dalton Prout | 64 | 3 | 6 | 9 | −6 | 102 |
| Kerby Rychel | 32 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 15 |
| Oliver Bjorkstrand | 12 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 0 |
| Rene Bourque | 49 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −9 | 38 |
| Cody Goloubef | 43 | 1 | 7 | 8 | −3 | 20 |
| Kevin Connauton$^‡$ | 27 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 21 |
| David Clarkson | 23 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −8 | 23 |
| Josh Anderson | 12 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Justin Falk | 24 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 17 |
| Fedor Tyutin | 61 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −6 | 28 |
| Jared Boll | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −3 | 61 |
| Michael Chaput | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Andrew Bodnarchuk$^‡$ | 16 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −6 | 8 |
| Sonny Milano | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| John Ramage | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| Michael Paliotta | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Markus Hannikainen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| Dean Kukan | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Sergei Bobrovsky | 37 | 37 | 2,116 | 15 | 19 | 1 | 97 | 2.75 | 1049 | .908 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Joonas Korpisalo | 31 | 30 | 1,803 | 16 | 11 | 4 | 78 | 2.60 | 969 | .920 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Curtis McElhinney | 18 | 12 | 835 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 46 | 3.31 | 417 | .890 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Anton Forsberg | 4 | 3 | 178 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 3.03 | 97 | .907 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Blue Jackets. Statistics reflect time with the Blue Jackets only. $^‡$Denotes player was traded mid-season. Statistics reflect time with the Blue Jackets only. Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

## Player suspensions/fines

| Player | Explanation | Length | Salary | Date issued |
| Brandon Dubinsky | Cross-checking Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby during NHL game No. 337 in Columbus on Friday, November 27, 2015, at 18:40 of the second period. | 1 game | $31,451.61 | November 28, 2015 |

## Awards and honours
### Awards

Regular Season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| Brandon Saad | NHL All-Star game selection | January 6, 2016 |
| C. Atkinson | NHL Second Star of the Week | February 1, 2016 |

### Milestones

Regular season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| S. Hartnell | 600th career NHL point | October 16, 2015 |
| D. Savard | 200th career NHL game | November 3, 2015 |
| R. Johansen | 100th career NHL assist | November 3, 2015 |
| J. Boll | 500th career NHL game | November 17, 2015 |
| R. Murray | 100th career NHL game | November 22, 2015 |
| M. Hannikainen | 1st career NHL game | November 28, 2015 |
| R. Johansen | 300th career NHL game | December 12, 2015 |
| J. Johnson | 600th career NHL game | December 12, 2015 |
| J. Korpisalo | 1st career NHL game | December 14, 2015 |
| J. Korpisalo | 1st career NHL win | December 19, 2015 |

## Transactions

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

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 26, 2015 | To Toronto Maple Leafs TOR's 2nd-round pick in 2015 PHI's 3rd-round pick in 2015 | To Columbus Blue Jackets TBL's 1st-round pick in 2015 |
| June 30, 2015 | To Chicago Blackhawks Artem Anisimov Marko Dano Jeremy Morin Corey Tropp 4th-round pick in 2016 | To Columbus Blue Jackets Brandon Saad Michael Paliotta Alex Broadhurst |
| January 6, 2016 | To Nashville Predators Ryan Johansen | To Columbus Blue Jackets Seth Jones |
Player signings
DatePlayerContract terms (in U.S. dollars)Ref
July 3, 2015Brandon Saad6 years, $36 million contract extension
July 9, 2015Matt Calvert3 years, $6.6 million contract extension
July 23, 2015Michael Chaput1 year, $650,000 contract extension
August 20, 2015Paul Bittner3 years, entry-level contract
September 8, 2015David Savard5 years, $21.25 million contract extension
December 20, 2015Keegan Kolesar3 years, entry-level contract
February 11, 2016Ryan Murray2 years, $5.65 million contract extension
February 29, 2016Boone Jenner2 years, $5.8 million contract extension
March 1, 2016John Ramage2 years, contract extension
March 7, 2016Oleg Yevenko1 year, contract extension
March 25, 2016Dalton Prout2 years, contract extension
March 29, 2016Zach Werenski3 years, entry-level contract
April 19, 2016Gabriel Carlsson3 years, entry-level contract
May 3, 2016Markus Nutivaara2 years, entry-level contract
May 25, 2016Lukas Sedlak1 year
June 17, 2016Anton Forsberg1 year
June 23, 2016William Karlsson2 years, $2 million :

## Draft picks

Below are the Columbus Blue Jackets' 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 | 8 | Zach Werenski | D | United States | University of Michigan (Big Ten) |
| 1 | 29 | Gabriel Carlsson | D | Sweden | Linkopings HC (SHL) |
| 2 | 38 | Paul Bittner | LW | United States | Portland Winterhawks (WHL) |
| 2 | 58 | Kevin Stenlund | C | Sweden | HV71 J20 (J20 SuperElit) |
| 3 | 69 | Keegan Kolesar | RW | Canada | Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) |
| 5 | 129 | Sam Ruopp | D | Canada | Prince George Cougars (WHL) |
| 5 | 141 | Veeti Vainio | D | Finland | Espoo Blues Jr. (Finland Jr.) |
| 6 | 159 | Vladislav Gavrikov | D | Russia | Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL) |
| 7 | 189 | Markus Nutivaara | D | Finland | Oulun Kärpät (Finland) |

### Draft notes

* $^a$ The Tampa Bay Lightning's first-round pick went to the Columbus Blue Jackets as the result of a trade on June 26, 2015 that sent Toronto's second-round pick in 2015 (34th overall) and Philadelphia's third-round pick in 2015 (68th overall) to Toronto in exchange for this pick.
    Toronto previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on June 26, 2015 that sent Nashville's first-round pick in 2015 (24th overall) to Philadelphia in exchange for Chicago's second-round pick in 2015 (61st overall) and this pick.
    Philadelphia previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on March 2, 2015 that sent Braydon Coburn to Tampa Bay in exchange for Radko Gudas, a third-round pick in 2015 and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – Philadelphia will receive the Lightning's first-round draft pick in 2015 if it is not the first overall selection – was converted on March 30, 2015 when Tampa Bay qualified for the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs ensuring that this pick could not be a lottery selection.
* $^b$ The Anaheim Ducks' second-round pick went to the Columbus Blue Jackets as the result of a trade on March 2, 2015 that sent James Wisniewski and Detroit's third-round pick in 2015 to Anaheim in exchange for Rene Bourque, William Karlsson and this pick.
* The Columbus Blue Jackets' fourth-round pick went to the Los Angeles Kings as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent a fourth-round pick in 2015 (104th overall) and a sixth-round pick in 2016 to Philadelphia in exchange for this pick.
    Philadelphia previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on June 23, 2014 that sent Scott Hartnell to Columbus in exchange for R.J. Umberger and this pick.
* $^c$ 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.