# 2015–16 Dallas Stars season

The 2015–16 Dallas Stars season was the 49th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 5, 1967, and 23rd season since the franchise relocated from Minnesota prior to the start of the 1993–94 NHL season.

## Standings

Central Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | z – Dallas Stars | 82 | 50 | 23 | 9 | 48 | 267 | 230 | +37 | 109 |
| 2 | x – St. Louis Blues | 82 | 49 | 24 | 9 | 44 | 224 | 201 | +23 | 107 |
| 3 | x – Chicago Blackhawks | 82 | 47 | 26 | 9 | 46 | 235 | 209 | +26 | 103 |
| 4 | x – Nashville Predators | 82 | 41 | 27 | 14 | 37 | 228 | 215 | +13 | 96 |
| 5 | x – Minnesota Wild | 82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 35 | 216 | 206 | +10 | 87 |
| 6 | Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 39 | 39 | 4 | 35 | 216 | 240 | −24 | 82 |
| 7 | Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 35 | 39 | 8 | 32 | 215 | 239 | −24 | 78 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

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

## Playoffs

2016 Stanley Cup playoffs :

## Player statistics

Final stats

### Skaters

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Jamie Benn | 82 | 41 | 48 | 89 | 7 | 64 |
| Tyler Seguin | 72 | 33 | 40 | 73 | 2 | 16 |
| Jason Spezza | 75 | 33 | 30 | 63 | 4 | 22 |
| John Klingberg | 76 | 10 | 48 | 58 | 22 | 30 |
| Patrick Sharp | 76 | 20 | 35 | 55 | −3 | 27 |
| Ales Hemsky | 75 | 13 | 26 | 39 | 3 | 20 |
| Alex Goligoski | 82 | 5 | 32 | 37 | 21 | 34 |
| Cody Eakin | 82 | 16 | 19 | 35 | 3 | 42 |
| Mattias Janmark | 73 | 15 | 14 | 29 | 12 | 16 |
| Antoine Roussel | 80 | 13 | 16 | 29 | 11 | 123 |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 79 | 9 | 20 | 29 | 2 | 12 |
| Colton Sceviour | 71 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 6 | 21 |
| Jason Demers | 62 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 16 | 72 |
| Vernon Fiddler | 82 | 12 | 10 | 22 | 5 | 31 |
| Johnny Oduya | 82 | 4 | 17 | 21 | 8 | 26 |
| Patrick Eaves | 54 | 11 | 6 | 17 | −5 | 27 |
| Radek Faksa | 45 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 16 |
| Jordie Benn | 64 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 2 | 21 |
| Patrik Nemeth | 38 | 0 | 8 | 8 | −1 | 14 |
| Jyrki Jokipakka | 40 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| Kris Russell$^†$ | 11 | 0 | 4 | 4 | −1 | 2 |
| Stephen Johns | 14 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −6 | 6 |
| Travis Moen | 23 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −3 | 21 |
| Jamie Oleksiak | 19 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −5 | 21 |
| Jason Dickinson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Brett Ritchie | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 7 |
| Curtis McKenzie | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Esa Lindell | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 0 |
| Devin Shore | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Jamie Benn | 13 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 2 | 10 |
| Jason Spezza | 13 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 0 | 2 |
| Cody Eakin | 13 | 1 | 7 | 8 | −4 | 8 |
| Alex Goligoski | 13 | 4 | 3 | 7 | −6 | 6 |
| Patrick Sharp | 13 | 4 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 0 |
| Patrick Eaves | 9 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| Radek Faksa | 13 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| Mattias Janmark | 12 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −3 | 2 |
| Colton Sceviour | 11 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| John Klingberg | 13 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −5 | 2 |
| Ales Hemsky | 13 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 |
| Kris Russell | 12 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| Johnny Oduya | 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Vernon Fiddler | 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 8 |
| Jason Demers | 13 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| Antoine Roussel | 13 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16 |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 2 |
| Travis Moen | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
| Jordie Benn | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Curtis McKenzie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Stephen Johns | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Tyler Seguin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brett Ritchie | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Antti Niemi | 48 | 43 | 2654 | 25 | 13 | 7 | 118 | 2.67 | 1246 | .905 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Kari Lehtonen | 43 | 39 | 2279 | 25 | 10 | 2 | 105 | 2.76 | 1121 | .906 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Kari Lehtonen | 11 | 10 | 555 | 6 | 3 | 26 | 2.81 | 257 | .899 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Antti Niemi | 5 | 3 | 237 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 3.29 | 96 | .865 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Stars. Stats reflect time with the Stars only. $^‡$Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

### Suspensions/fines

| Player | Explanation | Length | Salary | Date issued |
| Jason Demers | Elbowing Pittsburgh Penguins forward Nick Bonino during NHL game No. 93 in Pittsburgh on Thursday, October 22, 2015, at 16:48 of the third period. | 2 games | $36,559.14 | October 23, 2015 |

## Awards and honors
### Awards

Regular season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| T. Seguin | NHL Second Star of the Week | October 19, 2015 |
| Ja. Benn | NHL First Star of the Month | November 2, 2015 |
| T. Seguin | NHL Second Star of the Week | November 9, 2015 |
| Ja. Benn | NHL First Star of the Week | November 30, 2015 |
| A. Niemi | NHL Second Star of the Week | December 28, 2015 |
| T. Seguin | NHL All-Star game selection | January 6, 2016 |
| Ja. Benn | NHL All-Star game selection | January 6, 2016 |

### Milestones

Regular season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| M. Janmark | 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | October 8, 2015 |
| J. Demers | 100th career NHL assist | October 10, 2015 |
| C. Sceviour | 100th career NHL game | October 13, 2015 |
| M. Janmark | 1st career NHL assist | October 13, 2015 |
| K. Lehtonen | 250th career NHL win | October 15, 2015 |
| R. Faksa | 1st career NHL game | October 17, 2015 |
| A. Niemi | 20,000 career NHL minutes | October 27, 2015 |
| D. Shore | 1st career NHL game | November 3, 2015 |
| T. Seguin | 300th career NHL point | November 3, 2015 |
| J. Jokipakka | 1st career NHL goal | November 3, 2015 |
| R. Faksa | 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | November 6, 2015 |
| V. Nichushkin | 100th career NHL game | November 8, 2015 |
| A. Goligoski | 500th career NHL game | November 19, 2015 |
| Jo. Benn | 200th career NHL game | November 19, 2015 |
| K. Lehtonen | 30,000 career NHL minutes | November 19, 2015 |
| P. Eaves | 500th career NHL game | November 28, 2015 |
| A. Niemi | 200th career NHL wins | November 28, 2015 |
| Ja. Benn | 400th career NHL point | December 15, 2015 |
| J. Spezza | 800th career NHL game | December 17, 2015 |
| A. Goligoski | 200th career NHL assist | December 19, 2015 |
| J. Klingberg | 100th career NHL game | December 22, 2015 |
| J. Oduya | 700th career NHL game | December 26, 2015 |
| J. Spezza | 500th career NHL assist | January 5, 2016 |

## Transactions

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

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 27, 2015 (2015-06-27) | To San Jose Sharks 7th-round pick in 2015 | To Dallas Stars Antti Niemi (rights) |
| July 10, 2015 (2015-07-10) | To Chicago Blackhawks Trevor Daley Ryan Garbutt | To Dallas Stars Patrick Sharp Stephen Johns |
| February 29, 2016 (2016-02-29) | To Calgary Flames Jyrki Jokipakka Brett Pollock Conditional 2nd-round pick in 2016 | To Dallas Stars Kris Russell |

### Lost via retirement

| Date | Player | Ref |
| September 4, 2015 (2015-09-04) | Rich Peverley | |

### Player signings

| Date | Player | Contract terms (in U.S. dollars) |
| June 29, 2015 (2015-06-29) | Antti Niemi | 3 years, $13.5 million |
| July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01) | Patrick Eaves | 1 year, $1.15 million |
| July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01) | Curtis McKenzie | 2 years, $1.35 million |
| July 9, 2015 (2015-07-09) | Jamie Oleksiak | 1 year, $875,000 |
| August 28, 2015 (2015-08-28) | Cody Eakin | 4 years, $15.4 million contract extension |
| March 18, 2016 (2016-03-18) | Stephen Johns | 2 years, contract extension |
| March 25, 2016 (2016-03-25) | Niklas Hansson | 3 years, entry-level contract |
| May 12, 2016 (2016-05-12) | Denis Gurianov | 3 years, entry-level contract |
| May 18, 2016 (2016-05-18) | Chris Martenet | 3 years, entry-level contract |
| May 31, 2016 (2016-05-31) | Justin Dowling | 1 year |
| May 31, 2016 (2016-05-31) | Brendan Ranford | 1 year |
| June 9, 2016 (2016-06-09) | Mattias Backman | 1 year |
| June 10, 2016 (2016-06-10) | Brett Ritchie | 1 year |

## Draft picks

Below are the Dallas Stars' 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 | 12 | Denis Guryanov | RW | Russia | Lada Togliatti-2 (Russia-Jr.) |
| 2 | 49 | Roope Hintz | LW | Finland | Ilves (Finland) |
| 4 | 103 | Chris Martenet | D | United States | London Knights (OHL) |
| 5 | 133 | Joseph Cecconi | D | United States | Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL) |
| 6 | 163 | Markus Ruusu | G | Finland | JYP Jr. (Finland-Jr.) |

### Draft notes

* The Dallas Stars' second-round pick went to the New Jersey Devils as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent a second-round pick in 2015 (36th overall) to Ottawa in exchange for a conditional fourth-round pick in 2015 or 2016 and this pick. Ottawa previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on July 1, 2014 that sent Jason Spezza and Ludwig Karlsson to the Stars in exchange for Alex Chiasson, Nick Paul, Alex Guptill and this pick.
* $^a$ 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.
* 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 Dallas Stars' seventh-round pick went to the San Jose Sharks as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent Antti Niemi to Dallas in exchange for this pick.