2015–16 Minnesota Wild season

2015–16 Minnesota Wild
Division	TBD Central
Conference	TBD Western
2015–16 record	23–22–10
Home record	14–10–4
Road record	9–12–6
Goals for	135
Goals against	139
Team information
General manager	Chuck Fletcher
Coach	John Torchetti (interim)
Captain	Mikko Koivu
Alternate captains	Zack Parise Ryan Suter
Arena	Xcel Energy Center
Average attendance	19,040 (106.0%) (24 games)
Minor league affiliate(s)	Iowa Wild (AHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Zach Parise (17)
Assists	Mikko Koivu Ryan Suter (25)
Points	Mikko Koivu (35)
Penalty minutes	Ryan Carter (36)
Plus/minus	(+): Marco Scandella (+10) (−): Mathew Dumba (−5)
Wins	Devan Dubnyk (18)
Goals against average	Darcy Kuemper (2.10)

The 2015–16 Minnesota Wild season is the 16th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 25, 1997. Head coach Mike Yeo was relieved of his duties on February 13th after the teams thirteenth loss in fourteen games. He finished with a record of 173–132–44 in his four and a half years as head coach of the Wild. Iowa Wild head coach John Torchetti was promoted to interim head coach.

Schedule and results

Pre-season

2015–16 Pre-Season Game Log: 4–2–0 (Home: 2–1–0 ; Road: 2–1–0)
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Recap
1	September 21	Buffalo	3–2	Minnesota		Kuemper	17,217	0–1–0	[1]
2	September 22	Minnesota	1–0	Winnipeg	OT	Backstrom	15,294	1–1–0	[2]
3	September 24	Minnesota	5–2	Columbus		Dubnyk	10,209	2–1–0	[3]
4	September 26 (In Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)	Minnesota	0–3	Edmonton		Kuemper	7,541	2–2–0	[4]
5	September 27	Winnipeg	1–8	Minnesota		Dubnyk	17,710	3–2–0	[5]
6	October 1	Buffalo	1–6	Minnesota		Dubnyk	17,214	4–2–0	[6]

Regular season

2015–16 Game Log
October: 7–2–2 (Home: 5–0–0 ; Road: 2–2–2) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 October 8 Minnesota 5–4 Colorado Dubnyk 18,007 1–0–0 2 [7] 2 October 10 St. Louis 2–3 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,096 2–0–0 4 [8] 3 October 15 Minnesota 4–3 Arizona Dubnyk 12,029 3–0–0 6 [9] 4 October 16 Minnesota 1–2 Los Angeles OT Kuemper 18,230 3–0–1 7 [10] 5 October 18 Minnesota 1–4 Anaheim Dubnyk 16,784 3–1–1 7 [11] 6 October 22 Columbus 2–3 Minnesota Dubnyk 18,650 4–1–1 9 [12] 7 October 24 Anaheim 0–3 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,034 5–1–1 11 [13] 8 October 25 Minnesota 4–5 Winnipeg Dubnyk 15,294 5–2–1 11 [14] 9 October 27 Edmonton 3–4 Minnesota Dubnyk 18,936 6–2–1 13 [15] 10 October 30 Chicago 4–5 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,140 7–2–1 15 [16] 11 October 31 Minnesota 2–3 St. Louis OT Dubnyk 17,728 7–2–2 16 [17]
November: 4–5–2 (Home: 3–3–1 ; Road: 1–2–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 12 November 5 Nashville 3–2 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,024 7–3–2 16 [18] 13 November 7 Tampa Bay 0–1 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,066 8–3–2 18 [19] 14 November 10 Winnipeg 3–5 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,153 9–3–2 20 [20] 15 November 12 Minnesota 3–2 Carolina OT Dubnyk 9,511 10–3–2 22 [21] 16 November 14 Minnesota 2–3 Dallas OT Dubnyk 18,532 10–3–3 23 [22] 17 November 17 Minnesota 3–4 Pittsburgh Dubnyk 18,495 10–4–3 23 [23] 18 November 19 Minnesota 2–4 Boston Dubnyk 17,565 10–5–3 23 [24] 19 November 21 Nashville 0–4 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,056 11–5–3 25 [25] 20 November 25 Vancouver 3–2 Minnesota Dubnyk 18,877 11–6–3 25 [26] 21 November 27 Winnipeg 3–1 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,055 11–7–3 25 [27] 22 November 28 Dallas 4–3 Minnesota OT Kuemper 19,024 11–7–4 26 [28]
December: 9–3–2 (Home: 6–2–0 ; Road: 3–1–2) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 23 December 1 Minnesota 2–1 Chicago Dubnyk 21,580 12–7–4 28 [29] 24 December 3 Toronto 0–1 Minnesota Dubnyk 18,880 13–7–4 30 [30] 25 December 5 Colorado 0–3 Minnesota Kuemper 19,173 14–7–4 32 [31] 26 December 7 Minnesota 1–2 Colorado OT Kuemper 16,589 14–7–5 33 [32] 27 December 11 Minnesota 1–2 Arizona OT Kuemper 14,404 14–7–6 34 [33] 28 December 12 Minnesota 2–0 San Jose Kuemper 16,766 15–7–6 36 [34] 29 December 15 Vancouver 2–6 Minnesota Kuemper 18,804 16–7–6 38 [35] 30 December 17 NY Rangers 2–5 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,090 17–7–6 40 [36] 31 December 19 Minnesota 2–3 Nashville Dubnyk 17,117 17–8–6 40 [37] 32 December 21 Dallas 6–3 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,047 17–9–6 40 [38] 33 December 22 Montreal 1–2 Minnesota Kuemper 19,105 18–9–6 42 [39] 34 December 26 Pittsburgh 3–1 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,234 18–10–6 42 [40] 35 December 28 Detroit 1–3 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,110 19–10–6 44 [41] 36 December 31 Minnesota 3–1 St. Louis Dubnyk 19,194 20–10–6 46 [42]
January: 3–7–3 (Home: 0–3–2 ; Road: 3–4–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 37 January 2 Minnesota 2–3 Tampa Bay SO Dubnyk 19,092 20–10–7 47 [43] 38 January 3 Minnesota 1–2 Florida Dubnyk 15,426 20–11–7 47 [44] 39 January 5 Minnesota 4–2 Columbus Dubnyk 12,411 21–11–7 49 [45] 40 January 7 Philadelphia 4–3 Minnesota OT Dubnyk 19,125 21–11–8 50 [46] 41 January 9 Minnesota 2–1 Dallas Dubnyk 18,532 22–11–8 52 [47] 42 January 10 New Jersey 2–1 Minnesota Kuemper 19,028 22–12–8 52 [48] 43 January 12 Buffalo 3–2 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,034 22–13–8 52 [49] 44 January 15 Winnipeg 1–0 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,222 22–14–8 52 [50] 45 January 16 Minnesota 0–3 Nashville Dubnyk 17,302 22–15–8 52 [51] 46 January 20 Minnesota 1–3 Anaheim Dubnyk 15,962 22–16–8 52 [52] 47 January 21 Minnesota 3–0 Los Angeles Kuemper 18,230 23–16–8 54 [53] 48 January 23 Minnesota 3–4 San Jose Kuemper 16,956 23–17–8 54 [54] 49 January 25 Arizona 2–1 Minnesota SO Dubnyk 19,020 23–17–9 55 [55]
February: 0–5–1 (Home: 0–2–1 ; Road: 0–3–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 50 February 2 Minnesota 3–5 NY Islanders Dubnyk 13,331 23–18–9 55 [56] 51 February 4 Minnesota 2–4 NY Rangers Dubnyk 18,006 23–19–9 55 [57] 52 February 6 Minnesota 1–4 St. Louis Dubnyk 19,318 23–20–9 55 [58] 53 February 9 Dallas 4–3 Minnesota OT Kuemper 19,087 23–20–10 56 [59] 54 February 11 Washington 4–3 Minnesota Dubnyk 19,213 23–21–10 56 [60] 55 February 13 Boston 4–2 Minnesota Kuemper 19,191 23–22–10 56 [61] 56 February 15 Minnesota Vancouver 57 February 17 Minnesota Calgary 58 February 18 Minnesota Edmonton 59 February 21 (2016 NHL Stadium Series at TCF Bank Stadium) Chicago Minnesota 60 February 23 NY Islanders Minnesota 61 February 25 Minnesota Philadelphia 62 February 26 Minnesota Washington 63 February 28 Florida Minnesota
March: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 64 March 1 Colorado Minnesota 65 March 3 Minnesota Toronto 66 March 5 Minnesota Buffalo 67 March 6 St. Louis Minnesota 68 March 10 Edmonton Minnesota 69 March 12 Minnesota Montreal 70 March 15 Minnesota Ottawa 71 March 17 Minnesota New Jersey 72 March 19 Carolina Minnesota 73 March 20 Minnesota Chicago 74 March 22 Los Angeles Minnesota 75 March 24 Calgary Minnesota 76 March 26 Minnesota Colorado 77 March 29 Chicago Minnesota 78 March 31 Ottawa Minnesota
April: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 79 April 1 Minnesota Detroit 80 April 3 Minnesota Winnipeg 81 April 5 San Jose Minnesota 82 April 9 Calgary Minnesota
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)

Player statistics

Updated as of games played through February 1, 2016

Skaters

Regular Season

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Mikko Koivu	49	10	25	35	1	14
Ryan Suter	49	6	25	31	8	16
Thomas Vanek	49	14	15	29	−2	16
Zach Parise	40	17	11	28	−4	14
Charlie Coyle	49	13	12	25	8	12
Mikael Granlund	49	4	21	25	−2	18
Nino Niederreiter	49	8	14	22	4	18
Jason Pominville	49	5	15	20	0	6
Jared Spurgeon	49	6	14	20	4	12
Jason Zucker	49	11	8	19	3	12
Marco Scandella	42	5	9	14	10	14
Erik Haula	43	4	7	11	7	12
Mathew Dumba	49	5	6	11	−6	14
Justin Fontaine	31	2	7	9	8	14
Ryan Carter	39	4	2	6	0	36
Jonas Brodin	48	1	5	6	–1	16
Chris Porter	46	3	2	5	−2	6
Jarret Stoll†	20	2	1	3	−1	8
Nate Prosser	37	0	2	2	5	26
Christian Folin	14	0	2	2	1	9
Jordan Schroeder	13	1	0	1	0	0
Tyson Strachan	2	0	0	0	1	0
Brett Bulmer	3	0	0	0	−1	7
Tyler Graovac	1	0	0	0	−1	0
Mike Reilly	4	0	0	0	–1	0
Kurtis Gabriel	3	0	0	0	1	10
Christoph Bertschy	3	0	0	0	0	0
Gustav Olofsson	2	0	0	0	0	0
Michael Keranen	1	0	0	0	−1	0

Goaltenders

Regular Season

Player	GP	GS	TOI	W	L	OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	G	A	PIM
Devan Dubnyk	39	38	2288	18	15	5	85	2.23	1093	.922	4	0	0	6
Darcy Kuemper	12	11	658	5	2	4	23	2.10	312	.926	2	0	0	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Wild. Stats reflect time with the Wild only.
^‡Traded mid-season

Roster

Updated December 20, 2024

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
24		Zach Bogosian	D	R	34	2023	Massena, New York
12		Matt Boldy	RW	L	23	2019	Millis, Massachusetts
72		Travis Boyd	C	R	31	2024	Edina, Minnesota
25		Jonas Brodin	D	L	31	2011	Karlstad, Sweden
47		Declan Chisholm	D	L	24	2024	Bowmanville, Ontario
44		Travis Dermott	D	L	28	2024	Newmarket, Ontario
14		Joel Eriksson Ek	C	L	27	2015	Karlstad, Sweden
7		Brock Faber	D	R	22	2022	Maple Grove, Minnesota
29		Marc-Andre Fleury	G	L	40	2022	Sorel-Tracy, Quebec
17		Marcus Foligno (A)	RW	L	33	2017	Buffalo, New York
89		Frederick Gaudreau	C	R	31	2021	Bromont, Quebec
21		Brendan Gaunce	C	L	30	2024	Sudbury, Ontario
32		Filip Gustavsson	G	L	26	2022	Skellefteå, Sweden
38		Ryan Hartman	C	R	30	2019	Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
90		Marcus Johansson	C	L	34	2023	Landskrona, Sweden
39		Ben Jones	C	L	25	2024	Waterloo, Ontario
97		Kirill Kaprizov (A)	LW	L	27	2015	Novokuznetsk, Russia
22		Marat Khusnutdinov	C	L	22	2020	Moscow, Russia
94		Jakub Lauko	LW	L	24	2024	Prague, Czech Republic
4		Jon Merrill	D	L	32	2021	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
5		Jacob Middleton	D	L	28	2022	Stratford, Ontario
23		Marco Rossi	C	L	23	2020	Feldkirch, Austria
19		Devin Shore	C	L	30	2024	Ajax, Ontario
46		Jared Spurgeon (C)	D	R	35	2010	Edmonton, Alberta
13		Yakov Trenin	C	R	27	2024	Chelyabinsk, Russia
30		Jesper Wallstedt	G	L	22	2021	Västerås, Sweden
36		Mats Zuccarello	RW	L	37	2019	Oslo, Norway

Awards and honours

Awards

Regular Season

Player	Award	Awarded
M. Koivu	NHL Third Star of the Week	December 21, 2015
D. Dubnyk	NHL All-Star game selection	January 6, 2016

Milestones

Regular Season

Player	Milestone	Reached
R. Suter	300th Career NHL Assist	October 8, 2015
Z. Parise	3rd Career NHL Hat Trick	October 8, 2015
J. Zucker	100th Career NHL Game	October 10, 2015
T. Vanek	300th Career NHL Goal	October 15, 2015
D. Dubnyk	100th Career NHL Win	October 15, 2015
J. Brodin	200th Career NHL Game	October 18, 2015
J. Spurgeon	300th Career NHL Game	October 18, 2015
Z. Parise	700th Career NHL Game	October 27, 2015
C. Coyle	200th Career NHL Game	October 31, 2015
C. Bertschy	1st Career NHL Game	November 7, 2015
M. Keranen	1st Career NHL Game	November 17, 2015
G. Olofsson	1st Career NHL Game	November 19, 2015
N. Prosser	200th Career NHL Game	November 19, 2015
M. Koivu	700th Career NHL Game	November 21, 2015
M. Granlund	100th Career NHL Point	November 25, 2015
C. Porter	200th Career NHL Game	December 11, 2015
M. Dumba	100th Career NHL Game	December 15, 2015
Z. Parise	300th Career NHL Assist	December 15, 2015
D. Dubnyk	100th Career NHL Loss	December 21, 2015
C. Coyle	100th Career NHL Point	January 2, 2016
Z. Parise	4th Career NHL Hat Trick	January 5, 2016
M. Reilly	1st Career NHL Game	January 9, 2016
M. Granlund	200th Career NHL Game	January 10, 2016

Transactions

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

Trades

Date	Details		Ref
June 27, 2015 (2015-06-27)	To Boston Bruins 5th-round pick in 2016	To Minnesota Wild 5th-round pick in 2015

Free agents acquired

Date	Player	Former team	Contract terms (in U.S. dollars)	Ref
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)	Mike Reilly	Columbus Blue Jackets	2 years, entry-level contract
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)	Zac Dalpe	Buffalo Sabres	1 year, $600,000
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)	Ruslan Fedotenko	Iowa Wild	1 year, $600,000
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)	Marc Hagel	Iowa Wild	2 years, $1.21 million
July 2, 2015 (2015-07-02)	Tyson Strachan	Buffalo Sabres	1 year, $650,000
July 2, 2015 (2015-07-02)	Jared Knight	Iowa Wild	1 year, $761,250

Free agents lost

Date	Player	New team	Contract terms (in U.S. dollars)	Ref
July 2, 2015 (2015-07-02)	Kyle Brodziak	St. Louis Blues	1 year, $900,000
July 12, 2015 (2015-07-12)	Chris Stewart	Anaheim Ducks	1 year, $1.7 million

Claimed via waivers

Player	Former team	Date claimed off waivers	Ref
Chris Porter	Philadelphia Flyers	October 1, 2015
Jarret Stoll	New York Rangers	December 15, 2015

Player signings

Date	Player	Contract terms (in U.S. dollars)	Ref
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)	Mikael Granlund	2 years, $6 million
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)	Nate Prosser	2 years, $1.25 million
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)	Ryan Carter	1 year, $625,000
July 1, 2015 (2015-07-01)	Steve Michalek	2 years, entry-level contract
July 4, 2015 (2015-07-04)	Devan Dubnyk	6 years, $26 million
July 11, 2015 (2015-07-11)	Christian Folin	2 years, $1.45 million
July 13, 2015 (2015-07-13)	Joel Eriksson Ek	3 years, entry-level contract
August 2, 2015 (2015-08-02)	Erik Haula	2 years, $2 million
August 16, 2015 (2015-08-16)	Brett Bulmer	1 year, $600,000
December 21, 2015 (2015-12-21)	Jared Spurgeon	4 years, $20.75 million (extension)

Draft picks

See also: List of Minnesota Wild draft picks

Below are the Minnesota Wild' 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	20	Joel Eriksson Ek	C	Sweden	Farjestad BK
2	50	Jordan Greenway	LW	United States	USA U-18
4	111	Ales Stezka	G	Czech Republic	HC Bílí Tygři Liberec
5	135	Kirill Kaprizov	LW	Russia	Metallurg Novokuznetsk
6	171	Nicholas Boka	D	United States	USA U-18
7	201	Gustav Bouramman	D	Sweden	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
7	204[a]	Jack Sadek	D	United States	Lakeville North High School

Draft notes

• The Minnesota Wild's third-round pick will go 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.

• The Minnesota Wild's fifth-round pick will go 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.

• ^a The Vancouver Canucks' seventh-round pick will go to the Minnesota Wild as the result of a trade on June 28, 2014 that sent a third-round pick in 2014 to Tampa Bay in exchange for a third-round pick in 2014 and this pick.Tampa Bay previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on June 27, 2014 that sent a second-round pick in 2014 to Vancouver in exchange for Jason Garrison, the rights to Jeff Costello and this pick.

References