2015–16 Chicago Blackhawks season
The 2015–16 Chicago Blackhawks season was the 90th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on September 25, 1926. They entered the season as defending Stanley Cup champions having won the Stanley Cup the previous season, their third championship in six years. The Blackhawks finished the season with 103 points to finish in third place in the Central Division, only six points behind the Western Conference-leading Dallas Stars. They lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs to the St. Louis Blues in seven games.
Patrick Kane led the Blackhawks with 46 goals and 106 points, both career highs. He was named the winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy as most valuable player in the NHL, becoming the first US-born player to receive the award. The Blackhawks had four players who scored 20 or more goals: Kane, Artemi Panarin, Jonathan Toews, and Artem Anisimov. Goalie Corey Crawford led the Blackhawks with 35 wins. Artemi Panarin received the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year.
Off-season
The Blackhawks faced an off-season of change after being crowned Stanley Cup Champions for a third time in six years. Coming into the offseason, it was well known Chicago was facing impending cap space struggles and moves would need to be made.On June 27, Chicago traded backup goaltender Antti Raanta to the New York Rangers in exchange for AHL forward Ryan Haggerty. Two days after the trade, defenseman David Rundblad received a two-year, $2 million contract extension on June 29.
The Blackhawks attempted to negotiate a contract for restricted free agent winger Brandon Saad who was a restricted free agent, but were unsuccessful. Unlikely to match any sizeable offer sheets due to cap constraints, Chicago traded Saad to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Chicago sent Saad and prospects Michael Paliotta and Alex Broadhurst to Columbus in exchange for center Artem Anisimov, wingers Jeremy Morin and Corey Tropp, as well as prospect Marko Dano and their 2016 4th round pick. Anisimov subsequently signed a five-year, $22.75 million contract with the Blackhawks. The move did not sit well with the Chicago fanbase, as Saad was viewed as another top young player on the Stanley Cup-winning squad, even though Anisimov would score 42 points for the Blackhawks in 2015–16.
Chicago turned to Russia a few times throughout the off-season. Kontinental Hockey League winger Viktor Tihkonov signed a one-year, $1.04 million contract with Chicago on July 1. Tihkonov was returning to the NHL for the first time since his 2009 season with the Phoenix Coyotes. Also, Chicago and Edmonton swapped minor league players, sending goaltender Anders Nilsson to the Oilers in exchange for forward Liam Coughlin.
Following season-long trade speculation, the Blackhawks pulled the trigger on another trade by trading another piece of its core Stanley Cup winning teams. Another cap clearing move, Chicago traded alternate captain Patrick Sharp and defenseman Stephen Johns to the Dallas Stars in exchange for forward Ryan Garbutt and defenseman Trevor Daley. A three-time Stanley Cup winner, Sharp carried a cap hit of $5.9 million in each of the next two seasons, limiting the Blackhawks in what they could do with free agency. A trade was expected following a down year in terms of production and the large aforementioned cap hit.
Forward Andrew Desjardins returned on a two-year contract worth $1.6 million, taking less to stay in Chicago. Theteam also extended the contracts of defensemen Viktor Svedberg, forward Marcus Kruger, and defenseman Michal Rozsival. They lost forwards Brad Richards and Antoine Vermette, as well as defenseman Johnny Oduya during free agency.
Season notes
The Blackhawks began their title defense with and average month of October. The Blackhawks went 6–5–0. However, fortunes increased in November and December. The Blackhawks finished December on two game winning streak, looking to keep the wins coming in 2016. The Blackhawks did just that, winning the first 10 games of January to bring the win streak to 12 games. The streak set a franchise record for consecutive wins. The streak tied the Florida Panthers win streak earlier in the season for the longest winning streak in the NHL that season.Standings
Schedule and results
Pre-season
Regular season
;Detailed recordsPlayoffs
Player statistics
Final statsSkaters
| Player | ||||||
| 82 | 46 | 60 | 106 | 17 | 30 | |
| 80 | 30 | 47 | 77 | 8 | 32 | |
| 80 | 28 | 30 | 58 | 16 | 62 | |
| 81 | 14 | 35 | 49 | 6 | 32 | |
| 67 | 9 | 34 | 43 | 13 | 26 | |
| 77 | 20 | 22 | 42 | 8 | 12 | |
| 78 | 13 | 22 | 35 | −2 | 20 | |
| 78 | 14 | 20 | 34 | 11 | 69 | |
| 64 | 13 | 20 | 33 | 10 | 24 | |
| 81 | 2 | 22 | 24 | 13 | 32 | |
| 82 | 3 | 11 | 14 | −5 | 31 | |
| 41 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 4 | |
| 77 | 8 | 5 | 13 | −8 | 30 | |
| 51 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 3 | 33 | |
| † | 19 | 8 | 4 | 12 | −3 | 6 |
| 44 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 4 | |
| 30 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 6 | |
| ‡ | 43 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −7 | 27 |
| ‡ | 29 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| † | 19 | 4 | 1 | 5 | −7 | 4 |
| 41 | 4 | 1 | 5 | −7 | 23 | |
| ‡ | 30 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −3 | 6 |
| 27 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −5 | 4 | |
| 41 | 0 | 4 | 4 | −5 | 24 | |
| 17 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −2 | 2 | |
| ‡ | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| † | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −1 | 2 |
| 25 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −5 | 2 | |
| 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −2 | 6 | |
| † | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 6 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 | |
| †‡ | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −6 | 0 |
| ‡ | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 6 |
| ‡ | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 2 |
| Totals | 82 | 223 | 381 | 604 | 61 | 554 |
| Player | ||||||
| 7 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 14 | |
| 7 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 14 | |
| 6 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 18 | |
| 7 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 10 | |
| 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | |
| 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | |
| 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 16 | |
| 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 12 | |
| 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −3 | 2 | |
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 0 | |
| 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |
| 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 0 | |
| 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 2 | |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Goaltenders
| Player | |||||||||||||
| 7 | 7 | 448 | 3 | 4 | 19 | 2.54 | 205 | .907 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Blackhawks. Stats reflect time with Blackhawks only.
‡Left team mid-season. Stats reflect time with Blackhawks only.
Awards and honours
Awards
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| NHL First Star of the Week | November 9, 2015 | |
| NHL First Star of the Month | December 1, 2015 | |
| NHL First Star of the Week | December 14, 2015 | |
| NHL All-Star game captain | January 2, 2016 | |
| NHL Third Star of the Month | January 4, 2016 | |
| NHL All-Star game selection | January 6, 2016 | |
| NHL First Star of the Week | January 18, 2016 | |
| NHL Second Star of the Month | February 1, 2016 | |
| NHL First Star of the Week | April 4, 2016 | |
| Calder Memorial Trophy | June 22, 2016 | |
| Hart Memorial Trophy | June 22, 2016 |
Milestones
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | October 7, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL game | October 9, 2015 | |
| 200th career NHL game | October 9, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL goal | October 10, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL assist | October 10, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | October 15, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL game | October 17, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL game | October 29, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | October 30, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL assist | November 2, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | November 4, 2015 | |
| 300th career NHL game | November 4, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | November 6, 2015 | |
| 300th career NHL game | November 8, 2015 | |
| 200th career NHL point | November 8, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL assist | November 18, 2015 | |
| 19 game point streak – American Record 600th career NHL game | November 28, 2015 | |
| 900th career NHL game | December 3, 2015 | |
| 22 game point streak – Blackhawks Record | December 6, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | December 8, 2015 | |
| 600th career NHL point | December 8, 2015 | |
| 1,200th career NHL game | December 13, 2015 | |
| 500th career NHL game | December 13, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL assist | December 13, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | December 13, 2015 | |
| 1st American born player to score 20 goals in each of their first 9 seasons | December 13, 2015 | |
| 600th career NHL game | December 20, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | December 20, 2015 | |
| 800th career NHL game | December 27, 2015 | |
| 100th career NHL goal | December 31, 2015 | |
| 4th OT goal this season – Blackhawks Record | December 31, 2015 | |
| 300th career NHL game | January 3, 2016 | |
| 1st career NHL goal | January 8, 2016 | |
| 800th career NHL game | January 10, 2016 | |
| 783rd career NHL coaching win – 2nd all time | January 14, 2016 | |
| 1st career NHL hat-trick | January 15, 2016 | |
| 300th career NHL game | February 6, 2016 | |
| 300th career NHL assist | February 6, 2016 | |
| 400th career NHL assist | February 15, 2016 | |
| 1st career NHL hat-trick | February 17, 2016 | |
| 1st career NHL playoff goal | April 15, 2016 | |
| 1st career NHL playoff goal | April 23, 2016 |
Transactions
The Blackhawks were involved in the following transactions during the 2015–16 season.Trades
;Notes- Pittsburgh to retain 33% of salary as part of trade.
- Winnipeg to retain 36% of salary as part of trade.
- Chicago to retain 50% of salary as part of trade.
- Los Angeles to retain 15% of salary as part of trade.
Free agents acquired
Free agents lost
Claimed via waivers
Lost via waivers
Lost via retirement
Player signings
Suspensions/fines
Draft picks
Below are the Chicago Blackhawks' 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 |
| 2 | 54 | Graham Knott | LW | Canada | Niagara IceDogs |
| 3 | 91 | Dennis Gilbert | D | United States | Chicago Steel |
| 4 | 121 | Ryan Shea | D | United States | Boston College High School |
| 5 | 151 | Radovan Bondra | RW |  Slovakia | HC Košice |
| 6 | 164 | Roy Radke | RW | United States | Barrie Colts |
| 6 | 181 | Joni Tuulola | D |  Finland | HPK |
| 7 | 211 | John Dahlstrom | LW/C |  Sweden | Frölunda HC Jr. |
;Draft notes
- The Chicago Blackhawks' first-round pick went 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.
- The Chicago Blackhawks received the 24th pick of this round as compensation for not signing 2010 first-round draft pick Kevin Hayes.
- The Chicago Blackhawks' second-round pick went to the Philadelphia Flyers as the result of a trade on February 27, 2015, that sent Kimmo Timonen to Chicago in exchange for a conditional fourth-round pick in 2016 and this pick.
- The Los Angeles Kings' sixth-round pick went the Chicago Blackhawks as the result of a trade on July 16, 2013 that sent Daniel Carcillo to Los Angeles in exchange for this pick. The condition – Chicago will receive a sixth-round pick in 2015 if Carcillo plays less than 40 games with Los Angeles during the 2013–14 NHL season – was converted on January 4, 2014, when Carcillo was traded to the New York Rangers after playing only 26 games with the Kings.