2015–16 New York Rangers season
The 2015–16 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 89th season of play and their 90th season overall. The season began its regular games on October 7, 2015 against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Regular season
- On November 15, the Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs to extend their winning streak to nine: the second-longest in franchise history. Additionally, the win surpassed eight-game winning streaks that occurred in the 2014–15 season and the 1974–75 season.
- On January 16, Henrik Lundqvist recorded his 20th victory of the season, making him the first NHL goaltender to start his career with 11 straight, 20-win seasons. Lundqvist also joined Hockey Hall of Fame member Tony Esposito and retired goaltender Martin Brodeur as the only goalies with 11 consecutive, 20-win seasons at any point in their career. Overall, Lundqvist became the 15th NHL netminder to have won at least 20 games in a season 11 times.
- On February 14, Lundqvist became the Rangers' all-time leader in games played by a goaltender. He surpassed Mike Richter with his 667th career appearance in a 3-1 home win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Standings
Schedule and results
Pre-season
Regular season
Playoffs
The Rangers qualified for the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, entering as the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference and being matched up against the Pittsburgh Penguins.Player statistics
Final stats;Skaters
| Player | ||||||
| 81 | 26 | 35 | 61 | 2 | 34 | |
| 80 | 27 | 31 | 58 | 12 | 30 | |
| 72 | 22 | 31 | 53 | 5 | 20 | |
| 82 | 5 | 42 | 47 | −4 | 40 | |
| 82 | 22 | 21 | 43 | 10 | 46 | |
| 79 | 21 | 22 | 43 | 10 | 58 | |
| 60 | 15 | 21 | 36 | 8 | 30 | |
| 79 | 14 | 22 | 36 | 4 | 30 | |
| 73 | 9 | 25 | 34 | 26 | 22 | |
| 79 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 9 | 18 | |
| 68 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 12 | 43 | |
| 69 | 9 | 17 | 26 | 16 | 19 | |
| 74 | 10 | 14 | 24 | 0 | 30 | |
| 75 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 6 | 22 | |
| 74 | 2 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 20 | |
| 80 | 6 | 9 | 15 | −2 | 32 | |
| 77 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 2 | 36 | |
| 57 | 4 | 3 | 7 | −3 | 66 | |
| † | 20 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| 34 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 64 | |
| ‡ | 29 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 20 |
| ‡ | 19 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −4 | 2 |
| 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 2 | |
| 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 4 | |
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Player | ||||||
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | |
| 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 0 | |
| 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −3 | 4 | |
| 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 4 | |
| 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −1 | 4 | |
| 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −4 | 2 | |
| 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 7 | |
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 0 | |
| 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 0 | |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −7 | 4 | |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 6 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
;Goaltenders
| Player | ||||||||||||||
| 65 | 64 | 3,772 | 35 | 21 | 7 | 156 | 2.48 | 1944 | .920 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | |
| 25 | 18 | 1,150 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 43 | 2.24 | 530 | .919 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6.00 | 6 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player | |||||||||||||
| 5 | 5 | 205 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 4.39 | 113 | .867 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | 0 | 94 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2.55 | 38 | .895 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Rangers. Stats reflect time with the Rangers only.
‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Rangers only.
Bold/italics denotes franchise record.
Roster
Awards and honors
Awards
Milestones
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | October 7, 2015 | |
| 500th career NHL game | October 9, 2015 | |
| 100th Win as Rangers Head Coach | October 9, 2015 | |
| Oscar Lindberg | 1st career NHL assist | October 18, 2015 |
| 100th career NHL assist | October 19, 2015 | |
| 700th career NHL point | October 22, 2015 | |
| 800th career NHL game | October 24, 2015 | |
| 200th career NHL point | October 25, 2015 | |
| 1st career NHL hat-trick | October 30, 2015 | |
| Mats Zuccarello | 100th career NHL assist | November 3, 2015 |
| 500th career NHL game | November 14, 2015 | |
| 700th career NHL game | November 14, 2015 | |
| 600th career NHL game | November 23, 2015 | |
| 100th career NHL game | November 23, 2015 | |
| Derick Brassard | 300th career NHL point | November 25, 2015 |
| Alain Vigneault | 1,000th career NHL game as Head Coach | December 11, 2015 |
| 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | December 11, 2015 | |
| 100th career NHL point | December 11, 2015 | |
| Chris Kreider | 200th career NHL game | December 12, 2015 |
| 1st career NHL game | December 15, 2015 | |
| Dylan McIlrath | 1st career NHL goal | December 15, 2015 |
| 100th career NHL game | December 17, 2015 | |
| Derick Brassard | 200th career NHL assist | December 22, 2015 |
| Rick Nash | 900th career NHL game | January 5, 2016 |
| 20th career NHL win in 11 straight seasons | January 16, 2016 | |
| 400th career NHL game | January 24, 2016 | |
| Dan Girardi | 700th career NHL game | February 12, 2016 |
| Derek Stepan | 100th career NHL goal | February 14, 2016 |
| 1st career NHL game | February 21, 2016 | |
| Marek Hrivik | 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | February 23, 2016 |
| Henrik Lundqvist | 30th career NHL win in 11 straight seasons | February 25, 2016 |
| Marc Staal | 600th career NHL game | February 27, 2016 |
| 600th career NHL point | March 6, 2016 | |
| 400th career NHL game | March 12, 2016 | |
| Kevin Klein | 100th career NHL assist | March 21, 2016 |
| Mats Zuccarello | 200th career NHL point | March 31, 2016 |
| Mats Zuccarello | 300th career NHL game | April 2, 2016 |
| Derek Stepan | 300th career NHL point | April 4, 2016 |
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| 1st career NHL playoff game | April 13, 2016 | |
| 1st career NHL playoff game | April 13, 2016 | |
| 1st career NHL playoff game | April 16, 2016 | |
| Brady Skjei | 1st career NHL playoff assist 1st career NHL playoff point | April 16, 2016 |
| 1st career NHL playoff game | April 21, 2016 | |
| 1st career NHL playoff assist 1st career NHL playoff point | April 23, 2016 |
Records
Transactions
The Rangers were been involved in the following transactions during the 2015–16 season:Trades
;Notes- Carolina to retain 50% of salary as part of trade.
- Conditional on Yandle signing with the Panthers.
Free agents acquired
Free agents lost
Claimed via waivers
Lost via waivers
Lost via retirement
Player signings
Draft picks
Below are the New York Rangers' selections at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, held on June 26–27, 2015 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida.| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club Team |
| 2 | 41 | Ryan Gropp | LW |  | Seattle Thunderbirds |
| 3 | 62 | Robin Kovacs | RW |  | AIK IF |
| 3 | 79 | Sergey Zborovskiy | D |  | Regina Pats |
| 3 | 89 | Aleksi Saarela | C |  | Assat |
| 4 | 113 | Brad Morrison | C |  | Prince George Cougars |
| 4 | 119 | Daniel Bernhardt | RW |  | Djurgardens IF J20 |
| 7 | 184 | Adam Huska | G |  | Green Bay Gamblers |
;Draft notes
- The New York Rangers' first-round pick went to the New York Islanders as the result of a trade on June 26, 2015 that sent Edmonton's second-round pick in 2015 and Florida's third-round pick in 2015 to Tampa Bay in exchange for this pick. Tampa Bay previously acquired this pick as the result of trade on March 5, 2014 that sent Martin St. Louis and a conditional second-round pick in 2015 to New York in exchange for Ryan Callahan, a conditional first-round pick in 2014, a conditional seventh-round pick in 2015 and this pick.
- The Florida Panthers' second-round pick went to the New York Rangers as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent Carl Hagelin and a second and sixth-round pick in 2015 to Anaheim in exchange for Emerson Etem and this pick. Anaheim previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on June 26, 2015 that sent Kyle Palmieri to New Jersey in exchange for a third-round pick in 2016 and this pick. New Jersey previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on February 26, 2015 that sent Jaromir Jagr to Florida in exchange for a conditional third-round pick in 2016 and this pick.
- The New York Rangers' second-round pick went to the Anaheim Ducks as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent Emerson Etem and Florida's second-round pick in 2015 to New York in exchange for Carl Hagelin, a sixth-round pick in 2015 and this pick.
- The Buffalo Sabres' third-round pick went to the New York Rangers as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent Montreal's second-round pick in 2015 to Washington in exchange for and a fourth-round pick in 2015 and this pick. Washington previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on March 5, 2014 that sent Michal Neuvirth and Rostislav Klesla to Buffalo in exchange for Jaroslav Halak and this pick.
- The Ottawa Senators' third-round pick went to the New York Rangers as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent Cam Talbot and a seventh-round pick in 2015 to Edmonton in exchange for Montreal's second-round pick in 2015, a seventh-round pick in 2015 and this pick. Edmonton previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on March 5, 2014 that sent Ales Hemsky to Ottawa in exchange for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and this pick.
- The Washington Capitals' fourth-round pick went to the New York Rangers as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent Montreal's second-round pick in 2015 to Washington in exchange for and Buffalo's third-round pick in 2015 and this pick.
- The New York Rangers' fifth-round pick went to the Vancouver Canucks as the result of a trade on March 5, 2014 that sent Raphael Diaz to New York in exchange for this pick.
- The New York Rangers' sixth-round pick went to the Anaheim Ducks as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent Emerson Etem and Florida's second-round pick in 2015 to New York in exchange for Carl Hagelin, a second-round pick in 2015 and this pick.
- The Edmonton Oilers' seventh-round pick went to the New York Rangers as the result of a trade on June 27, 2015 that sent Cam Talbot and a seventh-round pick in 2015 to Edmonton in exchange for Montreal's second-round pick in 2015, the Ottawa Senators' third-round pick and this pick.