2015–16 ECHL season
| 2015–16 ECHL season | |
|---|---|
| League | ECHL |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | October 16, 2015 – April 9, 2016 |
| Regular season | |
| Brabham Cup | Missouri Mavericks |
| Season MVP | Chad Costello (Allen) |
| Top scorer | Chad Costello (Allen) |
| Playoffs | |
| Eastern champions | Wheeling Nailers |
| Eastern runners-up | South Carolina Stingrays |
| Western champions | Allen Americans |
| Western runners-up | Fort Wayne Komets |
| Playoffs MVP | Chad Costello |
| Kelly Cup | |
| Champions | Allen Americans |
| Runners-up | Wheeling Nailers |
The 2015–16 ECHL season was the 28th season of the ECHL. The regular season schedule ran from October 16, 2015 to April 9, 2016 with the Kelly Cup playoffs to follow. Twenty-eight teams in 21 states and one Canadian province will each play a 72-game schedule. The league alignment was significantly altered before the season when the American Hockey League announced the formation of a Pacific Division on January 30, 2015 displacing the ECHL teams that had been in California markets.
As part of a massive market swap with the American Hockey League, the three California based ECHL franchises moved east into markets that the AHL had vacated.
Two South Division teams changed names to reflect their regions:
Due to the relocation of the former Californian franchises, the league's conference alignment was significantly altered. ECHL brought back the Midwest and South Divisions to increase the number of divisions from four to six, whereas the number of teams per division was reduced from seven to either four or five.
With less teams on the Pacific coast, the former Pacific Division was renamed as the West Division. The Central division lost three teams: Rapid City to the West, Brampton to the North, and Quad City to the Midwest. Former North Division teams Cincinnati, Evansville, Fort Wayne and Indy joined Quad City in the new Midwest Division.
All former East Division teams except Elmira and Reading are realigned to the new South Division with the relocated teams Adirondack, Manchester and Norfolk being placed in the East Division.
For the 2015–16 season, all 28 ECHL teams are only allowed to have a single affiliation with an NHL team leading to many affiliation changes.
The annual ECHL Board of Governors meeting was held at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, in June 2015. The ECHL Board of Governors unanimously elected Cincinnati Cyclones' president Ray Harris as chairman replacing Atlanta Gladiators' president Steve Chapman who had served as chairman for the previous seven seasons. The Board also approved of several rule changes including the change to a 3-on-3 overtime for the full five-minute duration. If still tied after overtime the shootout is decreased to three shooters per side before entering the "sudden death" format.
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