2015-16

• A change to overtime -- in an effort to reduce the number of games decided in a shootout, all overtimes will be 3-on-3.

• Three outdoor games dot the 2015-16 season. The Canadiens beat the Bruins, 5-1, in the 2016 Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. There were two Stadium Series matchups -- the Wild beat the Blackhawks, 6-1, at TCF Bank Stadium (home of the University of Minnesota football team) on February 21, and the Avalanche lost to the Red Wings, 5-3, at Coors Field on February 27.

• The All-Star Game undergoes the most radical change in the event's history. In fact, it ought to be called the All-Star Games -- plural. There will now be four teams, with players representing their divisions. Each squad will consist of six forwards, three defensemen and two goalies. The Atlantic Division taking on the Metropolitan Division, followed by the Central Division vs. the Pacific Division. The winners will then face off for the All-Star Game "championship." All games will consist of two 10-minute halves, and all the action will be 3-on-3.

• The league found itself in a tough spot when fans voted John Scott, then of the Arizona Coyotes, the captain of the Pacific squad. Going into the 2015-16 season, Scott had for his career 5 goals, 6 assists and 542 penalty minutes -- certainly not All-Star numbers. The NHL tried convincing Scott to skip the All-Star game, but he wouldn't budge. Shortly before the game, the Coyotes traded Scott to the Montreal Canadiens, who immediately assigned him to their AHL affiliate in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. That would have made him ineligible for the All-Star Game. But amid massive backlash, the NHL relented and let him play and serve as captain of the Pacific team. Not officially representing a team, Scott responded by scoring two goals in the semifinal and leading the Pacific to the tournament championship. Scott was named tournament MVP.

• Woe, Canada: For the first time since 1970 and only the second time in NHL history, no Canadian teams qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

• All four division winners were out of the playoffs by the end of the conference semifinals. In the end, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the San Jose Sharks in six games to win their fourth Stanley Cup.