diff --git a/scrapy/core/engine.py b/scrapy/core/engine.py
index bd1a9f04b..4ef1d0fc6 100644
--- a/scrapy/core/engine.py
+++ b/scrapy/core/engine.py
@@ -263,10 +263,8 @@ class ExecutionEngine(object):
         dfd.addBoth(lambda _: slot.scheduler.close(reason))
         dfd.addErrback(log.err, spider=spider)
 
-        # XXX: spider_stats argument was added for backwards compatibility with
-        # stats collection refactoring added in 0.15. it should be removed in 0.17.
-        dfd.addBoth(lambda _: self.signals.send_catch_log_deferred(signal=signals.spider_closed, \
-            spider=spider, reason=reason, spider_stats=self.crawler.stats.get_stats()))
+        dfd.addBoth(lambda _: self.signals.send_catch_log_deferred(
+            signal=signals.spider_closed, spider=spider, reason=reason))
         dfd.addErrback(log.err, spider=spider)
 
         dfd.addBoth(lambda _: self.crawler.stats.close_spider(spider, reason=reason))