NHL Sour Rankings: San Jose Leads the Early Race for Macklin Celebrini

The NHL sour rankings are back. 

The one-horse race to the bottom in the NHL has been the San Jose Sharks doing everything in their power to give themselves the best odds at winning the NHL draft lottery in the spring. The sour rankings are essentially the opposite of a power rankings. We aren’t looking at who holds power in the NHL; we're watching who is securing the best draft lottery odds at this point in the season.

With that said, along with the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks of the world, who were expected to be less-than-stellar squads, we have a few surprise contenders for the ultimate goal in league futility and hope for the future. One of the pre-season favorites to win the Stanley Cup, the Edmonton Oilers, have been brutal to start the year, and they’ve already made a coaching change. The upstart Ottawa Senators are closer to the bottom three in the league than the top three in their division.

This year’s NHL draft doesn't have a Connor Bedard-level talent, but the names at the top of the 2024 class are very intriguing. Macklin Celebrini is a stud center who is currently tied for the NCAA scoring lead. Cole Eiserman is one of the best goal-scorers we’ve seen come through the NHL draft in a half-decade or more, looking to challenge the NTDP goal-scoring record of 72 held by Cole Caufield. Ivan Demidov’s hype was getting close to Matvei Michkov's levels before his injury. Berkly Catton is one of the most underappreciated prospects in hockey, quietly asserting himself in the top five of the class. Cayden Lindstrom, Anton Silayev and Sam Dickinson are among the group of very good players with impressive physical tools.

It’s still early, but we are nearing the point where “it’s early” will no longer be an excuse. With that being the case, let’s take a look at the first NHL sour rankings of the season, an examination of the league's most unfortunate clubs, all sitting with a .500 points percentage or lower before Saturday's games.

There are teams that try to be bad. There are teams that are built to lose. Then, there are the San Jose Sharks. 

The roster is filled with veteran journeymen, reclamation projects and young players without enough around them to make a real impact. Players and coaches don’t ever truly try to lose, but the front office can take away pieces and set them up to have a tough road ahead. San Jose did exactly that.

The Sharks haven’t been competitive on many nights, even giving up 10 goals in back-to-back games at one point. When you are so bad that analysts and commentators begin to ask just how close to challenging the all-time futility record they will come. They’ve managed to win a few games finally, but the Sharks are still very much a team looking to put themselves in the best position possible to get as high of a pick as possible. It’s been so bad that Sharks fans have been doing daily tankathon checks, and it’s only halfway through November.

The bottom was bound to fall out on this team eventually. They’ve been a team that’s consistently occupied the mushy middle for the last few years, and despite having some impressive high-end talent, such as Filip Forsberg and one of the best netminders in hockey in Juuse Saros, they are a team in transition. They started the season with a decent run, going 4-4 in their opening eight games but have gone 1-6 since.

There are many problems for the Predators, including that beyond Forsberg and veteran free agent signing Ryan O’Reilly, they haven’t had anyone score for them consistently. Roman Josi isn’t the same player that challenged 100 points two seasons ago, and the depth of talent on the back end is as thin as it’s ever been in 'Smashville.' They could use a top pick this year, and adding a player such as Macklin Celebrini or Cole Eiserman could be a game-changer for a team that has only drafted inside the top 10 twice since the 2005 NHL lockout.

This team is frustrating to watch. They clearly have talent in players like last year’s third overall pick Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger, all featuring in their forward core. We’ve also seen high-end talent from David Jiricek and Jake Bean on the back end. There are veterans like Patrik Laine, Johnny Gaudreau and Zach Werenski all playing prominent roles with the team as well – at least, they're supposed to be. So what is going on?

There have been multiple benchings during games, including their most recent match when Laine and Gaudreau were stapled to the bench with under 10 minutes while down on the scoreboard. The team hasn’t played Johnson in the lineup with any regularity, and he’s currently tearing up the AHL. This team has quietly been one of the NHL’s biggest disappointments this season because of what they have the potential to accomplish, but they’ve avoided so much of the criticism – and that's after the coaching change. They could quietly be a contender for the first overall pick.

After securing the first overall pick last year and drafting franchise-altering talent Connor Bedard, landing a running mate for the future like Celebrini or Eiserman could set the club up for success for the next decade-and-a-half. Believe me, I know that isn’t what you want to hear if you’re a fan of any other team in the NHL.

Bedard has basically been as advertised, and Kevin Korchinski's been a welcome addition to the lineup as an impact defenseman. This team knows it needs reinforcements to improve over the next couple of years, and with a burgeoning prospect pool and quite the cupboard of draft picks, it’s coming. It’s just going to take some time.

What’s going on? Despite many picking the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup before the season, this club has been dreadful so far. 

The goaltending has been deeply concerning. Their defensive structure has looked as loose as a grown man’s shirt on a baby. They fired their head coach. Jack Campbell is in the AHL, allowing as many goals there as he did in the NHL. He must regain his confidence because he’s in Year 2 of a five-year deal that pays $5 million per season.

What people haven’t been talking about, though, is just how bad the Oilers have been offensively this season. They are a bottom-10 team in goals-for this year, and if Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid don’t return to the god-like form they were in the last couple of years, the Oilers could remain in big trouble. With the talent that this team has, particularly their two all-world centers, they should find their way out of the basement.

There's cap trouble, underperforming goaltending and overall frustration boiling over from years of making the playoffs but failing to win a round since 2015. With talent like Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, they shouldn’t have a problem scoring, but stringing together a full 60 minutes has been tough to come by for the Wild.

This squad's searched for a franchise center for basically their entire existence. Could Macklin Celebrini finally fix that for them? The Boston University star would instantly fit in between a couple of their star wingers and allow everyone else to settle in a bit lower in the lineup. The Wild have been the definition of too good to get the top few picks and too bad to really threaten anyone in the playoffs. Bottoming out while they are in salary cap hell might be a good idea.

Remember when it was Darryl Sutter’s fault? While it seemed time to move on for the club and coach, there has been some rough hockey played in Calgary. They seem disconnected and directionless. Their vets are good but not great. Their young stars are starting to make an impact, but the Flames' prospects aren’t blowing anyone away consistently.

Bottoming out this year wouldn’t be the worst thing, but the Flames must turn it around quickly, as they sent their 2025 first-rounder to Montreal to offload Sean Monahan two summers ago. Could a return to form from Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau be all they need? It may be a tall task to ask players entering their 30s to rewind the clock, but sacrificing the future by being among the league’s worst teams again next year is not ideal.

It has been a rough start for the upstart Sabres. In a year when so many expected them to take the next step and become a playoff squad, they have been dealt poor hand after poor hand. Star rookie netminder Devon Levi already missed a stint of games, and budding superstar Tage Thompson is expected to be out for at least a month. It’s not going to be easier for this squad.

It’s not like the Sabres need another high draft choice, but adding a center of Celebrini’s skill level would give them all of the pieces they could hope for en route to consistent contention. Unfortunately, they are a young squad that relies on players like Owen Power, Dylan Cozens, and JJ Peterka, among other under-23 talent, to carry the load. They might just not be ready yet, especially with the injuries.

They have been playing a bit better lately, but last season’s playoff darlings have come crashing down to earth this season. The third-year franchise is trying to regain its form from last season, but asking players to repeat a career campaign for many of the Kraken skaters is a tall order.

The Kraken aren’t finding ways to insulate their goaltending the way they did last year, and because of that, they’ve bled goals. The Kraken are a very good team that just hasn’t rekindled the magic of last year. Maybe they are closer to that traditional expansion franchise of their first season rather than the league's sweethearts.

The Islanders went from a team that challenged the Tampa Bay Lightning in back-to-back conference championship series to a squad marinating in the mushy middle. The buzz around the Islanders is mainly around whether Ilya Sorokin can play well enough in goal to carry this club to the playoffs, and winning a round is another story in itself.

This team is struggling and isn't especially fun to watch right now. The Isles didn't add many players over the off-season despite making the playoffs by two points and losing in the first round, but the front office often gets the benefit of the doubt. Why didn't they keep the momentum going after bringing in Bo Horvat, and can GM Lou Lamoriello make this club rediscover its success from 2019-20 and 2020-21?

Honestly, this Canadiens team has been overperforming to a degree this year. They haven’t been the pushover many thought they would be, and they are finding new and creative combinations all over the roster. Montreal isn’t going to stay as competitive as they have been to start the season – which is saying something given their .471 points percentage.

The Habs are truly just hoping to see development and success from their young players, such as Cole Caufield, Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj. One thing they haven’t managed to do as of yet is get Juraj Slafkovsky to produce on a consistent basis. It’s been frustrating for the 2022 first overall pick. His three points in 17 games haven’t been all that impressive. He needs to pay attention to the little things, and he should be fine. First overall picks don't have to be impact players on Day 1 or 2 – most of them aren’t – and Slafkovsky won't be the first player who takes their time developmentally.

Despite now-former GM Pierre Dorion’s proclamation that the rebuild was over two years ago now, the Senators are still toiling around the lottery teams. The talent on the squad is legit, with Tim Stutzle capturing the hearts of audiences from North America to Sweden, Brady Tkachuk playing with more heart than anyone, and a defense corp that features Jake Sanderson, Thomas Chabot and Jakob Chychrun. The Sens have talent, so what’s holding them back?

First off, they have themselves right up against the cap, which prevented them from signing 20-goal rookie Shane Pinto, who has since been suspended for activities related to sports wagering. Their bottom six isn't full of productive players, and they play some of the most disorganized hockey in the NHL. They can fix this, and they probably will by season's end, but it’s yet another rough start despite sky-high expectations for the Senators this year.