Chicago is on course for its worst finish since the 1950s. The Sharks won't match their 1990s expansion lows, but aren't much better.
The Chicago Blackhawks are on course to finish with an even worse record than last season and their lowest winning percentage in 70 years.
The Blackhawks have landed on their backsides this season, even in Anaheim on Thursday.At 19-46-5 and 43 points, Chicago needs seven wins and 16 points in its last 12 games to match its 2022-23 victory and points totals. It limped in at 26-49-7 and 59 points last April.
Only four Blackhawks teams in the franchise's 98-year history have finished with a lower points percentage than the team's current .307. The 1951-52 edition was the most recent.
Another Battle At The Bottom
The Blackhawks will meet the only NHL team with a worse record this season, the San Jose Sharks, for the second time in a week on Saturday night at the SAP Center. Chicago rallied for a 5-2 win over San Jose at the United Center last Sunday.
The biggest thing at stake in this one is positioning for the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery. The team that finishes 32nd in the 32-team NHL will have 25.5% odds of winning the lottery and a shot at top prospect Macklin Celebrini of Boston University. The 31st-place team will have a 13.5% chance.
Macklin Celebrini (No. 71 in red) will be No. 1 in June at the NHlL Draft.Celebrini had three assists in BU's 4-1 win over Maine in the Hockey East Tournament semifinals on Friday to up his freshman season totals to 30 goals and 58 points in 34 games. The Terriers and Celebrini face arch-rival Boston College in the conference finals at the TD Garden on Saturday.
Chicago finished 30th last season and with 11.5% odds, but won the lottery and drafted current NHL leading rookie scorer Connor Bedard with the first pick.
Bedard Update
Connor Bedard was blanked along with his teammates in a stinker in Anaheim.Bedard entered Saturday's game with 21 goals and 54 points in 56 games. The 18-year-old had four goals and 11 points in a five-game span before he and his teammates were shut out 4-0 by the Ducks in Chicago's flat, disjointed effort in Anaheim on Thursday.
Chicago is 5-28-1 on the road this season and endured a 22-game road winless streak from Nov. 9, 2023 to March 5, 2024 when they beat they beat the Coyotes in Arizona 5-2. The Blackhawks have dropped three on the road since.
The Sharks enter having lost six in a row overall and with only one win in their last 16 (1-13-2).
Like the Blackhawks, San Jose's .283 points percentage is even worse this season than in 2022-23, when it finished 22-44-16, with 60 points and a .387 percentage.
The Sharks' worst two seasons were their first ones in the NHL after entering as an expansion team in 1991-92. They bottomed out at 11-71-2 in 1992-93.