Even With Bedard, Blackhawks May Be NHL's Worst Team

Good morning. According to yesterday’s poll, the Hockey Recap community believes this year’s Buffalo Sabres are destined for the postseason for the first time since 2011, with 63.33% of participants voting “yes.”

Between Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin, Alex Tuch, Owen Power, and the emergence of Devon Levi, we like your confidence.

Just four sleeps until the opening night of the 2023-24 NHL Regular season. 😍

- Brandon Rubeo & Kevin Allen

Today’s Lineup:

• Five teams competing to the be the league’s worst

• Ducks sign Jamie Drysdale

• Arthur Kaliyev suspended four games

• And a lot more… 👇

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Even With Bedard, Blackhawks May Be NHL’s Worst Team

The usual cast of suspects are in play again this season when it comes to projecting which team might have the best opportunity to grab next year’s No. 1 draft pick.

There’s no Connor Bedard prize this season, but there are some quality players near the top, such as Boston University’s center Macklin Celebrini, left wing Cole Eiserman of the U.S. National Team Development Program and Russian standout Ivan Demidov of SKA St. Petersburg.

Here are the teams with the best shot to be the worst team:

1. Chicago Blackhawks: Bedard is not going to change things overnight. General manager Kyle Davidson has a quality rebuild strategy in place, but this season is still going to be patchwork design. And the Blackhawks aren’t going to be unhappy if they land a pair of top draft picks in successive years. When they landed Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in back-to-back drafts, it worked out fine.

2. Philadelphia Flyers: This John Tortorella-coached team may have to fall farther before it gets back up. This could be the bottoming out season.

3. San Jose Sharks: Defenseman Erik Karlsson helped this team stay competitive at times last season and now he is playing in Pittsburgh. This is another team that could take another half-step back as GM Mike Grier begins his renovation work.

4. Anaheim Ducks: This is a team starting to dig out of the cellar. Pat Verbeek has made some intriguing changes, but their ability to compete with good teams is still not there.

5. Columbus Blue Jackets: After the Mike Babcock debacle, management is probably on the hot seat to turn this franchise around. There are some reasons to be optimistic, especially when it comes to the team’s collection of young talent. Adam Fantilli could be in the Calder Trophy hunt. The Blue Jackets are trying to step up this season, but they probably aren’t quite ready.

✍️ Anaheim Ducks signed defenseman Jamie Drysdale to a 3-year, $6.9 million contract. Drysdale was the 6th overall pick in the 2020 draft and missed most of last season with torn labrum in his left shoulder. The Toronto-native was just the Ducks 4th defenseman ever to have at least 30 points with 32 (4 goals, 28 assists) in his rookie season, joining Hampus Lindholm (2013-14), Cam Fowler (2010-11) and Francois Beauchemin (2005-06). Read more →

🚫 Arthur Kaliyev of the Kings has been suspended for four games for kneeing Chase De Leo of the Calgary Flames during a preseason game Tuesday night. Kaliyev will miss two preseason games and two regular season games. De Leo left the game after the hit and is expected to miss eight weeks with an MCL sprain. Read more →

Who holds the NHL’s all time record for most points by a rookie defenseman?

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Larry Murphy collected an astounding 76 points for the Los Angeles Kings in the 1980-81 season which still stands as the NHL’s all time record for a rookie defenseman.