The Blackhawks are projected to endure another last-place finish in the Central Division

The Chicago Blackhawks have occupied the bottom of the Central Division standings for the past three seasons.

JFreshHockey's latest projection has the Hawks destined for a fourth-straight last-place finish.

The good news is that the Blackhawks are projected to have more points in the standings. That hopefully means a few more wins.

A last-place finish still would not be so bad

The Hawks would still have good odds to win the No. 1 overall pick and the chance to select generational talent, Gavin McKenna in next year's draft.

Imagine the crazy amount of offense Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, Anton Frondell, and McKenna would produce for the Hawks on a nightly basis.

Also, if the Hawks finish dead last once again, it can still be okay, depending on certain conditions being met. Bedard making the jump to an 80- to 100-point scorer would go a long way toward putting to rest that he might never reach his immense ceiling after a misconceived notion that he had a sophomore slump last season. Bedard has had two straight 60-point seasons before turning 20. Most NHL players never come close to that offensive production in their careers.

When you are considered a generational talent, that is supposedly a letdown.

Nazar tripling his career production of 13 goals and 14 assists this season would also cement him as a star that the team is banking on him developing into. They just handed him a massive contract extension despite Nazar skating in 56 career NHL games. Kirill Kaprizov got the same type of deal from the Wild after 55 games, and winning the Calder Trophy in 2021. Let's hope Nazar turns into an All-Star like Kaprizov.

If Nazar can produce numbers like Kaprizov, sitting through another terrible season is a short-term price worth paying.

Sam Rinzel and Artyom Levshunov establishing themselves as top-pair defensemen would also make enduring another last-place season worth it.

Spencer Knight taking the next step toward being an outstanding No. 1 goalie could make a last-place finish bearable.

However, if those five players are producing great seasons, along with the supporting cast doing well, then the Blackhawks should not finish in last.

A last-place finish may also come down to the Blackhawks' final goal differential.

The Hawks could also face a last-place finish because the team gets off to another terrible start as the group adjusts to new head coach Jeff Blashill's style of play.

Some of his systems are similar to those of last year's interim head coach, Anders Sorenson, but there will be tweaks. There will be an adjustment period.

Another issue that could put the Blackhawks on a collision course with another last-place finish is that this defensive unit is going to be very young. Connor Murphy and Alex Vlasic are the only two defensemen to skate in multiple full NHL regular seasons.

There will be growing pains.

A potential fourth-straight last-place finish might be too painful to go through for some. However, the Blackhawks have such an impressive pipeline of young talent that this may be the last season the franchise has to trudge through finishing eighth in the Central Division.