Blackhawks Visit the Kings in the Season Finale Tonight

Over the next several days to weeks (the time inbetween now and the draft lottery) there will be plenty of time to recap the season as a whole, today however is all about game 82. This the last chance to see Connor Bedard, Alex Vlasic, and now Frank Nazar on the ice for quite some time.

That in itself is a morose narrative as we all want to see these young players grow and thrive in Chicago instantly. Time is on our sides however, as the core of players is either young or yet to be drafted. Tonight the Blackhawks will travel to Los Angeles to face a Kings team fighting for playoff seeding.

Heading into tonight (last day of the regular season for all teams) the Kings are 1 point behind the Vegas Golden Knights for 7th place in the Western Conference. More to the perspective as a Blackhawks fan though is that each of those teams outcomes are quite important to Chicago.

As the Blackhawks' management starts to transition from on ice work to full draft mode, they will likely be keen to see both the Kings and Knights ahead in the standings from the Lightning. Chicago having acquired their 2024 1st round selection, will hope that both the Kings and Knights will finish ahead of the Lightning's season ending 98 point campaign.

The Kings are led by 3 players that have 70+ point seasons already in Kevin Fiala, Adrian Kempe, and Anze Kopitar. The real bright spot for LA has been of the play from 21 year old forward Quinton Byfield who has lived up to his 2nd overall selection this season. With 53 points thus far, the 6'5 225lb Canadian has rebounded from a slow start to his career and has regained traction as a future star player.

So question is, do you cheer on the Hawks to victory tonight or do you hope for a high scoring loss in order to (potentially) help their draft positioning?