State of the Division: Where do the Blackhawks fit in the standings?

26 points. Yep, if you’re just now tuning into the Blackhawks 2024-25 season now that the NFL season is coming to a close and it’ll be a minute or two before MLB spring training is underway, you might just be disappointed. 

Weren’t the Blackhawks at least supposed to get a little better this season, you might be asking after glancing at the lineup that’s included Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi since they signed back in July? Hey, if this were a season full of educated hypotheses, I’d have said that the Hawks would rank somewhere between 11th and 13th in the conference and at least not in the Central Division’s basement. 

But, in reality, this is the situation your team finds itself in, and it’s not a fun one. You may even check out who the Hawks have coming up in January and cringe. Yeah, I think we know what’s about to happen once January 31st hits. But if you want a bright side, at least the sky’ll be a bit brighter when we steamroll into February. 

As for the Hawks, if you want any comfort whatsoever, it’s that they might not end up as the worst team in the Central. Don’t believe me? They may be in eighth place out of eight teams, but they’re still just three measly points behind the Nashville Predators going into Friday night. 

Blackhawks could finish the year ahead of a preseason contender

The Blackhawks weren’t fooling anyone going into the season. It was going to be another struggle, even if we didn’t think that struggle would occur to this extent. As for the Predators, they had everyone fooled, with nothing going right for them, and that continues to be the case. 

Note that earlier in this article, I felt the Hawks would land somewhere between 11th and 13th in the conference, and right now, that’s looking to be out of the question. But they could end up taking 14th if they manage to keep pace with and pass the Preds while doing the same thing to the San Jose Sharks, who have only 30 points. 

No, there’s not a shred of hope that the Hawks will finish any better than seventh in the Central and likely 14th in the West unless someone decides to tank between now and mid April. But if they indeed finish last in both their conference and division, there’s always a draft to look forward to. 

Yeah, you might get tired of reading that, as this long, drawn-out process was supposed to show a little improvement at this point. But if they can land a playmaker like James Hagens or Porter Martone, and one of them makes an early impression, that presence alone might prove to be a turning point as Connor Bedard would have one excellent sidekick.