Would the Blackhawks survive a hypothetical 2025-26 promotion-relegation?

It's time to enter an alternate universe where a promotion-relegation system rules the NHL, like what you see in many European leagues. For this one, the NHL would do away with developmental AHL/ECHL affiliations, and instead adopt a tiered system for each club.

That said, for any player in the Chicago Blackhawks and the other 32-team system, they would instead have them develop in a separate league not named the AHL or ECHL. AHL-level players would only sign with AHL teams, and the same goes with ECHL talent.

It would let the 32-team league in the NHL officially adopt a system that would see its bottom three teams in danger of relegation, with the team snagging the lowest points total automatically going down to the AHL.

Then, the second and third-worst teams would engage in a playoff series, with the loser also joining the AHL. As for the winner, they "win" the best odds for the draft lottery.

In the AHL, the Calder Cup Champion would get instant promotion into the NHL, and the runner-up would get a chance to join them in an additional playoff series against the next team that had the best points total in the regular seaosn.

If the Calder Cup Champion also had the highest total in the regular season and the runner-up had the second-highest, then they would play in a playoff series against a team with the third-highest to see who else gets promoted.

The two promoted teams would earn the second and third-best odds to win the draft lottery. So, if something like this hypothetically occurred in 2025-26, how much should it worry Hawks fans?

Chicago Blackhawks could face relegation in this hypothetical scenario, but...

Suppose the NHL approved a rule like this to go into effect immediately following the 2025 Stanley Cup Final. Chances are, Hawks fans probably wouldn't be as worried as you'd think.

For one, Kyle Davidson would've had enough of a heads-up, where he'd push to make trades and sign free agents, luring them to the Hawks in blockbuster deals. This would've avoided the nonexistent offseason that was, with the team looking stronger overall heading into 2025-26.

Playoff-worthy? Doubt it. But the goal here would've been to stave off relegation, and Davidson would've known his team only needed to finish above the bottom three, something the Hawks could even be capable of with the team they got this year.

If Davidson still went the route he did, I'd be a little more worried if I were a Hawks fan, but I'd also know that my team could compete with the Seattle Kraken, Nashville Predators, Buffalo Sabres, and maybe even the Pittsburgh Penguins, giving them potential leeway.

But fear not, Hawks fans, for there is no looming promotion-relegation system on the horizon. Even if there was, even with a bad on-ice product for 2025-26, relegation wouldn't be a given. So sit back, enjoy watching the Hawks develop this season, and maybe they'll surprise us a bit.

And if that's the case, then you also don't need to worry about the fallout from the Hawks tank earlier this decade.

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