Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
As we approach the holiday season and the end of the calendar year, it’s time we take another look at the NHL Sour Rankings and rank the teams putting their worst foot forward in an attempt to secure the best odds at the first overall pick. Unless one of these teams has a 2019 St. Louis Blues-level turnaround, there is a good chance that one of them will be calling Connor Bedard’s name at the NHL draft in June.
What are the Sour Rankings? They are essentially the inverse of power rankings. Instead of the best teams in the league, they look at who is toiling in futility to this point in the season.
We have some turnover from our first edition back in November, but the No. 1 team remains as terrible as ever. They have some competition at the bottom, though, as the bottom two teams have begun to separate themselves from the lackluster pack.
Before we get to the list of lousy, let’s check in on Bedard’s season so far. The Regina Pats star has 27 goals and 64 points in 28 games. He has a five-goal lead on his closest competition while holding a 17-point margin in the points race. Bedard is headed to the World Junior Championship to help Canada defend the gold medal he helped them capture in the summer.
Anaheim Ducks (8-20-3, 19 points)
With just two regulation wins this deep into the season, the Ducks are worse than anyone thought they would be this year. They rank fourth worst in goals for, dead last in goals against and their goal differential is 18 goals worse than any other team in the NHL. The Ducks aren’t just bad, they are brutal.
One of the biggest issues in Anaheim is that they seem to have no set system or structure to their game at either end of the ice. Defensively, they’re running around with no idea how to play as a unit. Offensively, they show little to no creativity beyond their top talent, and they do nothing to manufacture offense. The coaching staff has either lost the room or lost the plot. Either way, it’s not good.
Bright Spots and Hope for the Future
The Ducks have some exciting building blocks for the future. Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry, and Mason McTavish are up front, and despite being injured at the moment, Jamie Drysdale is an outstanding young defenseman who plays the game with skill and offensive flair. They also have Olen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov coming up in the defensive pipeline. With all of this high-flying talent who can push the pace offensively, the Ducks could be one of the most exciting teams in a couple of years – especially if they get Bedard.
Chicago Blackhawks (7-17-4, 18 points)
With just one win in their last 10 games, Chicago has worked themselves into the conversation with Anaheim as the league’s worst team. They’re actually in last place in the NHL heading into Friday behind a team with only two regulation wins, although they have three games in hand.
They started the season fairly well, keeping up in the early playoff race within the Central Division before tanking hard over the last month. No team has scored fewer goals on the year, and the only team that has a worse goal differential than Chicago is Anaheim.
The team has a number of veterans who could be on the trade block come deadline time, and there will be decisions to be made on the two biggest cornerstones to their Stanley Cup-winning teams as Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews would likely fetch a good haul. . Only Kane, Toews and Max Domi have surpassed 15 total points in the year.
Bright Spots and Hope for the Future
The prospect pool in Chicago is underwhelming, but they did have a solid draft last year, selecting Kevin Korchinski and Frank Nazar. They have a number of players that will be at the world juniors as well, so there is talent coming. They just lack the elite talent teams need to become contenders. The biggest reason for hope for the future is that they seem to be finally heading down the rebuild path and if they do move one or both of Kane and Toews at the deadline, they could boost their rebuild efforts quite a bit.
San Jose Sharks (10-16-5, 25 points)
The Bay area would be a fun spot for Connor Bedard to land, and the Sharks are doing their best to make sure it happens. They rank fourth worst in points percentage this season as a team, largely thanks to their record at home this season with just three wins in 16 games in San Jose. They have more points than a few of the teams behind them, but they’ve also played more games than most in the bottom half of the league.
Among the teams at the bottom of the standings, the Sharks are easily leading the way in best vibes as Erik Karlsson’s resurgence has made watching the team fun again and they are welcoming their rebuild already. They are in the top half of the league for scoring while also being one of the bottom five in allowing goals. To say that hockey in San Jose has been fun as an unbiased viewer is an understatement.
Bright Spots and Hope for the Future
William Eklund, Thomas Bordeleau and Filip Bystedt are the future for the Sharks, and while they aren’t quite there yet, they provide a reason for hope. The team may not outwardly say that they are rebuilding, but the actions of the squad certainly seem to indicate that they have and they are playing fun hockey. Add in names like Brandon Coe, Daniil Gushchin, Mattias Havelid and whoever they draft at the top of the draft, the Sharks could be in for a solid future.
Columbus Blue Jackets (10-17-2, 22 points)
The vibes in Columbus are not quite as good as they are in San Jose. In fact, they are pretty putrid. Despite prized free-agent signing Johnny Gaudreau producing and looking as advertised, the team is struggling in all aspects. They have a number of their key players on injured reserve, and they can’t seem to get things on track. Zach Werenski and Adam Boqvist are on long-term injured reserve, which leaves their already thin blueline even thinner.
They haven’t seen steps forward from their young players this season either. Kent Johnson is the only one of the young players that’s seemed to take a step ahead, and he’s in his rookie season. The fact that he is third in scoring for the club with 14 points is not a good sign. The Blue Jackets could use a franchise-altering talent down the middle because they haven’t figured out their center depth. Even if Bedard isn’t in the cards, they could use a talent like Leo Carlsson or Adam Fantilli.
Bright Spots and Hope for the Future
The Blue Jackets have a sneaky good prospect pool. Aside from Johnson and Cole Sillinger, they have some very intriguing young talent at just about every position. Dynamic forward Kirill Marchenko made his NHL debut recently. David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk could be pillars on the blueline for years to come. Luca Del Bel Belluz, Jordan Dumais, Corson Ceulemans, Stanislav Svozil and Sergei Ivanov are all on the way as well. They are in the darkness before the dawn.
Philadelphia Flyers (10-14-7, 27 points)
In the John Tortorella era, Philly has come crashing back down to earth after a hot start thanks to unreal goaltending from Carter Hart to start the season. The team plays old-school, rough-and-tumble Philly hockey, looking to bully their opponent, and they certainly don’t let you forget who you played that night. The problem is that they don’t really have the ability to keep up offensively and turn to violence once they get down in a game.
They rank fourth last in goals-for despite Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny each playing at a point-per-game pace. They have a porous blueline with defensive liabilities Rasmus Ristolainen and Tony DeAngelo playing major minutes for the club. Philly’s management team acted as if their team was going to be competitive in the summer, and they definitely missed the mark on some of the moves they made.
Bright Spots and Hope for the Future
Carter Hart is still just 24 years old, and he has been one of the best netminders in the league. He has come back down to earth recently, but he has been the team’s MVP through the first few months of the season. Joel Farabee has been decent and still has room to grow as well. The prospect pool is lacking high-end talent but there are a few solid pieces such as Cutter Gauthier, a top-10 pick from last year’s draft.
Honorable Mentions: Arizona Coyotes (who were very lucky not to be on this list despite falling to 29th place,) Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks.
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