Here we go again.
One can’t help but wonder whether the Chicago Blackhawks won an entertaining 5-2 game Sunday against the San Jose Sharks only to lose ground in the Macklin Celebrini sweepstakes.
The Sharks have lost four straight games to fall four points behind the Hawks in the Western Conference and pretty much cement their place at the bottom of the NHL standings. The Hawks beat the Sharks 2-1 in a shootout earlier this season in a battle of the worst records.
Yes, there’s a month of games left, but the Sharks have a game in hand (or should we say “potential loss”?) on the Hawks.
At stake: The Biggest Loser wins the best odds in the NHL draft lottery: 18.5% (but really a 25% chance because of limits on how far lottery teams can move up). Second place drops to a 13.5% chance.
Whoever ends up in the top slot gains first rights to draft consensus No. 1 pick Celebrini, but the Hawks can’t worry about whether a single, meaningless win could cost them a generational pick (though some pundits would argue Michigan State defenseman Artyom Levshunov is far from a consolation prize).
We’ve been here before.
The Hawks faced their share of criticism last year for beating the Pittsburgh Penguins in their second-to-last game in the regular season, all but ruining their chances to win the lottery and draft Connor Bedard at No. 1. The score? 5-2. Eerie, right?
Back then, the win dropped the Hawks to third place in the lottery seeding, yet the lottery balls fell in their favor despite an 11.5% chance of winning the first overall pick.
It’s just another reminder that there’s no such thing as a sure thing, at least in sports.
The Hawks are facing different circumstances now too.
They were shedding the last vestiges of the Patrick Kane-Jonathan Toews era — including trading Kane — and were still free-agent flippers, turning hired hands like Max Domi into draft capital.
But this season, they have pieces of the future nucleus in place, and the focus should be on teaching those players how to level up to the NHL game — and how to win.
Rookie Kevin Korchinski gave the Hawks the go-ahead goal against the Sharks on a one-time blast from the blue line Sunday.
Coach Luke Richardson said, “He can sling it pretty good and I think sometimes he just doesn’t pull the trigger and he wants to make another play to someone else. That’s not selfish.”
Korchinski said, “It’s nice (to score), but the better feeling is just winning as a team, getting that team feeling and feeling good.”
Lukas Reichel returned to the lineup after a demotion to Rockford and assisted on Korchinski’s goal.
“I know I'm not the biggest guy but just using my body, even when I have the puck, protect my body sometimes. … I know if I keep working on that and protect the puck, I'm going to be able to make more plays out of it.”
—Lukas Reichel pic.twitter.com/j6dpQOzg6U
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) March 18, 2024
“He was moving his feet, he was playing hard and he made a great play there on my goal,” Korchinski said. “All kudos to him. He was flying.”
Reichel knows his development is critical, but it goes beyond himself.
“Guys are battling for spots on the team or for contracts,” he said about the Hawks and Sharks, who are also rebuilding. “We all want to win, it doesn’t matter where we’re at in the standings.”
Joey Anderson reflected on the team’s recent run as winners in three of the last four games: “We’re doing good things. We’re sticking to the process.”
Still, it’s not wrong for Hawks fans to hope that, with a bit of luck, that process could include Celebrini.
The 17-year-old doesn’t carry quite the same level of pre-draft hoopla Bedard did as a 17-year-old phenom last year, but scouts have called him a “relentless” competitor, the kind franchises build around.
Celebrini led Canada at the World Junior tournament in Sweden with four goals and four assists. The Boston University center shares the lead in NCAA points per game (1.67) with Boston College’s Gabe Perreault.
Celebrini has ties to both Chicago and San Jose. He had 46 goals and 40 assists with the USHL Chicago Steel last year and played youth hockey for the San Jose Jr. Sharks.
Celebrini is from Vancouver; Bedard is from the same area.
Imagine if the Hawks landed them both. You could be looking at the next Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Kane and Toews.
For now, Richardson won’t worry about maybes or missed opportunities, but another date with the Sharks awaits Saturday on the road. The draft order will sort itself out and the Hawks have a whole other department for that.
“We’re coaches and we’re players, so we don’t really think about the other part of the business that goes on later in the year,” he said. “I just think that we play as hard as we can and the right way.
“Good karma and good things happen, and that’s what happened last year for us.”
