When it comes to winning the NHL Draft Lottery and earning the right to select center Macklin Celebrini, the San Jose Sharks are in the driver’s seat – for now.
The Sharks’ 5-2 loss to Chicago at the United Center on Sunday kept them in last place in the NHL’s overall standings – now four points back of the 31st-place Blackhawks — with a month left in the regular season.
The Sharks got here by having a league-worst 2-12-2 record since Feb. 14 when they returned from a two-week break.
If the Sharks (16-44-7) remain in last place, they’ll have a 25.5 percent chance of winning the lottery – something that’s never happened in team history – and taking Celebrini, the former Jr. Sharks star who was the third-leading scorer in NCAA Division I this regular season with 30 goals and 55 points in 33 games for Boston University.
The draft lottery odds for the team with the second-worst record drop to 13.5 percent, and 11.5 percent for the third-worst team.
If the Sharks finish with the NHL’s worst record, they will draft no lower than third overall.
“Hopefully this summer is a good summer,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said recently. “Hopefully we get a little luck with the lottery and hopefully next year we’re in a place where we can kind of take a step forward after kind of two years of kind of peeling it back a little bit.”
Here’s where things stand for the NHL’s bottom three teams going into the final month of the season.
30. Anaheim Ducks (23-42-3, 49 points, 14 GR)
Home (7): Minnesota, Chicago, Tampa Bay, Seattle, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Calgary.
Road (7): Seattle (twice), Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary, Los Angeles, Vegas
Remaining opponents’ points percentage: .549 (18th-hardest in NHL, per Tankathon)
Outlook: The Ducks enter this week on a six-game losing streak in which they’ve been outscored 31-7. Trading Adam Henrique, Sam Carrick, and Ilya Lyubushkin appears to have completely sapped Anaheim of its will to compete. The only good news for the Ducks is that their skid solidifies their chances of picking inside the top five for the third time in four years, as they’re now eight points back of the Columbus Blue Jackets for 29th.
Remember, it was the team with the league’s third-worst record, Chicago, that won the draft lottery last season.
“This stretch is hard obviously. It’s hard on everyone,” Troy Terry said after Anaheim’s 4-2 loss to St. Louis on Sunday. “It’s crucial not to start playing the wrong way, especially with the young guys and creating bad habits. We’ve got to keep playing the right way and not feeling sorry for ourselves.”
31. Chicago Blackhawks (19-44-5, 43 points, 14 GR)
Home (5): Calgary, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, Carolina
Road (9): Los Angeles (twice), Anaheim, San Jose, Ottawa, Philadelphia, N.Y. Islanders, St. Louis, Vegas
Remaining opponents’ points percentage: .538 (23rd-hardest in NHL)
Outlook: A year after winning the Connor Bedard sweepstakes, the Blackhawks are right back in the mix for the first overall selection. Since Bedard returned to the lineup on Feb. 15, though, Chicago is a not atrocious 5-8-2, and there are more opportunities to pick up points the rest of this month with games against Anaheim, the Sharks, Calgary and Ottawa.
Goalie Petr Mrazek made 25 saves against the Sharks – in front of 18,426 roaring fans — and has a decent .900 save percentage since the All-Star break. This isn’t a team that appears to be too worried about falling back into last place in the NHL standings. Don’t be surprised if Chicago catches Anaheim.
“I couldn’t even hear myself think,” Blackhawks defenseman Kevin Korchinski said of the United Center atmosphere on Sunday. “We’ve got to get more of that.”
32. San Jose Sharks (16-44-7, 39 points, 15 GR)
Home (9): Tampa Bay, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Arizona, Calgary, Minnesota.
Road (6): Nashville, St. Louis, Seattle, Edmonton, Calgary.
Remaining opponents’ points percentage: .542 (22nd-hardest in NHL)
Outlook: How many more games will the Sharks win this season? How many other opponents can they realistically beat? San Jose enters its game with the Nashville Predators on Tuesday having lost 13 of 14, allowing 4.57 goals per game in the process.
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Grier has effectively torn the team down to the studs by trading Timo Meier, Erik Karlsson, and Tomas Hertl – mostly for future assets — all within about 54 weeks. But say this about the Sharks right now: they’re still working hard. They just don’t have the horses to win many games and will be an underdog just about every time they play the rest of the season.
“It is what it is. This is our team until the end of the year,” Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said after the trade deadline. “Go out have fun, be competitive, try to win some games. It’s easy to do when you love what you do.”