Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
The common opinion across hockey is the NHL standings don’t hold value until American Thanksgiving.
With that checkpoint passing last Thursday, people are already looking toward the playoffs and which teams will make it.
Last season, just three teams made the playoffs after being on the outside at American Thanksgiving. One of those teams, the New York Islanders, was just two points back. Edmonton (10 points back) and Nashville (five points back) were the other two teams that leaped into the playoffs.
Related: Three NHL Teams That Aren’t In A Playoff Spot But Can Still Make It
With that being said, the bottom of the NHL standings works pretty similarly. Of the three teams that fell out of playoff spots, only the Seattle Kraken found themselves with a top 10 pick, picking eighth overall. Detroit and St. Louis, the other two teams that fell out of the playoffs, picked 15th and 16th, respectively.
That means the current top 10 (bottom 10?) on the NHL sour rankings should more than likely be in the running for the lottery.
There’s no surefire first-overall pick this year with a four-player grouping all looking to challenge for the honor. Michael Misa, James Hagens, Porter Martone and Matthew Schaefer seem to be the foursome battling it out for first overall.
Related: 2025 NHL Draft Rankings: Will There Be A Race For First Overall?
Let’s go to the NHL’s basement again to see who is in contention to draft one of those impressive prospects, building toward a better future.
Chicago Blackhawks, 8-15-2, 18 points, .360 P%
It’s been a trying season in Chicago once again.
Connor Bedard hasn’t been as productive a goal-scorer as he and the team hoped, but he still leads the team in scoring. His 0.86 points per game is a better U-20 rate than Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Nathan MacKinnon and Jack Hughes, per The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler.
U20 points per game:
Patrick Kane: 0.88
Steven Stamkos: 0.88
*Connor Bedard: 0.87*
Auston Matthews: 0.84
Mitch Marner: 0.79
Nathan MacKinnon: 0.69
Jack Eichel: 0.69
John Tavares: 0.66
Jack Hughes: 0.64Bedard doesn’t turn 20 until next summer.
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) December 1, 2024
Although he’s expressed some frustration, he’s putting up some very good numbers on a brutal team. Although NHL teams aren’t in the business of finding moral victories, the Hawks could use a few to feel good about themselves for the rest of the season.
Related: Opinion: What’s Wrong With Connor Bedard Right Now? The Blackhawks Around Him
Montreal Canadiens, 8-13-3, 19 points, .396 P%
Simply put, the Canadiens are not having a good time.
They aren’t getting the same consistency from their top players this season, and their goaltending has been subpar and inconsistent, to put it kindly.
The Canadiens were hoping to take a step this year with Kirby Dach returning from injury and key off-season acquisition Patrik Laine coming into the fold. Unfortunately, injuries to Laine and others, a slower-than-expected return for Dach and a multitude of other issues have prevented Montreal from getting out of the basement. At least Laine is making his season debut on Tuesday.
Nashville Predators, 7-12-6, 20 points, .400 P%
The off-season darlings have been one of the NHL’s most dreadful teams.
The Predators brought in Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault to bolster a lineup that was among the NHL’s hottest in the second half of last season, but the mix hasn’t worked. They haven’t been nearly as good as expected, and there is clear frustration.
The Nashville Predators look broken.
Steven Stamkos’ postgame comments about work ethic got me thinking about the need for accountability and what it would look like for this team (and no, it’s not firing the coach).@TheHockeyNewshttps://t.co/GorVgqfEJc
— Emma Lingan (@emma_lingan) November 30, 2024
Stamkos has had seven goals and 13 points in 25 games. Marchessault has four goals and 12 points. Brady Skjei has nine points. And while Filip Forsberg led the team with 94 points last year, he’s on pace for 55 this season.
The Predators are currently the second-lowest-scoring team in the NHL, which is not something you’d expect with the names on this roster. Nashville will need a turnaround similar to the Edmonton Oilers of last season, but they don’t have a Connor McDavid to drag them there.
San Jose Sharks, 9-13-5, 23 points, .426 P%
Once again, the Sharks are near the bottom of the standings, but the mood around the team lately has been fairly positive.
After a lengthy absence to start the season, first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini has been incredible to start his young NHL career. He was just named rookie of the month for November, and the joy the Sharks fans are feeling as they watch him blossom has been fun to watch. Good vibes in San Jose.
Ottawa Senators, 10-12-2, 22 points, .458 P%
The nightmare Novembers continue to be a theme for the Ottawa Senators.
Once again, the Senators dug a hole in November, going 5-8-1 for the NHL’s lowest points percentage of the month.
Currently five points out of a wild-card spot with a bottom five points percentage, Ottawa may be dealing with a lost season once again.
They have a great fan base, a handful of highly entertaining and talented players and a new ownership and management group. Unfortunately for those intensely passionate fans, this team has continued to have the same struggles of the past.
Their defense corps is leaky and too reliant on one or two players, and the depth down the middle up front is incredibly young. All of that contributes to poor goaltending, where they just brought in a Vezina winner this past summer. Linus Ullmark has a .888 save percentage and 3.07 goals-against average.
Seattle Kraken, 11-13-1, 23 points, .460 P%
The Kraken have been an underwhelming product this season, as they continue to struggle in many facets of the game.
When Joey Daccord is in net, they are getting solid goaltending, but when Phillip Grubauer is in the crease, the Kraken are struggling to keep their head above water.
Young players, such as Matty Beniers and Shane Wright, have been very inconsistent and largely ineffective at times this season.
They just need more talent on the roster, as most expansion franchises need. The Vegas Golden Knights’ instant success has skewed our view of what an expansion franchise should be. The Kraken are kind of what they are supposed to be.
Pittsburgh Penguins, 10-12-4, 24 points, .462 P%
What a letdown this season has been for the Penguins.
They have the worst goal differential in the NHL at minus-28, and they sit near the bottom of the NHL standings.
Sidney Crosby scored his 600th career goal, just the 21st player all-time to do so, but it came in a 5-1 loss, overshadowing what should have been a celebratory night.
That’s the problem with the Penguins right now. Their best players are in the twilight of their careers, and aside from Crosby, they aren’t offering nearly the same level of production or value as they have in years past. The pressure won’t decrease from here with trade speculation heating up, either.
The Penguins are kind of like your uncle at Thanksgiving talking about how good he was on his high school football team. It was a long time ago, just like the Penguins’ success.
Detroit Red Wings, 10-11-3, 23 points, .479 P%
The frustration in Detroit is similar to an I Think You Should Leave sketch. Fans are angry and confused, and they simply don’t know what’s going on, and they are asking, “What are they doing to us?”
This team was so much fun last year, coming within a point of making the playoffs. But this year, aside from Lucas Raymond, this team has looked lost.
They have had a hard time in just about every facet of the game, from 5-on-5 to their league-worst penalty kill. They are outchanced in general and in high-danger situations, outshot and outscored. They have some talent, but the veterans they’ve brought in over the last couple of summers need to step it up.
New York Islanders, 9-10-6, 24 points, .480 P%
The Islanders are a mediocre team with a possible disconnect between how the coach wants to play and how the GM is building the team.
“Our job is to win, and when you want to win, you go with the guys that you know are going to play inside, not on the outside. And we need to find a way to have Pierre doing this on a consistent basis, that’s all.”#Isles @TheHockeyNews https://t.co/ltl4l7TlmS
— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) December 2, 2024
Mathew Barzal missed November with an injury, and they’ve been missing Anthony Duclair for even longer. This team has been hit hard with injuries to key players, and it’s decimated their chances of returning to the playoffs. They’ll need a strong (and healthy) season moving forward if they want to get out of this funk.
St. Louis Blues, 11-12-2, 24 points, .480 P%
The Blues are who we thought they were. They’re a middle-of-the-road team, playing roughly .500 hockey and looking like a tough team to play against on one night and a complete rollover the next.
They lack the upper-echelon talent to be a contender, but they have plenty of interesting players throughout the lineup. This isn’t the 2019 team where they will turn it around like magic after a coaching change and go on to win a Cup, but they are better than they’ve been and could sneak up and challenge for a playoff spot with Jim Montgomery at the helm.
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Related: NHL Power Rankings: The Contenders, Playoff Hopefuls And Lottery Squads At U.S. Thanksgiving
