3.) Blackhawk lottery chances
As Blackhawk fans we have to face reality; coach Q is gone, prime Toews, Kane, and Keith are not walking through that door and while Lehner is fine he is no superior goaltending. Basically the hawks are not the dynasty they once were and need to rebuild. The NHL has put the teams that won’t make the playoffs into the lottery already, but also the losers of the first conference round will be in the draft lottery. Any Hawks rebuild needs lottery picks and prospects, home cooking is big in any sport and giving the Blackhawks home games would increase the chances of them winning.
Take the first round matchup, the 12 seed Hawks and the 5 seed Oilers. Edmonton is out of its home country and hundreds of miles away from family in an uncertain time. Oh yeah and by the way anyone going to Canada has to quarantine for 14 days even with no symptoms. So the trip home for Canadian teams will not be easy either. There is so much weighing on the minds of those teams and the Hawks will have home beds to go back to.
A first round series win means the Hawks don’t get a lottery pick and have greatly reduced odds of getting someone who can help the team get back to actual playoff contention in a few years.
