from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Someone is going to have to alert the Parity Police stationed at NHL Headquarters that the model is broken and there are more bottom-feeders than at any time since the salary cap was adopted in 2005-06.

For the first time in this era, there are three teams playing at a percentage of .326 or lower, these particular cellar-dwellers existing in Columbus, Chicago and Anaheim. For the second time — and for the second straight season — five teams are playing below a .400 clip.

There were only two cap seasons prior to 2021-22 in which as many as three clubs couldn’t hit the .400 bar. Indeed, in 13 of the 14 seasons from 2006-07 through 2019-20, no more than one team fit under that cutoff.

The Blackhawks, as tainted an organization as has ever existed in the NHL, is at the bottom by design in making good on management’s warped intention to dive as deep into the tank as possible. The Ducks actually spent some cash in the offseason to add a cadre of vets who might have made the club a more presentable outfit, but failed to do that. The Blue Jackets did not sign Johnny Gaudreau with any conceivable notion that they not only would be in the running for Connor Bedard, but also would be in pole position just past the halfway mark.

The cap was supposed to smooth out the extremes. The NHL was supposed to be an Any Given Sunday League. Instead, the league is in its second straight season with a subset of historically bad teams.

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This is from Page 116-117: “A major change in the face-off rule affected the position of the players taking the draw and coincided with the introduction of the red line in 1942-43. Prior to that season players taking the draw would line up facing the side boards. Many coaches employed a strategy that required the players taking the face-off to actually ignore the puck and instead on the other face-off man, allowing a teammate to come in and take the puck.