from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

Meanwhile, the rest of the league continues to hammer on the Sons of the Golden Jet, who awoke at the start of the week within a single point of the hapless Los Angeles Kings for the bottom spot in league standings. There is no glory in that, unless of course it has become the Blackhawks’ mission to finish 31st overall in hopes of landing prized prospect Jack Hughes in June’s amateur draft.

But man, tanking is a tricky business. It sure looked like that’s what the Sabres were up to in 2014-15 when generational draftee Connor McDavid was on the board. The same suspicions circulated that year about Arizona and Edmonton. It was an ugly three-legged race to the bottom of the NHL barrel.

When all the tanking settled, the Sabres indeed finished last with 54 points, followed by the Coyotes at 56 and the Oilers at 62. Mission accomplished in Buffalo: McDavid was lined up in the franchise’s crossed sabres as the next Gilbert Perreault. Good times sure to follow.

But since 1995, true last in the NHL hasn’t been determined until the ping-pong balls have been sorted out in the predraft lottery.

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