Are the 2018-19 Chicago Blackhawks the most fun last place team ever?

The Chicago Blackhawks enter the weekend in dead last in the Central Division. With that said, are they the most fun to watch last place team ever?

Following their defeat to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday Night, the Chicago Blackhawks enter the weekend dead last in the Central Division. They are nine points out of the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference with 15 games remaining. They would also need to jump five teams in order to get in. If they were to win out, they would have 93 points, which is almost never enough to make the playoffs in either conference. Just to put it frankly, they are not making it to the playoffs.

After all of those negative things to say about a team, you would think that watching their games would be no fun for its fans. The true die-hard fans watch all the games no matter what, but even the casuals enjoy watching this Blackhawks team regardless of where they are in the standings.

So why is that? The answer is simple. They play an entertaining brand of hockey. It is not really the type of hockey that wins games but it is really fun to watch. They score a lot of goals, and in turn, give up lots of goals, so the games are always pretty close. For example, the game against the Sabres on Thursday, each team had the lead and ended up going to overtime where 12 shots were recorded in the extra frame. Then it went to a shootout.

Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Alex DeBrincat all scored for Chicago in the shootout, which just shows the offensive capabilities of this team. Kane is having a banner year and has a chance to surpass his career high in goals and points. His 40 goals and 56 assists at a whopping 96 points are second in the National Hockey League, only trailing Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov. If the Blackhawks were to be a playoff team, he would likely be the MVP but in their absence, Kucherov will likely earn the honor.

Kane is worth the price of admission every night and remains worth watching on TV whenever the Blackhawks are on. He is as dynamic as any player in the league and really making a case for himself as the best player in Chicago Blackhawks history. Regardless of how the season has gone for the team, keep an eye on Kane.

Jonathan Toews is also having as good of a comeback year as you could expect from him. He has 29 goals and 40 assists for 69 points in what many would call a nice season for him. This is the first time since the 2014-15 season that he recorded 60-plus points and if he gets one more it will only be the second time that he has reached 70 points and the first since 2010-11. Toews is a future Hall of Fame player and one of the best captains in NHL history so it is very nice to see him get back to his old self.

The key to being a playoff team is depth. That starts with having a great second line that contributes almost as regularly as the first line. If anything can be taken from this season is a trade they made early on for Dylan Strome. His chemistry with Alex DeBrincat is something that many expected because of their days together in junior, but going into next year they can expect to have a really nice second line.

They have not had a great second line center since Brad Richards helped them to a Stanley Cup in 2015. It has also given Toews the opportunity to play with Kane on occasion, which has not happened often at even strength much in their careers. If those trios can move into next year, then maybe the draft or free agency could help them work out the bottom six and the defense.

The New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, and Ottawa Senators are the other three last-place teams in the league. New Jersey is decimated by injury and is icing a very young lineup every night. Ottawa traded away all of their best players, including their top five scorers from a year ago. Los Angeles has some aging stars that have underperformed this year. Of all those teams that are in last, the Blackhawks are the most entertaining to watch. In fact, they might be the most fun to watch last place team ever.

When was the last time a guy who was second in scoring was in last place? Or the fact that Kane, Toews, and DeBrincat will all end with more than 30 goals. They are always in games because of their ability to score which makes it interesting. If they can get some help on the blue line and some bottom-six forward depth then they could be back in the hunt for the playoff hunt. They also likely won’t fire a legendary coach mid-season and waste a month figuring out a new system that is completely different from the one before.