Canucks, Flames leading candidates to win the race to the bottom

Typically, when we talk about a standings crunch, it’s in the context of who could eke out a division title or squeeze into the playoffs. But the Great 32-Team Cluster impacts the bottom of the table, too. And when you rummage around the basement this year, it’s fair to wonder if the NHL features any team that is truly awful.

The bottom three clubs based on points percentage are the Calgary Flames (.433), Vancouver Canucks (.431) and 32nd-ranked Nashville Predators (.429).

Those three teams are the only outfits in the league that are more than two wins away from being .500 and, overall, only five teams have a sub-.500 points percentage at the moment. 

Contrast that with the standings roughly a year ago, on Monday, Dec. 9, when nine squads had a points percentage under .500 and two teams were rocking percentages in the .300s. Two years ago, on Monday, Dec. 11, 10 teams were sub-.500 and half those clubs had a points percentage in the .300s. 

As noted, not one NHL team is in the .300s today.

Even after losing 6-3 to Carolina on Saturday, the Predators are 4-2-0 in their past half-dozen games. Nashville’s minus-17 five-on-five goal differential might be tied for last in the NHL, but it’s knotted with a New Jersey Devils club that has designs on being a contender this season. In fact, the Edmonton Oilers team that’s won the Western Conference two years running is only slightly better than the Preds, at minus-14.

Calgary, meanwhile, is 6-2-1 in its past nine following Dustin Wolf’s 2-0 blanking of the Utah Mammoth on Saturday. 

Even Vancouver, with trade rumours washing around B.C., bounced back from a Friday-night loss to Utah to beat the Wild 4-2 just 24 hours later. The Canucks have been bad for a month, but their league-worst .346 points percentage since Nov. 9 is only slightly worse than the mark posted by the reigning Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets (.393). 

Speaking of deals, of the three teams we’ve zeroed in on — the Flames, Predators and Canucks — only Vancouver and Nashville seem as though they could make a swap any minute. If anything, Calgary has signalled reluctance to move pieces and the Flames’ recent results may strengthen ownership’s desire to stand pat.

We’ll see.

Still, with the holiday roster freeze 12 days away, it will be interesting to see if a seller opts to cash out first. 

In a few short weeks, the hockey world will be watching the 2026 World Junior Championship in Minnesota, and it just so happens the players who would likely — in some order — go 1-2-3 if the draft was held today will all be there. They are Gavin McKenna and Keaton Verhoeff of Canada and Ivar Stenberg of Sweden. 

Maybe seeing drool-worthy talent will trigger lottery dreams among the record-challenged clubs in the NHL.

One thing is for sure: the three teams at the bottom of the league all deserve a quick trip to the podium. The Flames have never selected in the top three since moving to Southern Alberta in 1980, while Nashville’s three highest picks are No. 2 in 1998 (with its first-ever selection), No. 4 in 2013 and No. 5 in June, when the Preds had the third-best odds to get Matthew Schaefer and wound up getting jumped by both the Islanders and Utah.

Vancouver, of course, entered the league as an expansion club in 1970 and a sorry spin of the wheel cost the Canucks the chance to take heralded Gilbert Perreault first overall. Things never really improved for Vancouver after losing that game of chance to the Sabres: The Canucks are 55 years old — though they did walk away with the Sedin twins in 1999 at second and third overall — but the organization has never enjoyed the advantage of picking before every other NHL club.

The Islanders’ franchise-altering lottery leap 10 spots up the ladder obviously offers a counter, of sorts, to anybody pushing tank talk. Then again, having the best odds to draft No. 1 is still inarguably the best position to be in for a losing club. And, this year anyway, you don’t have to be that bad to get the most favourable shot at the No. 1 pick.

Weekend Takeaways

• With a pair of goals at Madison Square Garden versus the Rangers on Saturday and a helper in Philly Sunday, Nathan MacKinnon’s league-best stat line — after two more Colorado wins — now reads 25-26-49 in 29 games. That’s roughly a 68-goal, 74-assist pace. If MacKinnon can somehow top 65 in both categories, he’ll be the first player to do so since Mario Lemieux went 69-92-161 30 years ago in 1995-96. 

(Connor McDavid came very close, with 64-89-153 in 2022-23.)

• There’s been a 15-point swing in the Metropolitan Division in a hair over three weeks. On Nov. 15, the Devils were nine points up on the Capitals with both teams having logged 18 games. Today, Washington — while holding one game in hand on Jersey — is six points up on the freefalling Devils, who’ve lost five straight after dropping a 4-1 decision in Boston on Saturday.

As for the Caps, they blanked Columbus 2-0 on Sunday to extend a run of gathering at least a point to eight straight games and 11 of their past 12. Logan Thompson is 5-0-1 in his past half-dozen outings with a .955 save percentage. 

Red and White Power Rankings

1. Montreal Canadiens (15-10-3) Second periods continue to be a problem for the Canadiens, who watched a 2-1 lead over the Blues after 20 minutes turn into a 3-2 deficit 65 seconds into the middle frame on Sunday night. Montreal — which lost 4-3 to St. Louis — has a minus-13 goal differential in second periods this season, which is tied with Chicago for the second-worst mark in the NHL. 

2. Edmonton Oilers (13-11-5) After smashing the Jets 6-2 on Saturday in Edmonton, the Oilers have outscored their opponents 19-7 in their past four outings, going 3-1-0 in that stretch. 

3. Toronto Maple Leafs (13-11-4) Give the Leafs some credit: they’re down to their third goalie and that guy, Dennis Hildeby, stood tall to get Toronto a point in a 2-1 shootout loss on home ice to Montreal on Saturday, as the Buds picked up at least a point for a fourth consecutive contest. 

4. Ottawa Senators (13-11-4) Two teams in unpleasant moods are going to meet Tuesday night in Ottawa when the Devils visit the Sens. Jersey has lost five straight and been blanked in back-to-back outings, while Ottawa — after losing 2-1 to the Blues on Saturday — has dropped its first two games back on home ice after a seven-game roadie. 

5. Winnipeg Jets (14-13-1) Winnipeg will start a critical four-game homestand on Tuesday versus one of the best teams in the league, the Dallas Stars. Anything fewer than six points is going to feel like failure for the struggling Jets. 

6. Calgary Flames (11-15-4) After blanking the Mammoth 2-0 on Saturday night, Dustin Wolf has now stopped 53 of the last 54 shots he’s faced. Maybe he’s finding the form that made him runner-up for the Calder Trophy last season. 

7. Vancouver Canucks (11-15-3) What an encouraging little run for Aatu Raty, who had two goals and an apple Saturday night to give him five points in his past three outings.

The Week Ahead

• The NHL Board of Governors meeting began Sunday in Colorado Springs, Colo., and wraps up Monday.

• Canada announced its WJC training camp roster on Monday morning and camp begins Friday in Niagara Falls, Ont. With some crummy results the past two years, Canada is going with a longer camp than in previous Decembers.

• Zach Parise, Scott Gomez and Joe Pavelski and will be inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame on Wednesday. In addition to the three former NHLers, the American Hall is also honouring Tara Mounsey — a blueliner who won Olympic gold in 1998 — and legendary photographer Bruce Bennett. 

• Get ready for the Macklin Celebrini Olympic talk to hit a new high this week as the San Jose Sharks — who’ve made only one previous trip to Canada this season — land in Toronto on Thursday for a date with the Leafs. With a goal and three points in Sunday’s 4-1 victory in Carolina, the 19-year-old’s 43 points this year is second only to Nathan MacKinnon’s 49. 

• The Leafs get their second phenom visit of the week on Saturday, when Connor McDavid and the Oilers drop by for a Hockey Night in Canada clash. Also that night, Nino Niederreiter is slated to play his 1,000^th career game when the Jets host the Capitals. The winger will become the first Swiss player to hit that milestone and leads Nashville defenceman Roman Josi 997-978 in terms of career NHL contests by a player from Switzerland. 

• The lowly Canucks visit the scuffling Devils on Sunday afternoon, creating an event that will for sure, definitely not, no way, no chance trigger any kind of wild trade talk involving a first name that rhymes with “win” and a last name that rhymes with “lose.”