Blackhawks have two lengthy bad streaks early this season

CHICAGO – The concept for Kyle Davidson this offseason was to build a team with veteran players on short-term deals while getting prospects that were ready some NHL experience.

In other words, the Blackhawks’ general manager was putting a rebuild in motion in hopes of netting the Blackhawks a high first round draft pick & potential impact player in the summer of 2023.

So far, it’s working, but it’s coming at a major cost to the product at the moment. Even the most supportive fan of the rebuild might be repeating the phrase “Eight is Enough” after Wednesday.

What makes it worse is that kind of winless streak has already happened twice before the calendar turns to 2023.

A 4-2 loss to the Predators extends the Blackhawks’ current losing streak to eight games, with the team failing to force even one of those games to an overtime period. That’s 0-for-16 for possible points in a stretch, which has dropped the team to last in the NHL with just 18 points.

That’s three less than the Anaheim Ducks, who are directly above them in the standings.

By losing eight-straight games without a tie, it marks the fourth-longest losing streak in franchise history where the team has failed to gain at least a point.

Yet this is not the first time the Blackhawks haven’t been able to get a win over a stretch of eight games this season. It happened between November 14 and November 30, when the team lost seven games and was only able to force a shootout in one, which they lost to the Canadiens on November 25.

It’s not terribly surprising for a team looking more towards the future that then present his season, but eight has already been enough twice this season.