Blackhawks Players Reveal They Are Going Against The Managements Plans to Tank

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Austin Sabourin
January 29, 2023 (2:38 PM)

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Earlier in the week NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman released a statement saying that he believes no NHL teams purposely tank for the 1st overall pick. This just isn't true as GM's purposely put their teams at a disadvantage, Bettman isn't entirely wrong though as GM's control the team that the coaches put out on the ice on a nightly basis. However, what the GM's can't do is guarantee that the players they have on ice don't exceed expectations set for them.

According to multiple players on the Chicago Blackhawks they had no plans to be in a rebuild and didn't think they would be in the race for the 1st overall pick. None of the players were thrilled about the idea of a rebuild especially defenseman Seth Jones who signed in Chicago for a chance to win games not to lose...

"That's why we play the game, right? We're trying to win every game we play. We've got to control what we can control in here, and obviously the front office. they control that."

Seth Jones on defying managment's plans of icing a losing team every night.

Another player who is doing his best to help the Blackhawks place as high in the standings is forward MacKenzie Entwistle as he went on to say...

"No, no, definitely not. Your goal is to win the Stanley Cup. Where we pick and stuff, that's something that we can't control. Every single guy in here doesn't want to lose. If you get the first-overall pick, chances are you lost and you had a pretty bad year. So every guy in this room wants to win. The higher we place, the better for us."

Entwistle on the team not being under the impression that a teenager will immediately right the ship in Chicago.

While Connor Bedard would be a nice addition to the Blackhawks organization there are no guarantees in the lottery. We all know that one player can't just carry a team to win the Stanley Cup, just take a look a Connor McDavid in Edmonton for example. McDavid is currently on pace to hit 150 points this season and would be the first to do it since Mario Lemieux did it back in the 90's and the Oilers are still only in a wildcard spot to this day.

Blackhawks players are looking for everyone in the locker room to push each other each and every night as they want to finish as high in the standings as possible. With that being said maybe Bettman is right when saying no team wants to be labeled as the worst team in the league.