The Unique Feat That Kyle Davidson Could Accomplish

The Hawks are on course to accomplish something that hasn't been done in recent memory. It isn't good.

After two-straight drubbings, there is a cloud over the Hawks season. They did accomplish staying in the playoff discussion until Thanksgiving, which usually portends to staying in it much longer in Gary Bettman's everyone-gets-a-trophy points system. Especially in an Olympic season that has souped that equality even more by tiring everyone out and sending more games to OT. But after 13-1 combined ass-kickings in Southern California, it doesn't feel like the Hawks are going to stick around long-term.

It's obviously more than just the past two games. The underlying numbers suggest they've been flying awfully close to the sun, on wings constructed from a bonkers shooting-percentage, especially on the power play, and a stellar season from Spencer Knight, which might be more sustainable. Two regulation wins in 10 haven't felt like a dip so much as a market correction.

Still, as repeated on this shoddy little website, the two poles the Hawks have been built on this season, Knight and Connor Bedard, are the most important. That said, the Hawks could accomplish something with the two of them that hasn't been done in a long time, and is rare at all. At least not in recent memory. And it would be an indictment of Kyle Davidson, and possibly Jeff Blashill, though he'll have more road simply by being new.

It is not hard to see Knight finishing top 10 in save-percentage and Connor Bedard top-10 in scoring. Has any team missed the playoffs while having both of those things. It's hard to find a team that missed the playoffs by a wide margin that had even one of those things!

Let's roll through the seasons.

2024-2025: Tampa had both Vasilevskiy and Kucherov, and finished with over 100 points. Both Pastrnak and Crosby finished top 10 in points, though neither Boston or Pittsburgh had anything resembling good goaltending. They finished with 80 points (Pittsburgh) and 76 points (Boston). John Gibson and Dustin Wolf were top-10 for SV% for non-playoff teams, though both finished above 80 points.

2023-2024: Vancouver had both J.T. Miller and Thatcher Demko, and won the Pacific. Boston had Pastrnak and both Swayman and Ullmark, and easily made the playoffs with 109 points. No top-10 scorer missed the playoffs. Joey Daccord and Joel Hofer backstopped non-playoff teams with top-10 SV%, but both Seattle and St. Louis finished with more than 80 points.

2022-2023: Colorado had MacKinnon, Rantanen, and Georgiev, and 109 points. Elias Pettersson was the only top-10 scorer to miss the playoffs, with the Canucks at 83 points. Juuse Saros was the only top-10 goalie to miss the playoffs, as the Preds finished with 92 points.

2021-2022: Calgary had Huberdeau, Gaudreau, and Markstrom as they finished atop the Pacific with 111 points. J.T. Miller was the only top-10 scorer to miss the playoffs, with the Canucks at 92 points. A handful of top-10 goalies missed the playoffs. Sorokin (NYI - 84 points), Stolarz (ANA - 76 points), Forsberg (OTT - 73 points).

We're going to skip the pandemic seasons.

2018-2019: The Lighting appear here again with Kucherov and Vasilevskiy, and had 128 points. Pittsburgh appear on both lists with Crosby and Matt Murray, and had 100 points. The Bruins land on both with Marchand and Halak, and had 107 points. Top-10 scorers to miss the playoff were McDavid (79 points), Patrick Kane (84 points), and Sasha Barkov (84 points). Top-10 goalies to miss the playoffs: Jack Campbell (LA - 71 points), Darcy Kuemper (ARI - 86 points).

2017-2018: No team had a player on both lists. Top-10 scorers to miss the playoffs: McDavid (EDM - 78). Goalies in the top-10 to miss the playoffs: Carter Hutton (STL - 94 points), Antti Raanta (ARI - 70 points), Roberto Luongo (FLA - 96 points), Corey Crawford (CHI - 76 points, what a time for Chicago hockey this was).

2016-2017: Pittsburgh had both Crosby and Murray on each list, finishing with 111 points. The Hawks actually had Patrick Kane and Scott Darling on both lists, though obviously Darling was only part time, and they won the Central. The Capitals had Nicklas Backstrom and Braden Holtby on both lists, and won the Presidents' Trophy. Top-10 scorers to miss the playoffs: Mark Scheifele (WPG - 86 points). Top-10 goalies to miss the playoffs: Jimmy Howard (DET - 79 points).

2015-2016: The Hawks are on both lists with Kane, Panarin, and Crawford, finishing with 103 points. The Penguins are as well with Crosby and Fleury, with 104 points. The Caps jump in, too, with Kuznetsov and Holtby, and 120 points. Top-10 scorers to miss the playoffs: Erik Karlsson (OTT - 85 points), Johnny Gaudreau (CGY - 76 points), Blake Wheeler (WPG - 78 points). Top-10 goalies to miss the playoffs: Cory Schneider (NJ - 84 points)

2014-2015: Washington is here again with Ovechkin and Holtby, and finished with 101 points. We finally get to a team that had a player on both lists that misses the playoffs, the Flyers with Giroux, Voracek, and Steve Mason, though Mason only started about half the season. Top-10 scorers to miss the playoffs: Benn and Seguin (DAL - 92 points). Top-10 goalies to miss the playoffs: Cory Schneider (NJ - 78 points).

So that's going back 10 years, and only one team has managed what the Hawks seem to be on course to do, and that's have a top-10 scorer and goalie and whiff on the playoffs. Even those Flyers had 84 points, which would be a massive step for the Hawks from last season. And 80+ point season would mean the urgency to make the playoffs gets turned on next season, which is every much against Davidson's clock. Looking over it, even having one of those players usually means at least 80 points, though we see some balloon-handed teams sporting one top-10 player.

It would be a testament to how gooey the middle of the Hawks roster is right now, and how much farther they have to go. It would also be just an incredible feat to land players on both top-10 lists and then miss the playoffs by a wide margin.