The Blackhawks have finished last in their division for three consecutive seasons. Since losing in the first round of the 2017 playoffs, they haven’t finished higher than sixth. Their one postseason appearance during that span came in COVID-ravaged 2020, when the NHL expanded the playoffs just enough for the Hawks to qualify.
Yet when the Stanley Cup champion Panthers raise their banner in the first game of the regular season Tuesday on ESPN, the Hawks will provide the opposition.
And when Utah played its historic first home game last season, the Hawks were the opponent and ESPN the broadcaster. And when the Avalanche raised their Cup banner in 2022, the Hawks were the opponent and TNT the broadcaster.
In 2023, ESPN carried the Hawks’ first game of the season and TNT their second. That had a lot to do with Connor Bedard’s arrival, but the trend held.
So why on earth do the NHL and TV networks keep putting a losing team in prime slots? Is it to give the celebrating team an easy victory?
It’s actually closer to what comedian Jerry Seinfeld joked about years ago when he said fans merely root for laundry. At least that’s how Steve Levy, ESPN’s NHL studio host, sees it.
‘‘It’s the logo,’’ Levy said. ‘‘You feel like it should be more. It should be who’s wearing the logo. Obviously, with Bedard, there’s a lot of attraction there to see him take the next maybe giant step. But it’s the sweater. It just is. It’s the Original Six.’’
Like Seinfeld said: ‘‘The players are always changing. . . . You’re actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it.’’
The Hawks always have had really nice clothes.
Being an Original Six team plays into it, too. No league reveres its founding members more than the NHL, even though the Hawks, who are celebrating their centennial this season, have had little to revere for almost a decade.
‘‘Original Six teams have built that national brand, that history, that equity that fans care about, even when they have their ebbs and flows,’’ said Emily Kaplan, ESPN’s NHL insider. ‘‘You’ll see us program a lot of Original Six teams based in the United States.
‘‘When you see our schedule, you’ll see the Red Wings, who are in the longest playoff drought in their history, featured prominently because they are that brand, the same way that the Blackhawks are.’’
Kaplan said ESPN also is featuring the Hawks to document their rebuild and to see whether it’s working. Ten years removed from the Hawks’ third Cup winner in five seasons, the network says hockey fans remain interested in the team.
‘‘They’re a huge market. They’re a team that fans outside of Chicago care about,’’ ESPN NHL analyst Ray Ferraro said. ‘‘They’re at that bounce part of a rebuild, where they’ve bottomed out and now it’s just adding these young players and waiting for them to mature. They’re one of the teams in the league, good or bad, people are interested outside of their market.’’
The Hawks will appear twice on ESPN, seven times on ESPN+ and six times on TNT this season. Remove the streaming-only games, and the Hawks’ eight national-TV games are only four fewer than the champion Panthers have. The Bruins and Avalanche have the most national-TV appearances with 17, including games on ABC.
But as far as cellar-dwellers go, the Hawks are beloved.
‘‘The Blackhawks are one of those teams that the league is better when Chicago is good. And we need to get back to that,’’ Levy said. ‘‘Maybe they take another step closer this year, but the reason they get these national games [is that] they’re a national team. People don’t even have to know who’s on the team. [You] see the logo, you recognize it.’’
Remote patrol
The Bulls named Cam Smith the new host of their pregame and postgame shows on Chicago Sports Network, replacing Jason Goff. Smith joins Kendall Gill and K.C. Johnson in the studio. Adam Amin and Stacey King return to call the games. CHSN will air all five preseason games, beginning Tuesday in Cleveland. That game also will be Peacock’s first NBA broadcast.
Chuck Swirsky, Bill Wennington and Alyssa Bergamini return for Bulls radio broadcasts on The Score, which will air two preseason games (Oct. 12 and Oct. 16).
• The Wolves will broadcast 30 home games on Fox Chicago Plus (WPWR-Channel 50), beginning with the season opener Oct. 18 against the IceHogs. Jason Shaver and analyst Bill Gardner return to call the games.