Who Will Be the Worst Team in the NHL in 2022-23?

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Rick Rockwell
Rick Rockwell in Hockey
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Worst 2022 2023 NHL Team

We’re just days from the start of the 2022-23 NHL Regular Season which opens Friday with two games at the O2 Arena in the Czech Republic between the Predators and Sharks (NHL Network, 2 pm EDT/1 pm CDT/11 am PDT).

While you can bet on who’ll have the best Record and the most Points in the NHL Regular Season and the Presidents’ Trophy, you can also bet on who will end up with the worst Record in the upcoming 2022-23 Regular Season and who will be the worst NHL team,

The leading NHL betting sites have the odds up now for all of the major Team and Players Futures markets including odds on who will have the Worst Regular Season Record in the 82 games in the National Hockey League. In the 2021-22 NHL Regular Season, it was the Eastern Conference’s Canadiens who had that dubious honor. After making it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in the Pandemic-shorted and Division-realigned season, Montréal hit a patch of Black Ice.

Les Habs finished last season with a 22-49-11 mark and ended with just 55 Points, 2 points more than Western Conference betting rats Arizona (57 points), and less than half the total number of points on the league’s elite clubs like champions Colorado (119).

Here we will examine some of the consistently crappier teams on the frozen water, handicap their odds from BetOnline and chances of actually having the worst Record—Colorado is 500/1 to have the worst Regular Season—and talk about the worst teams in the NHL.

2022-23 Worst Regular Season Record Odds

TeamOdds
Arizona Coyotes+100
Chicago Blackhawks+200
Montréal Canadiens+1000
Buffalo Sabres+1400
San Jose Sharks+1600
Anaheim Ducks+1800
Columbus Blue Jackets+1800
Seattle Kraken+2500

The Skinny on the NHL’s Worst Teams in 2022-23

Arizona Coyotes Even

  • 2021-12 Record: 25-52-7
  • 2021-22 Points: 57
  • GF/GA (GD): 207-313, (-106)
  • Stanley Cup Odds: 250/1
  • Western Conference Odds: 250/1
  • Central Division Odds: 250/1
  • Season Team Win Total: 65½

While waiting their new Arena the Coyotes will be playing temporarily in Mullett Arena in Tempe, the home of the Arizona State Men’s Hockey team for at least the next three years (2022-2025), so expect not having a new Home and venue to hurt this franchise.

The Coyotes are always in the discussion of the worst teams in the NHL, and trying to create an identity and culture of Hockey in the Sonoran Desert has always been a battle for this franchise which started off as the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA back in 1972-73. Arizona has the worst Record over the last 10 years in the Western Conference with the Desert Dogs going 297-360-91 over the decade with only 685 points earned over that span, way lower than its next closest competitor in the West (Oilers, 763 points).

Arizona had the worst Goal Differential (GD), scored the fewest Goals in the Regular season (207) in the NHL last year and the Coyotes have the longest odds to win the 2023 Stanley Cup (250/1). These 250-to-1 odds we see in sportsbooks might as well be 2,500/1.

Chicago Blackhawks 2/1

  • 2021-12 Record: 28-42-2
  • 2021-22 Points: 68
  • GF/GA (GD): 218-281 (-72)
  • Stanley Cup Odds: 250/1
  • Western Conference Odds: 80/1
  • Central Division Odds: 200/1
  • Season Team Win Total: 65½

Future Hall of Famer Marc André Fleury is now gone (Wild) and team star Patrick Kane will also end up leaving the Windy City and this team just seemed to have enormous problems scoring Goals last season and Chicago’s 219 GF was fourth-lowest in the NHL.

Although being the last team in the NHL to win the Presidents’ Trophy and the Stanley Cup (2014-15), the Blackhawks are now one of the worst teams in the NHL as the proud Hockey-loving city of Chicago waits for better days and it will definitely take some time. The Blackhawks (14-21-6 both at Home and on Road last season) are a winless 1-3-0 this 2022 NHL Preseason (5 GF-12 GA) and will open up the 2022-24 NHL Regular Season on Wednesday, October 12 at champions Colorado (COL -270, 6½o -115, BetOnline).

This Western Conference team who skates east of the Mississippi River are 2/1 to have the worst Record in the NHL, but it’s hard to see the limping Arizona, New Kids On On The Block Of Ice Seattle, Montréal or the Philadelphia being better than Chicago this season,

Montreal Canadiens 10/1

  • 2021-12 Record: 22-49-11
  • 2021-22 Points: 55
  • GF/GA (GD): 221-319 (-98)
  • Stanley Cup Odds: 150/1
  • Eastern Conference Odds: 75/1
  • Atlantic Division Odds: 66/1
  • Season Team Win Total: 71½

The 55 Points registered by the Canadiens —a Win is worth 3 points, an OT Win worth 2 points and a Tie is worth 1 point—was the lowest in the NHL in last NHL Regular Season and was 2 points lower than Arizona, so every game mattered in this Futures market.

Montreal was the worst NHL team last year and the Canadiens may be the worst NHL team again this season, but improving on such poor Home (11-27-3) and Road (11-23-7) Records will be hard for this proud Original Six member of the NHL.

Wednesday October 12th’s season opener against the Ducks in Anaheim likely means an 0-1-0 start to the baby season for the Canadiens (ANA -121, 5½o -121) who, like all Canadian teams, hopes to end the Stanley Cup drought in the Great White North this year.

San Jose Sharks 16/1

  • 2021-12 Record: 32-37-13
  • 2021-22 Points: 77
  • GF/GA (GD): 214-264 (-50)
  • Stanley Cup Odds: 125/1
  • Western Conference Odds: 45/1
  • Pacific Division Odds:
  • Season Team Win Total: 74½

The paltry 214 goals scored by the Sharks last 2021-22 NHL Regular Season was the third-lowest total in the league behind Arizona and Philadelphia, so despite playing some pretty good Defense, San José is in the discussion of the worst teams in the NHL.

San José is currently over in Europe playing Preseason games and getting ready for a weekend doubleheader against the Predators at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic on Friday (NHL Network, 2 pm ET/11 am PT) and on Saturday to open up the new season.

Oddsmakers have Nashville solid -190 favorites over the Sharks (5½o, -127). SJ went 16-22-3 at Home last season, 14-19-8 on the Road, and this team isn’t as bad as at least four or five other bad NHL teams. Four of my worst six play in the Western Conference.

Philadelphia Flyers 18/1

  • 2021-12 Record: 25-46-11
  • 2021-22 Points: 61
  • GF/GA (GD): 211-298 (-87)
  • Stanley Cup Odds: 100/1
  • Eastern Conference Odds: 50/1
  • Metropolitan Division Odds: 50/1
  • Season Team Win Total: 73½

The Broad Street Bullies scored the least number of Goals in the Eastern Conference (211) in the 2021-22 NHL Regular Season and Philadelphia (12-21-6 at Home) isn’t exactly known as a sound Defensive team and it ended the season L3 straight (2-8-0 L10).

The Flyers also had the worst mark in the east on the Road (11-25-6), and playing in the competitive Metropolitan Division alongside the Hurricanes, Rangers, Crosby and the Penguins and Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals is a very huge problem in itself.

Philadelphia has scored just 1 goal or less in its last 3 Preseason skates and the Flyers will open up the 2021-22 Regular Season hosting their divisional rivals the Devils at the Wells Fargo Center in the City Of Brotherly Love And Slapshots (ESPN+, 7 ET/6 CT/4 PT).

Seattle Kraken 25/1

  • 2021-12 Record: 27-49-6
  • 2021-22 Points: 80
  • GF/GA (GD): 216-285 (-69)
  • Stanley Cup Odds: 125/1
  • Western Conference Odds: 45/1
  • Pacific Division Odds:
  • Season Team Win Total: 81½

Remember a year ago when all of those fools rushed to bet on the expansion Kraken to win the Stanley Cup? I do. But then again, my Futures bet to win the 2022 Stanley Cup was on the Lightning, so at least Seattle backers got their losing over with early on, right?

A new Goaltender was supposed to bring some hope to the Seattle area with Philipp Grueberr leaving one of the best teams in the league to join the Kraken (16-22-3 at Home), one of the worst teams in the NHL by nature of their newness.

Expansion in the Emerald City went wonderful for the franchise from a business and brand perspective, but on the ice, Seattle ended up being the NHL’s worst Road team (11-27-3), and with so long Travel and Circadian Rhythm issues, it’s no wonder the Kraken struggled.

Yotes, Les Habs, Kraken, Flyers Worst in NHL?

The oddsmakers have made the Coyotes Even Money (+100) to have the worst Regular Season, and therefore be dubbed the worst NHL team and with a temporary and new playing arena after playing in Gila Bend Arena after a shopping mall in Glendale.

NHL traditions aren’t built in shopping malls.

As good as Colorado is, it seems Arizona is equally as bad, but remember the Canadiens were actually the worst team last season, the Kraken are just starting their second season of play and the Flyers seasons lately seem like Groundhog Day.

Teams that win games and have enough Points to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs all have proven leaders, a cultured fan base, a decent pair of Goaltenders and four solid lines that can provide a goal when needed and match up with opposing line changes. The Canadeiens and Flyers in the Eatsern Conference and the Coyotes, Blackhawks Sharks, and Kraken in the Western Conference should all struggle this season and should all be good (bad) teams to bet against in certain spots, especially on the Road in 2022-23.

For me, the oddsmakers at BetOnline have it right on who the worst six teams are, as well as the very worst—the Coyotes. Knowing who is bad and who consistently loses in Sports is just as important as knowing who wins and makes online NHL and Hockey bettors cash.

2022-23 WORST REGULAR SEASON RECORD PICK:
Arizona Coyotes
+100
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Rick Rockwell
Sports/Casino Writer
Content Covered on TSG: Blog and News
Rick has been a professional writer for over 14 years with an extensive resume spanning projects and clients from around the world. But, his passions have always been sports and sports betting. Whether it’s being a credentialed media member to major sporting events, climbing into a racecar or a pro wrestling ring, Rick’s sports and sports betting knowledge, passion and versatility is on display with each article he writes for TSG.
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