As the Pittsburgh Penguins skid toward one of the worst records by any non-expansion team in pro sports history, maybe the 1989-1990 Quebec Nordiques offer some hope and encouragement.
Les Nordiques were the role models for losing, a miscast group of stars-to-be (Joe Sakic) or stars who no longer were (Guy Lafleur) that won only 12 of 80 games. None of the team's goalies had a goals-against average below 4.61, and the Nords finished 70 points behind division-winning Boston.
The Penguins probably won't quite reach a Nordiques-like level of ineptitude -- they must lose all but one of their final 20 to do so -- but their rapid fall from grace has been steep and almost without rival in recent NHL history.
Three years after reaching the Eastern Conference finals and 11 years after winning a league-record 17 straight games, the two-time Stanley Cup champions haul an 18-game losing streak into Wednesday's game at Phoenix. No team in NHL history has lost so many in a row.
Just don't look for the streak in the NHL's record book. The Penguins' 3-2 loss in St. Louis on Feb. 14 came in overtime, which in the NHL is different from losing in regulation. But technicalities can't cover up what's going wrong with the Penguins, and that's a lot. They have lost 14 straight at home -- yes, that is a record -- and have won just twice over their last 26 games.
"Obviously, we're getting sick of losing," rookie forward Ryan Malone said.
"We keep losing the same way over and over," rookie defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "It's frustrating. It's disheartening."
To put their losing in perspective, their .192 winning percentage (when overtime losses are counted and ties are discarded) is below the .265 of last year's hopeless Detroit Tigers (43-119). It's above the impossibly low .110 of the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers (9-73), but not as good as the most renowned losers ever, the 1962 Mets (40-120, .250).
That's where those 1989-1990 Nordiques come into play.
Just like these Penguins, who have won only 66 of 226 over the last three seasons, the Nordiques' losing wasn't confined to a single dreadful season. A succession of poor finishes allowed them to draft a stream of stars (Sakic, Mats Sundin, Adam Foote, Owen Nolan, Eric Lindros) who became the foundation of their two Stanley Cup-winning teams in Colorado or were traded for others who did (Peter Forsberg).
The Penguins, who quickly disintegrated after they could no longer afford to pay their former stars (Jaromir Jagr, Alexei Kovalev, Robert Lang), have already drafted goalie-of-the-future Marc-Andre Fleury. A last-place finish would give them a nearly 50-50 chance of winning the draft lottery and getting the No. 1 pick, almost certain to be Russian star Alexander Ovechkin.
Landing Ovechkin, just as drafting Mario Lemieux did in 1984, might accelerate the Penguins' rebuilding effort by years. So could a more franchise-friendly collective bargaining agreement.
First, the Penguins must put this season behind them, and that won't be easy. They must win five more games -- no lock for this team -- to avoid setting a franchise record for fewest victories, currently held by that 1983-84 team (16-6-58).
No matter how quickly players such as Malone (18 goals) or Orpik develop, their play can't disguise the forgettable years by Kelly Buchberger (no goals or assists in 56 games), Rico Fata (a minus-38 rating) or Aleksey Morozov (33-game goal drought).
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