Just how bad is this going to get?

Tonight the Chicago Blackhawks' losing streak reached 8 games, in which they have managed to compile a whopping one point. This coming after a 7 game run in which they racked up 12 points, so at least there was that.

So anyway, they stumbled into Jobing.com Arena tonight and stumbled out on the business end of a 3-0 asswhipping at the hands of the Quebec Nordiques Phoenix Coyotes.

Let's get to this:

THE GOOD:

This can't last forever.

Once Steve Montador and/or Niklas Hjalmarsson return to the Blackhawks' lineup, nobody will be clamoring for Sami Lepisto to get a shot with the team. He is really not good at this whole hockey thing. So bad that he stands out, even now.

THE BAD:

Right now the Blackhawks are to hockey what Chuck E. Cheese is to pizza.  A particularly fierce kind of bad. Fortunately, they piled up enough points early in the season to be able to absorb this current shitshow. Still, there are a lot of fundamental flaws with this team, most notably the defensive corps' inability/unwillingness to take the body in front of their own net, the absolutely atrocious special teams play, and both goalie's wanderlust.

At this point, the Blackhawks' power play is so bad that instead of getting a lead on the Hawks and falling into a trap defense, teams might as well just keep taking penalties, so at least you can beat up on the Hawks' players while you're not giving up goals.

Guys who aren't ready. Both Andrew Shaw and Dylan Olsen have shown some glimpses here and there, but they aren't ready for the big stage on a full-time basis yet. Olsen's going to be a beast in a couple years. For now though, he's getting clowned out there once or twice a game, and it's leading to goals. Which, I guess, means he's the perfect replacement for Hjalmarsson. Shaw is trying to be a banger and tough guy out there, and that's not really his game any more than scoring goals were earlier in his stint. They need to get back to Rockford and continue developing their games.

THE UGLY:

Every time I see the Coyotes play, I just think about how completely the NHL and previous ownerships bungled this team. They moved the team down from Winnipeg, and they were having some success in Phoenix. Then they build a new arena in Glendale, too far from everything. The Coyotes sign a lease that makes it virtually impossible to be profitable.

Now, ironically, this year's success in Winnpieg means that other NHL owners are looking to locales where they can fill arenas with ticket prices double what they're getting in their current markets.

The Coyotes are a pretty decent team, and there's even a decent spurt of youth hockey in Arizona, including a respectable program at Arizona State. The game can sell, and is selling, in the desert. However, the promise of filling (in a couple years) a new arena at higher prices, plus the advertising revenue a bilingual community can provide, not to mention merchandise, is too much for the league to ignore.

So I fully expect the next time the Hawks visit this group of players, it will be in Le Colisee in Quebec City.

Next up on this interminable slog is Tuesday night in Nashville. Get your "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" jokes ready.