The Blackhawks thoroughly entertained a season-high crowd of 20,634 in their home finale Saturday, although they didn’t send their fans home happy.
The Hawks went toe-to-toe with the Jets, the likely President’s Trophy winners, before falling 5-4 in a shootout. The result locked them into 31st place in the NHL standings, guaranteeing a top-four draft pick.
“We did a lot of good things,” interim coach Anders Sorensen said. “Margins are small, right? For the group we had, everybody battled as hard as they could. It was an emotional game in a lot of ways, but everybody did their absolute best.”
Frank Nazar gave the Hawks a short-lived lead with 5:55 left in regulation, but Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey quickly evened the score. Goalie Spencer Knight, who racked up 37 saves, kept the Hawks alive with some overtime heroics before Jets forward Cole Perfetti tucked in a gorgeous shootout winner.
The big turnout at the United Center raised the Hawks’ final 2024-25 attendance average to 18,585. That’s going to end up ranked eighth in the league, with the Canadiens, Panthers, Red Wings, Lightning, Maple Leafs, Canucks and Hurricanes ahead of them.
It’s a slight decrease from last season, when the Hawks’ average attendance was 18,836, but it’s a number their business department is pleased with nonetheless.
Considering the team’s place in the standings, its greatly reduced TV visibility (due to Chicago Sports Network not being carried by Xfinity) and that the Connor Bedard novelty factor — which powered last season’s sales — has worn off, it’s a testament to the dedication of Hawks fans that attendance remained this respectable.
All seven of the teams ahead of them were much more competitive; most made the playoffs. For contrast, the last-place Sharks are going to finish 31st in attendance, having averaged 14,139 so far. That’s ahead of only Utah, which ranked 32nd solely because it has only 11,131 unobstructed-view seats to sell.
There’s a difference between tickets distributed — which is the announced number — and actual fans in the building, but sales do matter most.
The rebuilding Ducks and futile Sabres also will finish in the bottom five. And the Penguins, who have a robust fan base but have now missed the playoffs three consecutive years, have predictably suffered one of this season’s biggest drops in attendance.
Hawks marketing initiatives to draw more non-hockey fans and kids to the United Center have proved successful, but loyal season-ticket holders remain the bedrock of the sizable crowds.
“It’s been unbelievable,” said Bedard, who notched two points. “I say it so much: We’re so lucky to play here and play in front of them. Win or lose or whatever, they’re coming out and cheering us on [to the] end of the games.”
After an April 2 loss to the Avalanche, veteran Connor Murphy gave a more honest rendition of that quote: “Tonight was a full crowd for an 8:50 puck drop in Chicago on a Wednesday night. A lot of people are still cheering us on that we’re still trying to play hard for. We feel bad, all the losses that we’re giving them, but . . . I want to give my best to them.”
The Hawks finished 15-20-6 at home. That’s significantly better than their 8-26-5 road record, but it’s still the second-fewest home wins in the league.
One interesting trend during the 2025 portion of the season was the difference in crowd sizes for weekend vs. weeknight games. After New Year’s, the Hawks’ average attendance was 17,020 for Monday-through-Thursday games and 19,452 for Friday-through-Sunday games.
They announced fewer than 17,000 five times; all came in weeknight games during 2025. They exceeded 20,000 four times, three of which came after March 22.
