Complex sentence: The 1949--50 Chicago Black Hawks season was the team's 24th season in the National Hockey League, and they were coming off a 5th place finish in 1948-49, failing to qualify for the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row.
Split into simpler sentences: The 1949--50 Chicago Black Hawks season was the team's 24th season in the National Hockey League. The Black Hawks had finished in fifth place in 1948-49, failing to qualify for the playoffs for the third year in a row.