Chicago Sports

Chicago Blackhawks are finding ways to lose?

First off, the Chicago Blackhawks team is still a skilled club to contend with, even though the Blackhawks team is currently slumping.

In my opinion, this may be for the good of the game for the Blackhawks roster that plays night in and night out, understanding the fact they still do bust their humps to compete in their contests.

However, from a winning perspective they have started to lose in a sense that the team might be losing gas or simply “Its just not clicking”.

Which I doubt to be honest with you.

What is ailing the Chicago Blackhawks youngsters?

This team is still fairly young and needs more time to get the experience they need to help them compete even harder, when the crucial games do count.

In fact, losing is not a bad thing, but it does affect the standings, an area the Blackhawks do want to keep a tight hold on.

Also, the fact that the Chicago Blackhawks team is still maturing and the chemistry is still being aligned into more of a prime type of gameplay that the team needs to win games.

Rather than focusing on the weaknesses that I will address, this team needs to relax more and be poised on the ice, then be unorganized to say the least.

A solution that might be the trick.

The goals are coming when the offense is sharp, but the defense seems to fail its goaltender and let’s him get tested on a nightly basis.

When the offense is slacking, the defense seems to hold well and the goaltending is much more stronger.

So, how do you combine the two ingredients into a perfect recipe for a combination of good skating and scoring at the same time.

Coach Luke Richardson will have to work on that aspect and determine where his team needs the most attention.

Proving the fact that he will also need to be precise with the right formations against the many skillful team’s in the NHL today.

My prediction for the team’s needs.

The Chicago Blackhawks are still performing well in games, but the lackluster effort is getting the fans frustrated with their sloppy gameplay as of late.

The best hope for the Blackhawks team is that they quickly find a way to shake those jitters, manage to get back into the win column and produce more as they go.

The next few games will be a heavy test because most teams the Blackhawks are playing against have a better winning record.

It will be quite interesting to see how the team fares against these opponents, but what is more interesting is to see if there is a new coaching style implemented to win games.

By this I mean strategy surrounding the team’s needs.

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Chicago Blackhawks are finding ways to lose?

First off, the Chicago Blackhawks team is still a skilled club to contend with, even though the Blackhawks team is currently slumping.

In my opinion, this may be for the good of the game for the Blackhawks roster that plays night in and night out, understanding the fact they still do bust their humps to compete in their contests.

However, from a winning perspective they have started to lose in a sense that the team might be losing gas or simply “Its just not clicking”.

Which I doubt to be honest with you.

What is ailing the Chicago Blackhawks youngsters?

This team is still fairly young and needs more time to get the experience they need to help them compete even harder, when the crucial games do count.

In fact, losing is not a bad thing, but it does affect the standings, an area the Blackhawks do want to keep a tight hold on.

Also, the fact that the Chicago Blackhawks team is still maturing and the chemistry is still being aligned into more of a prime type of gameplay that the team needs to win games.

Rather than focusing on the weaknesses that I will address, this team needs to relax more and be poised on the ice, then be unorganized to say the least.

A solution that might be the trick.

The goals are coming when the offense is sharp, but the defense seems to fail its goaltender and let’s him get tested on a nightly basis.

When the offense is slacking, the defense seems to hold well and the goaltending is much more stronger.

So, how do you combine the two ingredients into a perfect recipe for a combination of good skating and scoring at the same time.

Coach Luke Richardson will have to work on that aspect and determine where his team needs the most attention.

Proving the fact that he will also need to be precise with the right formations against the many skillful team’s in the NHL today.

My prediction for the team’s needs.

The Chicago Blackhawks are still performing well in games, but the lackluster effort is getting the fans frustrated with their sloppy gameplay as of late.

The best hope for the Blackhawks team is that they quickly find a way to shake those jitters, manage to get back into the win column and produce more as they go.

The next few games will be a heavy test because most teams the Blackhawks are playing against have a better winning record.

It will be quite interesting to see how the team fares against these opponents, but what is more interesting is to see if there is a new coaching style implemented to win games.

By this I mean strategy surrounding the team’s needs.

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Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE

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A 15-year-old girl was among three people killed, and two teens were among at least 17 people wounded in gun violence in Chicago over the weekend.

The girl and a man were killed and another person critically wounded in a shooting Sunday night in Austin on the West Side. They were standing with several other people in the 5800 block of West Augusta Boulevard when someone opened fire about 11:40 p.m., Chicago police said. The girl was taken to Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead, officials said. A man, 44, was shot in the chest and was taken to the same hospital, where he also died, police said. A 39-year-old man went to West Suburban Hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg, police said. He was listed in critical condition. No one was in custody.A man, 31, died after he was shot in the armpit about 5:30 p.m. Sunday in the 3100 block of West Warren Boulevard in East Garfield Park, according to police. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A woman, 44, also was wounded in the shooting. She was taken to the same hospital in good condition. The two were in a parked car when someone pulled up in a dark SUV and a person inside fired shots. No arrests were reported.The boys, both 17, were walking down the street about 10:50 a.m. Saturday in the 3800 block of South Archer Avenue in Brighton Park when a car approached and someone inside opened fire, police said. One teen was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition with gunshot wounds to his lower back, police said. The other teen was shot in the right foot and shoulder, officials said. He was taken to the same hospital in good condition.A 60-year-old woman was shot in Woodlawn about 6:10 p.m. Saturday as she was standing outside her car in the 6400 block of South Eberhart Avenue. A dark SUV approached and someone inside opened fire, police said. She was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition with gunshot wounds to the finger, shin and buttocks, police said.

At least 12 other people were wounded by gunfire over the weekend.

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The City Council in September agreed to a zoning change required for a controversial plan to allow the Chicago Fire soccer team to build an $80 million training center on Chicago Housing Authority-owned land on the West Side that was supposed to be set aside for public housing.

Before the City Council vote, some alderpersons raised important questions about how the deal would further erode the CHA’s poor track record on delivering new public housing.

Those questions must be answered, especially now that additional important details about the plan remain shrouded in mystery, according to a recent report by ProPublica Illinois’ Mick Dumke.

The CHA has asked the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to review the deal, but according to ProPublica, has yet to share a copy of the lease agreement for the 23-acre site with HUD or the Council, or to publicly release information on how the city arrived at the $40 million price for the site.

Let’s be clear: The Chicago Fire are an asset to Chicago and “deserve to have a high-quality training facility,” as Mayor Lori Lightfoot said a few months back. And some, though not all, CHA resident leaders favor the Fire’s plan.

But families who have been waiting for public housing they were promised under CHA’s Plan for Transformation are equally deserving. The all-important question for HUD: How does the soccer facility plan fit with the CHA’s stated mission of providing better housing for those most in need?

Completing that mission must come first for CHA.

‘Raises a fundamental question’

The CHA has told alderpersons the Fire will likely pay up to $40 million to lease the site, which is bounded by Roosevelt Road, Ashland Avenue, 14th Street and Loomis Street, for 40 or more years. That’s down from $48 million, according to a 461-page environmental report made public in June.

CHA officials refused to disclose records to ProPublica showing the appraisal and analysis used to determine the value of the land, citing an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act and telling ProPublica that the agency will release the appraisal once the deal is finalized. Housing officials also have been evasive about whether they have an agreement in writing at all, according to ProPublica.

“It really raises a fundamental question about whether they’re proceeding in this way to avoid anyone knowing [the details] until it’s been done,” Joe Ferguson, the city’s former inspector general, told ProPublica.

By keeping information secret until the deal is complete, Ferguson said, the CHA is at odds with a key tenet of good government: transparency. “This is the Chicago way in its most dark form,” he said.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) represents part of the area where the CHA land, once part of the ABLA Homes development, is located. Most of ABLA was demolished under CHA’s Plan for Transformation.

Given the stakes involved, it’s no surprise that Sigcho-Lopez is rightly critical of the lack of transparency regarding key details of the plan. We’re critical, too. The devil is always in the details.

“Imagine such a big deal, such a big agreement like this, and they don’t have all the documents available,” he told ProPublica. “There has to be a cost-benefit analysis. Is this in the best interest of the ABLA residents? Is this in the best interest of the city of Chicago? How can you answer that when you don’t even know what the agreement is?”

Eleven Council members voted “no” on the Fire’s plan. HUD now has the final say in making sure CHA doesn’t turn its back on all those families waiting for the housing they are due.

The Sun-Times welcomes letters to the editor and op-eds. See our guidelines.

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Blackhawks officially retire Marian Hossa’s No. 81 jersey at a ceremony prior to the team’s NHL game at the United Center.

Surrounded by family, all six other three-time Stanley Cup champions, and 21,000-plus fans who had arrived two hours early, Marian Hossa watched a banner rise to the rafters at the United Center, Sunday, signifying the official retirement of his No. 81 number within the Blackhawks.

The 50-minute pregame ceremony started with a guest appearance by Eddie Olczyk, who emceed the event. It continued with former teammates Niklas Hjalmarsson, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews joining the center circle, and also included a surprise appearance from the Stanley Cup.

“It is such an honor to be here tonight and to share this with all of you,” Hossa said during a 20-minute speech filled with heartfelt sentiment, a few jokes and many words of appreciation. “It is incredibly humbling to have my No. 81 forever hung here.”

Hossa’s banner hung on the east side of the arena — beneath the Hawks’ 2013 championship banner — after the ceremony and throughout the game, but it’ll presumably move over to the north side before the Hawks’ next home game Friday against the Canadiens. Considering Tony Esposito’s No. 35 was previously the highest number the Hawks had retired, some banner reorganization will be necessary.

Hossa was the first one of the championship core to have his number retired, but he certainly won’t be the last. It’s only a matter of time before No. 2, 19 and 88 join him.

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The White Sox organization are expected to promote Chris Johnson to the big league coaching staff.

Triple A Charlotte hitting coach, Chris Johnson is soon expected to join White Sox manager, Pedro Grifol‘s coaching staff in 2023.

Per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, Johnson is set to be promoted to the big league coaching crew. It is not clear what role Johnson will hold, however, it appears it may be as an assistant hitting coach role, as Frank Menechino has not been retained for the 2023 season.

Pitching coach Ethan Katz and bullpen coach Curt Hasler look to be the only coaches returning under new manager Pedro Grifol, and the White Sox have already made a new bench coach hire in Charlie Montoyo.

Johnson was hired to be the Charlotte Knights hitting coach prior to the 2021 season. Before that, he was drafted by the Astros in the fourth round of the 2006 MLB Draft and appeared in parts of eight big league seasons with the Astros, Braves, Diamondbacks, Guardians, and Marlins. He was a career .275/.313/.404 hitter, playing both corner infield positions as well as some corner outfield.

He also played in the Orioles’ minor league system in 2017, which marked his last on-field stop in pro ball. After not playing in 2018, he signed a minors deal with the White Sox during the 2018-19 offseason but was cut during Spring Training.

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Back on Oct. 25, after a rousing win over the Panthers, Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson hoped his team would be able to conjure up the same good feelings once adversity inevitably hit.

“When we hit a lower valley, we want to make sure we [think] back to situations like tonight,” he said then. “So we can turn it around and get it back on the upswing as quick as possible.”

That message was certainly applicable Sunday, with the Hawks having tumbled into a rather deep valley. Their blowout loss Saturday against the Bruins was a humiliating demonstration of the talent gap between them and the NHL’s top team. Richardson asked his group before the game to reflect on the “ugliness” they felt and channel it into “determination.”

So it was surely frustrating to see a legitimately strong effort — a night-and-day difference from Boston — not translate into a skid-snapping result. The Penguins prevailed 5-3 in a back-and-forth game, dealing the Hawks their fourth straight loss.

“There’s positives, for sure, compared to last night,” Richardson said. “Last night was one of the first nights we didn’t seem to have the energy to put up that fight all game… I was hoping that our guys would react how they did. We put a nice push on.”

The Hawks outshot the Penguins 32-25, marking just the second time this season (and the first time since the home opener) that they’ve outshot an opponent. They enjoyed plenty of long shifts in the offensive zone and could’ve worked Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith even harder if not for 23 attempts that missed the net.

And they demonstrated a sizable dose of the resilience that seemed like a team calling card in October but that had slipped away in November. After falling behind 3-0 despite playing well, they stuck with the game plan and were eventually rewarded.

Patrick Kane snapped a 10-game goal drought off a clever feed from Jonathan Toews — the two old-timers teaming up was fitting on Marian Hossa’s night — to cut the deficit to 3-2 late in the second period. Then with 4:11 left in regulation, Philipp Kurashev innocently threw a puck toward the net that banked in off DeSmith to tie the game.

But Sidney Crosby exploited Caleb Jones — who struggled yet again in his return to the lineup — less than a minute later, scoring his first-ever goal in Chicago to give Pittsburgh the lead back for good.

“We gave ourselves a chance to get back into it,” Kane said. “We played well. It’s just tough to give up a goal right after [scoring]. A good player makes a good play on their team, and all of a sudden, you’re down again and you’re fighting for it with a few minutes left. It’s a tough situation.

“We got away [last night] from the work ethic and battling throughout the whole game no matter what happens. And we found that again tonight, so that’s a positive.”

Richardson shuffled the Hawks’ bottom-six forward corps for the first time in a while, putting Jujhar Khaira and Colin Blackwell with Jason Dickinson on the third line and MacKenzie Entwistle and Sam Lafferty with Reese Johnson on the fourth line.

That switch-up worked, too. Both new trios controlled puck possession during most of their shifts.

But the Hawks were left unrewarded for their improvement and now skate on even thinner ice moving forward. Their ability to absorb the sting of losses and maintain togetherness and confidence in the locker room will be tested more and more the longer this skid lasts.

“We have to make sure that we’re conscious that we keep playing like we did tonight…but really bear down,” Richardson said.

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What’s going on with Justin Fields’ shoulder? Patrick Finley, Mark Potash and Jason Lieser break down another Bears’ loss — and a concerning injury.

New episodes of “Halas Intrigue” will be published regularly with accompanying stories collected on the podcast’s hub page. You can also listen to “Halas Intrigue” wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Luminary, Spotify and Stitcher.

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Surrounded by his family, all six other three-time Stanley Cup champions, 21,000-plus fans who’d arrived two hours early and even the Cup itself, Marian Hossa watched a banner rise to the United Center rafters Sunday that signified the official retirement of his No. 81 number within the Blackhawks.

“It is such an honor to be here tonight and to share this with all of you,” Hossa said during a 20-minute speech filled with heartfelt sentiment, a few jokes and many words of appreciation. “It is incredibly humbling to have my No. 81 forever hung here.”

Hossa’s banner hung on the east side of the arena — beneath the Hawks’ 2013 championship banner — after the ceremony and throughout the game, but it’ll presumably move over to the north side before the Hawks’ next home game Friday against the Canadiens. Considering Tony Esposito’s No. 35 was previously the highest number the Hawks had retired, some banner reorganization will be necessary.

But that certainly wasn’t on Hossa’s mind — or anyone else’s — on Sunday.

“Like all players, I dreamt of winning the Stanley Cup from the moment I was drafted,” he said. “After losing back-to-back Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh and Detroit, I was beginning to think, for a second, it was me. But I learned that you can come back from anything, no matter how bad it is. It’s all about your mindset.”

Eddie Olczyk made a surprise return as emcee and spoke to Hossa’s “lasting impact on the past and the future of the Blackhawks.” The Hawks also put together a lengthy, moving montage featuring Hossa’s most iconic moments from his 2009-to-2019 Chicago tenure.

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews attended the ceremony wearing street clothes (beneath their jerseys) before scrambling to dress in full gear for pregame warmups. But like fellow attendees Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Brent Seabrook and Patrick Sharp, Hossa’s moment likely won’t be the only jersey retirement they attend in the near future.

Even Hossa acknowledged that reality.

“Something tells me, very soon, I’ll be flying back to Chicago to raise a few more of these jerseys,” he said to a roar.

Richardson recalls

Current Hawks coach Luke Richardson faced Hossa 25 times as a player. He witnessed firsthand Hossa’s second career NHL game (in a 5-3 Flyers win over the Senators on Oct. 3, 1997) and a hat trick a few later (in a 5-2 Senators win over the Blue Jackets on Nov. 23, 2002).

Now as compatriots in the Hawks’ organization, Richardson and Hossa have gotten to know each other better; Hossa actually interrupted Richardson’s pregame press scrum Sunday to shake his hand and wish him good luck. But Richardson’s memories of trying to defend Hossa during the overlap of their playing careers are less pleasant.

“Down low, like on a power play, [when he was] walking the goal line to the net, you’re not stopping him,” Richardson recalled Friday. “As a lefty, if he was on his off-side as a right winger down low, if he had a half-step on you, he was pretty much getting to the net. At least we were allowed to cross-check back then, [but] it didn’t bother him.”

He had plenty of respect for him, though.

“He was big and physical and could take it and give it out, but he didn’t get into the verbal game and chirping,” he added. “Every team he went to, he made other people better.”

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