Chicago Sports

Kyle Davidson hasn’t hesitated throughout his short general manager tenure so far to give failed Blackhawks prospects opportunities for fresh starts elsewhere.

Wednesday represented the biggest wave of such moves yet, as the Hawks organization made three separate trades that moved on from Nicolas Beaudin, Evan Barratt and Riley McKay.

Beaudin was dealt to the Canadiens for forward Cameron Hillis, and Barratt was dealt to the Flyers for defenseman Cooper Zech.

McKay, Kirby Dach’s former junior-hockey teammate, was reunited with Dach in the Canadiens organization in what was technically a trade for future considerations (but realistically nothing) between Rockford and Laval, the two teams’ AHL affiliates.

Hillis, 22, and Zech, 23, will theoretically provide warm bodies to fill out lineups for Rockford or the Indy Fuel, the Hawks’ ECHL affiliate. Hillis, a 2018 third-round pick, played one NHL game last season but began this season in the ECHL. Zech has tallied 36 points in 131 AHL games for the Flyers and Bruins’ affiliates.

But these moves were really about helping out Beaudin and Barratt, even with little-to-no benefit to the Hawks. Tellingly, they’re both headed home: Beaudin hails from the Montreal suburb of Chateauguay, Quebec; Barratt grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of Bristol, Pennsylvania, and played at Penn State.

They fall in the same category as Davidson’s trades last December that sent Malcolm Subban to the Sabres and Chad Krys to the Maple Leafs.

This marks a disappointing end to Beaudin’s tenure in particular. The 27th overall pick in 2018 — the Hawks’ second first-rounder that year after Adam Boqvist — had seemingly broken into the NHL during the pandemic-shortened 2021 season, but he then fell completely out of favor after ex-GM Stan Bowman’s resignation. He’d spent last season and the first couple weeks of this season fighting for limited ice time on Rockford’s third defensive pairing.

“It has been hard sometimes,” Beaudin said in March. “We all want to be in the NHL. It’s not easy. The AHL is a tough league, a grinding league, so you’ve just got to keep going.”

Barratt, the Hawks’ third-round pick in 2017, had been decently productive for Rockford the past two seasons, recording 42 points in 90 games. But approaching his 24th birthday in February, his road to the NHL with the Hawks appeared difficult to plot out.

“I’ve got to look in the mirror and say, ‘You’re not that old. You need to relax a little bit,'” Barratt said in September. “I’ve got to realize I’m still very young, I’ve got a lot to learn and my time will come eventually.”

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Wow that, was fun, the Chicago Bears put together their best effort of the season in a huge road win over the New England Patriots, final score, Bears, 33 Patriots 14.

Chicago Bears fans are riding high after that win and rightfully so, they were 8.5-point road underdogs.  Bill Belichick was 42-3 against first and second-year QBs at home in Foxborough since 2003.  The Chicago Bears had just put together their worst offensive effort of the season against the Washington Commanders 10 days earlier.  The game had all the markings of a blowout loss, but instead turned into a resounding victory.

So what went right?

The Bears had a lot of luck on their side:

The Bears forced four turnovers on defense.  They had three interceptions and a forced fumble, the Bears had a massive amount of luck on their side.  Justin Fields lost four fumbles in the game, but the Bears recovered all four.  The team with that amount of luck and forced turnovers usually wins the game.  Rookies Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon both snatched their first interceptions of the season as the Chicago Bears’ defense took advantage of miscues.

Justin Fields had his best game of the year:

Justin Fields was the Bears’ leading rusher with 82 yards on 14  carries.  11 of those carries were designed QB runs that matched his season total through the first six weeks of the season.  The runs paid off in key situations and helped the Bears rattle off scores on five straight possessions.  Fields was also 13 of  21 for 179 yards and a touchdown passing and finally seemed to be building consistent rhythm and chemistry with his receivers.

One of the key runs of the game came on a QB power sweep out of an empty set on third down and seven.  The Bears had not shown that play all year long so naturally, it looked like a pass play with an empty set.  Instead, the Bears pulled two linemen around the edge and Fields did the rest with his legs.  Where has that been all year long?

The level of versatility of that play call alone gives the Bears is enough to give opposing teams nightmares.  There are two clear decisive options for the Bears and the run option can be audibled to.  Go empty set and throw the ball, or get the man coverage look across the board you’re looking for and audible to the run, and the only players who have to know the change are the offensive linemen.

That’s a play that should become a key part of the Chicago Bears’ offense going forward on anything under 3rd and 10.   Think about Justin Fields running against a three-man defensive run with everyone else dropping back into coverage with two lead blockers between him and the first down.  You don’t think the Bears are going to generate a high conversion success rate off of that play alone?

The Chicago Bears ran the ball well outside of Fields’ success

David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert are one of the best running back duos in the NFL and it shows up on a weekly basis.  They both ran for 62 yards in the game and each scored a touchdown.  Herbert’s came on a momentum-swinging screen pass that went for 26 yards and a TD.  The Bears need to continue to lean heavily on these two to both keep Fields healthy and take heat off of the pass protection.

Self-scouting and coaching adjustments from Matt Eberflus

Matt Eberflus went into deep detail about how he met with each individual player over the “mini bye week” to evaluate them and coach them up as players.  He made a key move in benching Sam Mustipher for Lucas Patrick and putting Zach Schofield in at left guard.  Patrick went down with an injury but because Patrick was  no longer struggling at guard the entire offensive line played better.

Other than Marcus Judon, no other player on the Patriots got any kind of pressure on Justin Fields.  That means the offensive line played its best game of the season.  Yes, Fields got pressured, but it only came from one player, something that hasn’t been the case all year.  Usually a team can hold up better if they only have to focus on slowing down on player, instead of the their front four as has been the case for most of the season.

Have the Chicago Bears turned a corner?

While this was a statement win in which Matt Eberflus clearly outcoached Bill Belichick, it remains to be seen if the Bears can build momentum off of this one win.  It definitely doesn’t help that they’re headed back out on the road to face a very talented Dallas Cowboys team.  The Cowboys are clearly better than the Patriots with a strong defense, offensive line and play makers across the board.  Add to it a healthy Dak Prescott and the Chicago Bears face an even bigger task this week.

They have to get consistent play out of Justin Fields to overcome their multitude of problems across the board.  Justin Field needs to stack big games in back to back weeks with either his biggest passing game of his career or another big game with his legs and his arm.  That will be a tall task with Michah Parsons chasing him around the field all game.  Parsons is one of the few players in the league that can match Fields athletically.

The Chicago Bears face a tall task the next two weeks with the much improved Dolphins coming to Soldier Field after the trip to Dallas.  But after that the schedule is favorable, with Atlanta, Detroit and the New York Jets.  If the Bears are on the road to sustained success in terms of the limited capabilities this roster provides, you’d like to think they can come out with three wins out of the next five games.   If the Chicago Bears can generate some type of momentum in the next five games, they could really be in an exciting place with the Green Bay Packers coming to Chicago after that slate.

All of this is completely premature until the Bears show the consistency necessary to be taken seriously, instead of just of looking like a team that got lucky like they did in the opener. 

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Two days after he made all four of his field goal tries, Cairo Santos was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week on Wednesday.

Santos continued his perfect streak — he’s made all 11 kicks this season — in the Bears’ 33-14 win against the Patriots on Monday night. Santos made kicks from 42, 23, 38 and 50 yards, plus all three extra points.

The Bears dominated the Patriots in all three phases.

“We didn’t have a lot of answers for anything,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said after the game. “We didn’t play well in the kicking game. We didn’t play well on defense. We didn’t play well on offense. Obviously, we didn’t coach well. Pick whatever you want. You can say the same about every phase of our game.”

Santos hasn’t missed a field goal since Week 15 of last year, a span of 17 tries.

The Bears’ last NFC Special Teams Player of the Week award went to returner Jakeem Grant in Week 14 last year. Santos last won it in 2020.

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Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson repeatedly has mentioned how hard he tries to stay calm and focused behind the bench, believing that steadiness will rub off on his players.

During his 22-year playing career, however, he was far from calm — as indicated by his 2,055 penalty minutes, the 51st-most in NHL history.

“When I was too even-keeled as a player, coaches told me that wasn’t my game,” Richardson joked before the Hawks’ win over the Panthers on Tuesday. “[They said to] play mean and chase Troy Murray around as much as possible. I was probably more like a [Jarred] Tinordi-type player. I tried to be heavy, physical and simple.”

Perhaps that explains why Richardson has locked Tinordi, 30, into a sizable role in the Hawks’ defense through their first six games.

Tinordi, who initially seemed like nothing more than a short-term stopgap when the Hawks claimed him on waivers two days before the season opener, now appears destined to be a season-long regular. He’s averaging 16:32 of ice time per game, skating primarily on the second defensive pair alongside Connor Murphy.

Part of that role stems from general manager Kyle Davidson’s insistence on holding all promising prospects in the AHL, keeping them as far away as possible from the Hawks’ expected dumpster fire. Employing Tinordi allows Davidson to stash both Alec Regula and Alex Vlasic in Rockford, rather than only one of them. The Hawks’ lack of fires — or even losses in general — so far hasn’t changed his mind.

Another part of Tinordi’s role can be attributed to Richardson, however. His predictable, if hardly eye-catching, playing style clearly has impressed his coach.

“He’s great,” Richardson said. “He knows how to make a change in the game with the way he plays [while also] keeping within his parameters. That’s by being physical and heavy.”

On Sunday against the Kraken, shortly after the Hawks fell behind 2-0 in the first period, Tinordi delivered back-to-back crunching hits on Jordan Eberle and Vince Dunn that Richardson credited for helping to wake up the team.

“It makes a difference at the end of the game,” Richardson said. “If you start doing that early, it gets contagious; other people start doing it.”

Indeed, Tinordi has dished out a team-leading 24 hits, and the Hawks rank fourth in the NHL in hits per game at 31.8.

Hits and puck possession, however, often are negatively correlated — a player can’t legally hit an opponent if the opponent doesn’t have the puck, after all — and that has been the case with Tinordi. His 29.2% even-strength scoring-chance ratio ranks second-to-last on the team.

“As defensemen in the back, we can do a better job of killing some plays down in the corners,” Tinordi said. “Teams want to cycle and get that movement on us. We have good defenders in here — big, strong guys. We can kill some of those plays and stop the momentum.”

Tinordi, personally, is relishing his long-awaited stable role. After eight years of bouncing around the hockey world, spending last season and training camp this season in the Rangers’ organization, he’s on track to crush his previous single-season career high of 28 NHL appearances.

The Hawks’ roster also features quite a few former teammates from previous stops, including Murphy, Max Domi, Sam Lafferty and Colin Blackwell. And while playing (with Blackwell) for Milwaukee of the AHL from 2018 to 2020, Tinordi and his wife and daughter spent their Christmas breaks in Chicago, falling in love with the city. Now it’s their new home.

“We were pretty happy that we got that call,” he said. “Heading into the year, what I knew about the Blackhawks [was that they were] rebuilding. Everyone keeps throwing that word around. But we still want to win games here. As a team, we believe in each other.”

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More than a dozen vehicles were damaged when an extra-alarm fire tore through the parking garage of an apartment building on the Near West Side Tuesday afternoon.

No injuries were reported in the fire, which began around 3:45 p.m. in the 700 block of South Ashland Avenue, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

The fire appeared to start in one car and quickly spread to other cars and the roof, prompting officials to call a 2-11 alarm to get more units to the scene, the fire department said.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation.

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The Blackhawks have vastly exceeded expectations through their first six games of the season, but their attendance has not.

Patrick Kane scored his first goal of the season, goalie Alex Stalock continued his resurgence and the Hawks’ red-hot penalty kill produced one of its best performances in years in a 4-2 victory Tuesday against the Panthers. It was the Hawks’ fourth consecutive triumph.

But only 12,859 fans were in attendance at the United Center to see it, marking the Hawks’ smallest crowd since Dec. 12, 2007.

”[We’re] having that underdog mentality,” Kane said. ”There’s really nothing to lose in here. Hopefully we start filling up the building again, getting people excited about this team and where we could go.

”It’s a little bit different when you look up and you don’t see the building full. I kind of saw it in 2007-08, when it was like that for the first little bit. Then you start winning, there’s excitement and the building fills up pretty quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened [again].”

After rallying from 2-0 deficits three games in a row, the Hawks found themselves on the opposite side against the Panthers, trying to protect a 3-0 lead in the third period.

The Panthers pushed hard, beating Stalock (29 saves) twice and generating a wave of nerve-wracking moments in the final minutes, but the Hawks held on.

”They’re just executing, and they’re executing better than everyone else right now,” coach Luke Richardson said.

Conference imbalance

The Hawks’ victory bucked a trend of the Eastern Conference dominating the Western Conference early this season. Entering the day, East teams had won 30 of 42 cross-conference matchups.

The Panthers are one team that could be negatively affected by the disparity, with the Atlantic Division looking particularly strong.

The Lightning, Maple Leafs and Bruins are annual powers — those teams and the Panthers were the Atlantic’s four playoff qualifiers in 2021-22 — but the Senators, Sabres and Red Wings might be the three most improved teams in the league.

Injury updates

Forward Tyler Johnson left with an apparent leg or ankle injury in the third period. Richardson said that he was ”not good” after the game but that the Hawks would know more Wednesday.

Fortunately, forward Boris Katchouk appears likely to return ahead of schedule from his sprained left ankle and could take Johnson’s spot.

Katchouk was ruled out for four to six weeks Oct. 2, but he practiced Monday — just more than three weeks into his absence — in a full-contact jersey. Richardson said he’s ”getting very close” and needs only a couple of more practices to get up to speed.

The Hawks also have Reese Johnson available. He has been a healthy scratch in five of the first six games.

PK rolls on

The Hawks couldn’t have put themselves in a tougher situation during the second period. They also couldn’t have handled it better.

Four consecutive penalties — including a double-minor — in a span of less than eight minutes gave the Panthers’ power play nearly a half-period, including 1:35 of five-on-three time, to make something happen. Yet the Hawks’ penalty kill allowed no goals and only two shots on goal during the sequence, earning a standing ovation.

They completed a 6-for-6 night with another crucial kill in the third period.

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Before the Bears’ Week 7 matchup with the Patriots, Justin Jones made it a point to mention the infamous “Deflategate” scandal surrounding the Patriots.

Justin Jones, a defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears, decided to add some salt to the wounds of the New England Patriots after the latter’s devastating 33-14 thrashing at Gillette Stadium on Monday night

Justin Jones insisted before the game that he had heard deflategate was still an issue in New England and that he would inspect the footballs himself to make sure they hadn’t been purposefully underinflated. It wasn’t a joke, either. The defensive lineman for the Bears took the accusations of cheating very seriously.

After the game, Jones emphasized the Deflategate allegations by implying that the Patriots’ loss was the result of their inability to cheat.

Post game analysis: Balls were inflated to the fullest. Result = 3 INTS🤷🏿‍️

— Justin M. Jones (@Twenty7Savage) October 25, 2022

Per Jacob Camenker “Jones had said before Week 7 that the first thing he thinks of when he hears Bill Belichick’s name is “deflated balls.” He also told CHGO Sports’ Mark Carman that he was going to check the balls to make sure that they were properly inflated”.

After crushing the Patriots at home, the Bears have earned the right to perform the victory dance.

Even the return of Mac Jones and the brief surge of rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe couldn’t prevent New England from losing what some considered to be a must-win game.

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Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill., on Tuesday repudiated a letter he signed in June, along with 29 other House progressives — but not released until Monday — urging President Joe Biden to “engage in direct talks with Russia” to end the war in Ukraine.

The letter as written sparked a major uproar, exposing rifts within the Democratic family, days before the Nov. 8 midterm elections where Democrats may lose control of the House.

The backlash was so strong and swift that less than a day after the letter was made public, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, retracted it on Tuesday.

“The Congressional Progressive Caucus hereby withdraws its recent letter to the White House regarding Ukraine,” she said in a statement.

“The letter was drafted several months ago, but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting. As Chair of the Caucus, I accept responsibility for this,” she said.

Back in June, Garcia did not take a lead in writing the letter or getting his colleagues to sign it.

Rep. Marie Newman, D-lll., also signed the letter. She lost her bid for another term when she was beaten by Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., in the June 28 Democratic primary. Garcia and Newman are vice chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

As Garcia mulls running for Chicago mayor in 2023, the blowup over the letter — where Garcia’s role was that of a bit player — shows how his congressional life may get much more attention if he moves forward with a bid for City Hall. His allies, with his knowledge, started circulating mayoral nominating petitions for him on Saturday.

Garc?a said in a statement, “I joined this letter four months ago. The letter had been written to reflect the situation at that time. Some of that information is now outdated and the letter should not have been sent.

“However, I want to be clear:the letter’s underlying message remains pertinent. I strongly support Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s illegal invasion. And I strongly believe that diplomacy should continue to be a powerful tool in our foreign policy arsenal.”

Garcia was never told the letter was going to be released on Monday. He has voted for every measure supporting Ukraine and, as a member of the Financial Services Committee, introduced measures dealing with giving Ukraine debt relief.

The letter, addressed to Biden said in conclusion, “we urge you to make vigorous diplomatic efforts in support of a negotiated settlement and ceasefire, engage in direct talks with Russia, explore prospects for a new European security arrangement acceptable to all parties that will allow for a sovereign and independent Ukraine, and, in coordination with our Ukrainian partners, seek a rapid end to the conflict and reiterate this goal as America’s chief priority.”

Democratic critics of the letter said asking Biden to intervene undermined Ukraine and put pressure on Biden. The letter could also be seen as helpful to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who is threatening to cut aid to Ukraine if the GOP takes over the House and he becomes speaker.

Jayapal also said in her statement, “Because of the timing, our message is being conflated by some as being equivalent to the recent statement by Republican Leader McCarthy threatening an end to aid to Ukraine if Republicans take over.

“The proximity of these statements created the unfortunate appearance that Democrats, who have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military, strategic, and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people, are somehow aligned with Republicans who seek to pull the plug on American support for President Zelensky and the Ukrainian forces.

“Nothing could be further from the truth. Every war ends with diplomacy, and this one will too after Ukrainian victory. The letter sent yesterday, although restating that basic principle, has been conflated with GOP opposition to support for the Ukrainians’ just defense of their national sovereignty. As such, it is a distraction at this time and we withdraw the letter.”

Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., with his co-chairs of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., issued a statement that took aim at the letter from the 30 progressives, making it clear that Ukraine negotiates for Ukraine — not the U.S.

“We have been unwavering in our support for Ukraine in the face of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion. Ukraine is an independent nation with the right to both territorial integrity and self-determination. Neither the United States nor any other nation can dictate when or how Ukraine ends their war against Russian invaders.”

There are about 100 members in the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The two other Illinois members, Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Danny Davis — whose district includes Chicago’s Ukrainian Village community — did not sign the letter.

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