Chicago Sports

LOS ANGELES — Reese Johnson has recovered at the perfect time.

With Ryan Carpenter traded Monday to Calgary, the Hawks have turned to Johnson to fill Carpenter’s vacated role as fourth-line center and penalty-killing specialist.

And Johnson, who just returned to action March 19 after missing more than three months recovering from a broken right clavicle, is now healthy and ready for the challenge.

“Every day is a chance to prove something, whether it’s to the [general manager], coaches, fans, other teams,” he said this week. “It’s a privilege to play in this league, so [I’m] looking forward to it.”

Johnson credited Carpenter for “helped me develop into the player I am right now,” teaching him valuable lessons about faceoffs and consistency. But at age 23, he objectively has a better chance to fit into the Hawks’ future than 31-year-old Carpenter did.

“I know we’ve been talking about the rebuild a lot lately, and I think I can be a big part of that,” he said. “A lot of the young guys around here are excited for the opportunity we have. We’re looking to build this thing.”

Johnson’s regular playing time back in the fall was somewhat surprising, considering his lack of AHL production in previous years and initially poor NHL results. The Hawks were outscored 5-0 and endured a 24.6% scoring-chance ratio during Johnson’s even-strength ice time in his first seven games this season.

But he improved substantially once he got in a rhythm. The Hawks outscored opponents 4-2 and enjoyed a 56.6% scoring chance ratio during his even-strength ice time in appearances No. 8 to 18 this season, up until his injury Dec. 11 against the Maple Leafs.

Interim coach Derek King is hoping to see a similar pattern from Johnson this spring. His scoring-chance ratio was an awful 17.6% this week against the Ducks and Kings, although he engaged 12 hits and one fight. If he can calm down some, however, he could be a viable fourth-line center.

“He’s trying to do everything,” King said. “[It’s his] first time back up with us, he wants to make a good impression, but he’s working too hard. He’s got to be patient… He finishes his checks, but then sometimes he forces it where he’s chasing the guy all over the ice trying to bang a body or do something. Where he just needs to play the game the right way and play smart.”

Johnson seems to recognize that, at least.

“One of the biggest [things I’m working on] is just calmness on the ice,” he said. “With my role, it’s tough to stay calm in situations. But there’s a time when you’ve got to dial it up and get on the forecheck and finish checks and things like that, [and] there’s also times when you’ve got to possess the puck and stay patient with it.”

Ripe Raddysh

Taylor Raddysh already looks like a smart find for general manager Kyle Davidson.

The key returning piece in the Brandon Hagel trade has tallied four points in his first four games with the Hawks, entering Saturday’s matchup against the Golden Knights riding a three-game point streak.

Although Hagel did tally his first point for the Lightning on Thursday — a shorthanded goal in Boston — Raddysh has looked every bit an adequate Hagel replacement so far. His ice time has increased from 11:03 per game in Tampa to 15:35 with the Hawks, and his shots-per-game rate has increased from 1.15 with Tampa to 2.5 with the Hawks.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Don’t forget about White Sox right-hander Joe Kelly. The veteran reliever signed to a two-year, $17 million deal on March 14 is doing fine as he slow-rolls it toward the start of the season.

Kelly said he is two or three weeks behind other White Sox relievers in his throwing progression toward the regular season. He hopes to be pitching for the Sox by the end of April.

Throwing pain free in camp, Kelly is over a nerve issue in his elbow that bothered him last season. But the Sox, familiar with a similar problem Aaron Bummer dealt with late in the 2020 seasons, are choosing to not rush Kelly into action.

“The ball is coming out good for where they expected it to be, the body is moving a lot quicker,” said Kelly, who was scheduled to throw his second bullpen on Friday. “We’re just making sure we stay with the game plan and don’t push it.”

Kelly “gets jumpy” being asked to hold back but is trusting the process.

“It’s something they’ve been through with Bummer and know what to do, so just follow their lead,” he said.

When Kelly pitches live batting practice and gets into a Cactus League will depend on passing the eye test with coaches and trainers, he said.

One of the Sox’ big investments in their expensive bullpen featuring Craig Kimbrel ($16 million in 2022), Liam Hendriks ($13 million), Kendall Graveman ($8 million) and Bummer ($2.5 million), Kelly signed a two-year, $17 million contract, which includes a club option for the 2024 season on March 14. He posted a 2.86 ERA and 0.98 WHIP over 48 relief appearances last season with the Dodgers.

A groundball pitcher with 27.5% strikeout rate, Kelly features a fastball that averaged 97.8 mph last season, a lot of oomph emerging from his 6-1, 174-pound frame. That fastball velocity tied for ninth-highest among pitchers with at least 40 innings.

The 2022 readings will have to wait a bit, though. Kelly, 33, said Opening Days and playoffs — Kelly has appeared in 40 postseason games with the Cardinals, Red Sox and Dodgers — are special “and you only get to be part of so many” so watching it from a distance won’t be easy.

“We’re just making sure I don’t push it too hard,” Kelly said.

“Things are what they are. We’ll have our time and it’ll be a fun year.”

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CLEVELAND — DeMar DeRozan had no problem playing sideline therapist for Zach LaVine during the latest black-eye freshly imprinted on the face of the Bulls.

As Thursday’s game in New Orleans was slipping away, DeRozan knew that LaVine had reached a boiling point of frustration, and tried to calm him down, or at least get him refocused.

The All-Star guard claimed DeRozan’s talk worked, but it still didn’t change the outcome.

With just nine regular-season games left, and the Bulls in jeopardy of losing a grasp of the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, it might take more than Dr. DeRozan to right this ship.

“It’s frustrating,” LaVine said of his team’s recent dismal play. “Obviously we’re trying to figure out just how to get back in a rhythm. No one is going to help us. We’ve done enough trying to pep talk and rally, get guys’ spirits up. Stop talking and get it done, start playing the right way to win these games.”

That’s because LaVine has been around long enough to know what’s at stake.

Short-term? Hopefully a strong finish, a playoff push, and then see where the chips fall. But long-term, how these final few weeks play out could not only dictate the future of this Bulls roster, but even LaVine’s future.

If LaVine & Co. can get back to the identity they showed in November and December, make a second-round playoff push, and be a tough out, it’s much easier for executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas to look at the few games this core group did actually play with each other, feel good that injuries dictated results, and let’s call out “next” and run it back.

But if there’s an early exit in the first round, or even worse a continued slide into a play-in game that leads to an early exit, well, injuries or not, Karnisovas would really have to rethink what this offseason needs to look like.

The good news is that Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley have shown a creativity that the last regime couldn’t even fathom.

That could be tested this summer.

A continued downward spiral would obviously lead to questions about the three core pieces in LaVine, DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic.

Vucevic might be the most attractive piece to move on from, simply because his deal goes from $24 million this season down to $22 million, and would be expiring. If the Bulls could land a more defensive-minded center like a Rudy Gobert or even get in on a bid for restricted free agent Deandre Ayton, one of those moves alone would seemingly fix a lot of the defensive issues.

Ayton can switch on anyone, while Gobert would give DeRozan and LaVine the rim protection they would need on that end of the court.

Gobert is locked into a max contract that goes through the 2025-26 season, and starts hitting that eye-opening $40-plus million a year in 2023-24, but he’s still only 29 years old.

There have been rumblings in Utah that the Gobert-Donovan Mitchell duo could be starting to rot, so maybe a Vucevic and Coby White for Gobert would be possible.

But what about LaVine? He’s due the max this summer, putting him in that five-year, $200 million area code if he signs with the Bulls, and four years at about $160 million if he goes elsewhere. Could the left knee soreness be a bigger deterrent than expected? Maybe Karnisovas goes the sign-and-trade route with LaVine.

Either way, the poor play over the last month has now brought way more questions about this roster moving forward than was expected when the Bulls sat atop the Eastern Conference as the surprise team of the season.

“Obviously teams start buckling down and looking at what you do and don’t do, and we’ve gotta start getting back to our brand of basketball,” LaVine said. “It’s frustrating but we gotta start figuring out what our weaknesses are and cover them up.”

The future of this roster might depend on that.

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CLEVELAND – DeMar DeRozan had no problem playing sideline therapist for Zach LaVine during the latest black-eye freshly imprinted on the face of the Bulls.

As Thursday’s game in New Orleans was slipping away, DeRozan knew that LaVine had reached a boiling point of frustration, and tried to calm him down, or at least get him refocused.

The All-Star guard claimed DeRozan’s talk worked, but it still didn’t change the outcome.

With just nine regular-season games left, and the Bulls in jeopardy of losing a grasp of the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, it might take more than Dr. DeRozan to right this ship.

“It’s frustrating,” LaVine said of his team’s recent dismal play. “Obviously we’re trying to figure out just how to get back in a rhythm. No one is going to help us. We’ve done enough trying to pep talk and rally, get guys’ spirits up. Stop talking and get it done, start playing the right way to win these games.”

That’s because LaVine has been around long enough to know what’s at stake.

Short-term? Hopefully a strong finish, a playoff push, and then see where the chips fall. But long-term, how these final few weeks play out could not only dictate the future of this Bulls roster, but even LaVine’s future.

If LaVine & Co. can get back to the identity they showed in November and December, make a second-round playoff push, and be a tough out, it’s much easier for executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas to look at the few games this core group did actually play with each other, feel good that injuries dictated results, and let’s call out “next” and run it back.

But if there’s an early exit in the first round, or even worse a continued slide into a play-in game that leads to an early exit, well, injuries or not, Karnisovas would really have to rethink what this offseason needs to look like.

The good news is that Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley have shown a creativity that the last regime couldn’t even fathom.

That could be tested this summer.

A continued downward spiral would obviously lead to questions about the three core pieces in LaVine, DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic.

Vucevic might be the most attractive piece to move on from, simply because his deal goes from $24 million this season down to $22 million, and would be expiring. If the Bulls could land a more defensive-minded center like a Rudy Gobert or even get in on a bid for restricted free agent Deandre Ayton, one of those moves alone would seemingly fix a lot of the defensive issues.

Ayton can switch on anyone, while Gobert would give DeRozan and LaVine the rim protection they would need on that end of the court.

Gobert is locked into a max contract that goes through the 2025-26 season, and starts hitting that eye-opening $40-plus million a year in 2023-24, but he’s still only 29 years old.

There have been rumblings in Utah that the Gobert-Donovan Mitchell duo could be starting to rot, so maybe a Vucevic and Coby White for Gobert would be possible.

But what about LaVine? He’s due the max this summer, putting him in that five-year, $200-million area code if he signs with the Bulls, and four years at about $160 million if he goes elsewhere. Could the left knee soreness be a bigger deterrent than expected? Maybe Karnisovas goes the sign-and-trade route with LaVine.

Either way, the poor play over the last month has now brought way more questions about this roster moving forward than was expected when the Bulls sat atop the Eastern Conference as the surprise team of the season.

“Obviously teams start buckling down and looking at what you do and don’t do, and we’ve gotta start getting back to our brand of basketball,” LaVine said. “It’s frustrating but we gotta start figuring out what our weaknesses are and cover them up.”

The future of this roster might depend on that.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Don’t forget about White Sox right-hander Joe Kelly. The veteran reliever signed to a two-year, $17 million deal on March 14 is doing fine as he slow-rolls it toward the start of the season.

Kelly said he is two or three weeks behind other White Sox relievers in his throwing progression toward the regular season and hopes to join the team two or three weeks into it. He hopes to be pitching for the Sox by the end of April.

Throwing pain free in camp, Kelly is over a nerve issue in his elbow that bothered him last season. But the Sox, familiar with a similar problem Aaron Bummer dealt with late in the 2020 seasons, are choosing to not rush Kelly into action.

“The ball is coming out good for where they expected it to be, the body is moving a lot quicker,” said Kelly, who was scheduled to throw his second bullpen on Friday. “We’re just making sure we stay with the game plan and don’t push it.”

Kelly “gets jumpy” being asked to hold back but is trusting the process.

“It’s something they’ve been through with Bummer and know what to do, so just follow their lead,” he said.

When Kelly pitches live batting practice and gets into a Cactus League will depend on passing the eye test with coaches and trainers, he said.

One of the Sox’ big investments in their expensive bullpen featuring Craig Kimbrel ($16 million in 2022), Liam Hendriks ($13 million), Kendall Graveman ($8 million) and Bummer ($2.5 million), Kelly signed a two-year, $17-million contract, which includes a club option for the 2024 season on March 14. He posted a 2.86 ERA and 0.98 WHIP over 48 relief appearances last season with the Dodgers.

A ground-ball pitcher with 27.5 percent strikeout rate, Kelly feaures a fastball that averaged 97.8 mph last season, a lot of oomph emerging from his 6-1, 174-pound frame. That fastball velocity tied for ninth-highest among pitchers with at least 40 innings.

The 2022 readings will have to wait a bit, though. Kelly, 33, said Opening Days and playoffs — Kelly has appeared in 40 postseason games with the Cardinals, Red Sox and Dodgers — are special “and you only get to be part of so many” so watching it from a distance won’t be easy.

“We’re just making sure I don’t push it too hard,” Kelly said.

“Things are what they are. We’ll have our time and it’ll be a fun year.”

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LOS ANGELES — Blackhawks forward Dylan Strome had an ”inkling,” based on his excellent play in recent months, as well as what he had heard, that he wouldn’t be traded at the deadline Monday. He was right.

”[Based on] the way it’s been going, playing well and playing some good minutes . . . I wasn’t too stressed about it,” he said Tuesday. ”Obviously, I followed everything and [saw] some big trades. It’s interesting to watch and see what happens. I was comfortable.”

Not only was Strome not traded, but one of his closest childhood friends and favorite junior-hockey teammates — Taylor Raddysh — came to the Hawks in a deadline deal. It couldn’t have gone better.

And now, after dealing with constant trade rumors ”for a couple of years,” Strome finally can relax and enjoy some clarity about his off-ice destiny.

With the deadline passed, he can’t be traded for the rest of this season. And as a pending restricted free agent this summer with arbitration rights — which add more power and leverage to his negotiating position — he’ll know that if the Hawks tender him his qualifying offer of $3.6 million by the deadline July 9, they really intend to re-sign him.

And if they don’t, he’ll know he’ll become an unrestricted free agent July 13, can move on mentally from the Hawks and can find a team that values him more.

Either way, there’s clarity, something he lacked in 2020 as a restricted free agent without arbitration rights. His negotiations dragged on throughout the fall that year before he ultimately signed just before training camp.

”We’ll see what happens,” he said. ”Obviously, this is a little different negotiation than last time with arbitration. [It’s] something I’ve never been through before. There’s a set deadline, compared to two years ago — [that] feels like a long time ago. But I think it’s a little easier in that sense. . . . It’s nicer when you have a date and you know I’ve got to get something done by a certain time.”

A few months ago, it looked as though Strome’s qualifying-offer threshold was going to be an issue. His production had dropped off so steeply that $3.6 million would’ve been an overpay.

Now that won’t be the case. Strome even might get a raise, be it from the Hawks or another team in free agency. His second-period assist in a 4-3 shootout victory Thursday against the Kings gave him 38 points in 52 games this season — and 31 points in 30 games since Jan. 4.

He’s going to exceed his production of 2019-20 — his last contract year — when he tallied 38 points in 58 games, and he’s not far off his 51-points-in-58-games pace of his explosive first season in Chicago.

The question remains whether Strome truly fits in the Hawks’ rebuild. He has shown he only can play center and is only productive when playing next to talented players, so he essentially requires a top-six center spot.

And keeping Strome in a top-six center spot next season means Kirby Dach or Lukas Reichel, arguably the two most important forwards for the Hawks’ future, would be relegated to the wing or the third line. That wouldn’t be ideal.

Not ideal, either, would be letting Strome walk away for nothing after his resurgent winter and spring and after keeping him at the trade deadline.

But for the first time in a long time, that’s a conundrum for another day. Strome finally can push it to the back of his mind and just focus on hockey.

”Winning’s got to be the main thing on all our minds [as we] play these last [18] games and just have fun,” Strome said. ”A lot of these guys are going to be back next year. [We’ve] got to build that team identity, which we’ve been working on.”

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LOS ANGELES — Collin Delia was a 17-year-old playing AAA junior hockey when the Kings faced the Devils in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final.

So there in the Staples Center stands that June sat Delia, wearing a red Martin Brodeur jersey, watching a battle between two generational goaltenders in Brodeur and Jonathan Quick. It was a relatively quick drive, after all — just 35 miles west down I-10 from his hometown of Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Ten years later, the iconic sign outside read Crypto.com Arena, the stands weren’t nearly as packed and the stakes weren’t quite as high, but Delia was back inside the home of the Kings on Thursday — this time, on the ice.

And in storybook fashion, Delia stole the show, making 43 saves over 65 minutes and stopping three more shootout attempts as the Blackhawks edged Quick and the Kings, 4-3.

“It’s hard to put it into words,” Delia said afterward, choking up a bit more than he could hide. “[It’s] just really cool to be from this area, to grow up watching the Kings and Ducks, especially Jonathan Quick, and to get to compete with some really good company and come out victorious. [It was] definitely a memorable experience.”

Delia’s dad and stepmom were in attendance, having made the drive themselves this time, still wearing red jerseys but this time for the Hawks.

The timing worked out perfectly. Buried beneath Marc-Andre Fleury and Kevin Lankinen on the depth chart most of the season, Delia has played decently well in the AHL — going 11-9-2 with a .905 save percentage for Rockford — but had seen only 28 minutes of NHL action entering this week.

Fleury’s trade Monday opened the door for his call-up, though, and the Hawks’ customary back-to-back in Southern California necessitated Delia to make on Thursday just his seventh NHL start in the last three-plus calendar years.

“It’s like a movie, right?” interim coach Derek King said. “It’s like all these movies you see about athletes, [showing] where they started and…where they ended up.

“He has had some mountains to climb. I’m sure he’s still going to have some mountains or bumps in the road. [It has been a tough] situation with the goalies this year. All of a sudden, he’s the guy getting called up. Obviously, ‘Lanks’ is our guy. But [Delia] fills in when the right time is for him, and he puts in a performance like that. That’s pretty solid.”

Delia was seeing the puck cleanly from the opening faceoff, as the Kings poured shot attempts from distance, and never lost composure even after the Kings battled back from three one-goal deficits. He made six saves on Arthur Kaliyev, four on Anze Kopitar and three on Adrian Kempe among his 43 in total, then stood tall in his first career NHL shootout.

After Alex DeBrincat won the skills competition in the bottom of the third round, the Hawks mobbed not DeBrincat but Delia, universally aware of the significance to him.

“It’s nice to get some shots early on,” Delia said. “The guys did a great job of letting me see pucks…and clearing second opportunities. They were great.”

Although the final shot counter did favor the Kings 46-31 — Quick made just 28 saves in the crease opposite Delia — high-danger scoring chances were even at 15-15 and expected goals actually slightly favored the Hawks.

For Delia, the future remains cloudy. The Hawks’ remaining schedule portends only two more obvious starting opportunities — in the two remaining back-to-backs — and he’ll be a 27-year-old unrestricted free agent this summer. A return to the Hawks’ organization isn’t implausible but isn’t exactly likely, either.

That surely wasn’t on his mind Thursday, though, as he made a memory that’ll last well beyond his pro career.

“You could see his smile when he came out of here,” King said. “You know how happy he is.”

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Former Northwestern quarterback Trevor Siemian is coming back to the Chicago area. Thursday night, he agreed to a two-year deal with the Bears, his agent Mike McCartney said on social media.

A seventh-round pick by the Broncos in 2015, Siemian has started 29 NFL games, including four as a member of the Saints last year. Siemian, who turned 30 the day after Christmas, was winless last season, completing 108-of-188 passes for 1,154 yards, 11 touchdowns and three interceptions.

He started 14 games for the Broncos in 2016 and 10 in 2017. He made one start for the Jets in 2019, attempting six passes on the season.

It’s unclear exactly what signing Siemian, who worked out for the Bears earlier this week, means for Bears second-stringer Nick Foles. Siemian could be a third-stringer and insurance in case of injury behind Foles and starter Justin Fields. The Bears’ previous regime tried to move Foles last offseason, with no luck.

Siemian tore his ACL toward the end of the 2014 season, his only one as the Wildcats’ standalone starter. He became the only Big Ten quarterback drafted — and the first Northwestern passer drafted since 2010.

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NEW ORLEANS – The Bulls had a Jimmy Butler once.

Traded him away.

And it’s been a long time since they had a keeper of the culture like an Udonis Haslem. Probably since Joakim Noah was not only wearing red, but bleeding it.

So what did the very public on-the-court schism between Miami Heat teammates on Wednesday have to do with the Bulls losing to the Pelicans 126-109 one night later?

A lot.

With just nine regular-season games left and the Bulls (42-31) trending in the wrong direction with five losses in their last six games, Donovan was asked about the Butler-Haslem incident, specifically because he coached Haslem back in his Florida Gators national championship days.

“[Haslem] has no problem confronting anything that he feels maybe getting in the way of winning or the team doing the very best it can,” Donovan said. “For the public, when they see guys going at it like that it’s, ‘OK, they don’t like each other.’ That’s the furthest thing from the truth. That’s just how it is when you have highly competitive guys.”

So what exactly do the Bulls have?

Where is their Butler-Haslem moment, as this season continues slipping from storybook to horror novel? Who will be their keeper of the culture, and doing it with the volume turned up?

Those are real concerns.

There’s a toughness issue with this team, and the loaded schedule the Bulls have been playing lately continued to expose it.

Phoenix, Milwaukee, and even the Pelicans, considering the Bulls were without DeMar DeRozan (groin).

“I think there is confrontation,” Donovan did say of his team on that front. “I think that has happened behind closed doors. I think our guys are professional. I’m not saying Udonis and Jimmy Butler aren’t professional. I’m saying those guys kind of handled it and it didn’t get out to the public. But I think the biggest thing for us right now is when you watch the Milwaukee game or the Philly game, Utah game, Memphis game, those teams that are big, strong and physical, you gotta put a body in plays.

“We’re not the biggest, the strongest or tallest, but you know what? We can positionally be in a spot where we’re taking this on the chest right now. That’s where we’ve got to be better. That’s our biggest challenge. That stuff needs to be talked about more, that stuff needs to be confronted more.”

For three quarters it seemed to be on Thursday. Then it slipped away quickly in the fourth, as the Bulls were outscored 40-24 in that final stanza, and more than lost their composure.

Reserve big man Tristan Thompson did have a meltdown late in the game, but not on the play of his teammates. It was on the officials. After he picked up two technicals expressing his displeasure with a review, before being escorted from the court, dropped a series of expletives that will likely cost him a fine with the league office.

Lost in the bad defeat to a 31-42 Pelicans team was a stellar performance by Zach LaVine, who scored a season-high 39 points on 12-of-23 shooting. And as frustrated as he was with the loss, getting in the face of teammates just isn’t his personality.

“I think everybody is on high alert right now,” LaVine said. “You’re not going to tell somebody act a different way. I’m not going to try and turn into something I’m not. I think that’s fake. People can see through that. I think everybody knows what’s ahead of us and what we need to do. If you don’t understand that in the locker room then you’re in the wrong place.

“It’s not that we have to turn the volume up. It’s just that we got to stop talking about it and get a win. It’s as simple as that.”

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