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Jean-Luc Guionnet’s relationship to music is complicated, and it shows. As a youth, he drew while his father played saxophone, and he didn’t much like what he heard. When he changed his mind during his teens and started making his own music, his first instruments were keyboards, spliced tape, and drums; he only came around to playing saxophone himself because the horn was easy to carry. Since the late 1990s, Guionnet has contributed to more than 80 albums, coming at music from a variety of angles: he’s used recordings of people talking about their listening environments to craft a meditation upon space and memory, employed church organs as vast sound generators, and improvised on alto saxophone alone and in small groups. For years Guionnet has been playing solo saxophone concerts, but he’s never released an album of that music until now. The double LP L’epaisseur de L’air (“The Thickness of Air”) reveals that while Guionnet has mastered the instrument, his relationship with it remains conflicted. He defies the horn’s conventional vocabulary, challenging both its physical limits and his own. Sometimes he uses circular breathing to play unbroken, minutes-long ribbons of translucent sound that form shapes so slowly you can barely perceive them; at other times he spits out masticated notes as though they were unexpectedly bitter seeds. Guionnet’s music expresses extremes of sound and form, and the intensity of his efforts betrays an undercurrent of powerful emotion. The gorgeous severity of the LP’s gatefold sleeve, whose images he drew and etched, also gives a primary role to the visual art he used to make while he wished his father would stop playing. v

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Two mass shootings within two hours of each other this weekend stemmed from gang conflict and retaliatory shootings, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday, decrying “street justice” driven by a “thirst for revenge.”

“Both incidents appear to be internal gang conflicts. Retaliatory shootings for past incident,” the mayor said, noting that Chicago police detectives who worked through the night “have some promising leads.”

About a third of the 78 people shot between Friday evening and early Monday were wounded in just four attacks, including the two mentioned by the mayor. Four were shot in each of the other two.

Lightfoot said yet another summer weekend marred by mass shootings is “both heartbreaking and frustrating.”

Heartbreaking for those killed and wounded and the people who loved them, she said, and equally heartbreaking for the wounds inflicted “psychologically” on those left “traumatized” by gun violence in their gang-infested neighborhoods.

“What’s also frustrating and heartbreaking is that, for some in our community, their thirst for revenge has no sense of decency. They don’t want to let the criminal justice system play itself out,” the mayor said.

“They want to engage in street justice, which is tragic and terrible because, invariably what happens — like we’ve seen so many times with way too many children in our city across this year — when they aim, they don’t get the target. They get the children and the innocent bystanders who have a right to live in our city without fear of being felled by gun violence.”

Chicago has seen at least 331 homicides so far this year, compared to 319 at this point last year and 247 in 2019. That’s an almost 4 percent increase over last year and a 34 percent increase compared to 2019.

There have been at least 1,842 shootings this year, compared to 1,625 at this time in 2020 and 1,171 in 2019. This year has seen a more than 13 percent increase compared to 2020, and 57 percent compared to 2019.

City Hall and police officials have stressed that the increase in violence from last year to this year has been slowing, with this June seeing fewer homicides and shootings than last June. Still, last year was one of the worst for gun violence since the mid-1990s, and this year remains on track for even more shootings and homicides.

Lightfoot, sounding an all-too-familiar theme, demanded that Chief Judge Tim Evans order the full resumption of criminal trials for the first time since the pandemic.

“We still have too many murderers that are not being held accountable — not just in Chicago, but across this country. But, our county is being plagued. So I’m calling our our county partners — and particularly those in the criminal courts. Open up the courts. People need to get their day in court. Justice delayed is justice denied,” she said.

“You’re hurting not only those who are charged, but also those in the community. The victims, the survivors and the witnesses who need to have a measure of justice. Our criminal courts have been shut down for fifteen months. They need to reopen. We need to see the wheels of justice moving for our victims and their families.”

Earlier this month, Evans announced he had asked a committee of criminal justice stakeholders to determine how to safely accelerate the reopening of criminal courts to in-person proceedings, including increasing the capacity for bench and jury trials.

But Evans’ news release making that announcement also noted that while in-person criminal proceedings have been “limited,” since the pandemic, the courts “never really closed” and the “administration of justice, including hearings, bench trials, guilty pleas, findings of innocence and dismissal of cases have continued” for the past 15 months.

Lightfoot said she is “grateful” for the anti-violence help offered to big cities like Chicago by President Biden last week. She called them a “step in the right direction,” including “things I’ve been advocating for since 2019.”

That includes new powers for ATF and a crackdown on gun dealers, whom the mayor claims, are well aware that they are “selling to criminals and straw purchasers” but do it anyway.

“They need to be held accountable as well. And I’m glad the President is now empowering the ATF to be able to do their job and hold those people accountable,” the mayor said.

Already this year, the Chicago Police Department has taken “almost 6,000 crime guns” off the streets, Lightfoot said, calling that a “fraction of what’s out there.”

“When we have this many guns, we have to have accountability…for the people who are picking up guns and settling petty disputes at the tip of a bullet. This has got to stop,” the mayor said.

“We need the federal government and all of our partners to step up and do their parts.”

In the first of the two mass shootings Sunday, a gunman in a black SUV sprayed bullets at a group of people in South Shore around 8:45 p.m., killing one woman and wounding five other people, according to Chicago police.

Hours later, a woman was killed and at least 10 people were shot in Marquette Park when gunmen stepped from an alley, fire officials said.

No one was in custody in either shooting. There have been at least eight other mass shootings in Chicago this month.

In the Marquette Park attack, emergency crews were called to the scene of an accident at 63rd and Western Avenue about 10:30 p.m. when a shooting occurred just a block away on Artesian, fire officials said.

A group of people was gathered outside about 10:50 p.m. when three people came out of an alley and started firing, Chicago police said. A woman was shot in the chest and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. She hasn’t been identified.

Police Supt. David Brown said Monday that the Marquette Park shooting stemmed from a year-long gang conflict in which the gunmen were seeking retaliation. The woman killed in that attack was an innocent bystander, while one of the wounded men was targeted, he said.

The shooters’ car was seen but detectives have no license plate or description of the shooters, Brown said.

In the South Shore shooting, detectives know the gunfire came from an SUV but don’t have a plate number.

Brown asked anyone with information on the shootings to contact the department.

Contributing: Madeline Kenney, Sophie Sherry

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Instead of aggressively addressing the real and overwhelming problems facing Chicago, the mayor and City Council argue over parliamentary procedures. The constant stand-offs about who’s in charge are getting to be a pain. It is shameful.

The mayor wants everything to go her way, and she and the council argue about things like the renaming of Lake Shore Drive. Meanwhile, babies, teens and adults are being shot and killed in the streets of Chicago.

We do not have a City Council of concerned adults, working on the issues of the most importance to our city’s future.

SEND LETTERS TO: [email protected]. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be approximately 350 words or less.

Let’s work on cleaning up neighborhoods, for one. The garbage and litter on the streets and in vacant lots is awful. Overgrown trees need to be cut back or cut down. Viaducts are rotting, bricks falling off. You feel like they could fall down as you pass underneath.

South Side aldermen should be making sure that police officers are patrolling our neighborhoods, not being reassigned to the North Side or downtown to protect the businesses and people there. Living on the South Side, the aldermen know just bad the situation can be, with some people afraid to come outside and sit on their porches, or to put out the garbage in the alley or to just walk down the street.

The mayor and the aldermen need to grow up. They need to really look at what’s going on in the wards and take care of the overwhelming needs. They should be walking the wards, actually talking to people, actually listening to what people have to say.

Talk to the children especially, because they are our future.

Clifola Coleman, Park Manor/Grand Crossing

Point a gun and give up control

Filled with road rage after a traffic altercation in the Lawndale neighborhood, Keshawn Jackson allegedly told Patrick Earl that he “needed to be taught a lesson.” Jackson then, in front of his own two children, allegedly shot and killed Earl.

If that, indeed, is what happened, then Jackson was right. Someone did need to be taught a lesson. He was that person. And he will be taught that lesson every day for the rest of his life.

When you point a gun at someone, you hand control of the rest of your life over to them. Their heartbeat controls your fate.

Don Anderson, Oak Park

DuSable was no Columbus

In his essay in Friday’s Sun-Times, Professor Theodore J. Karamanski’s attempt to conflate Jean Baptiste Point DuSable with Christopher Columbus, the invader and enslaver, is disingenuous, at best. DuSable’s relations with Indians living in the area was nothing like those of Columbus’ with the peoples he and his forces encountered.

Loyola University should censure him for bad scholarship.

Muriel Balla, Hyde Park

Endless tug of war on guns and drugs

Does anyone hold any hope that the Justice Department’s launch of “five cross-jurisdictional firearms trafficking strike forces” will make any difference in Chicago gun violence? With 400 million guns in private hands in the United States, I doubt it. The horses are out of the barn.

In America, we see an ongoing tug-of-war between a so-called “War on Drugs” that puts guns into the hands of Second Amendment-loving Americans and a federal and state talk-fest about keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. It’s a sad commentary on ineffective government policy choices. The tug-of-war goes nowhere as so many are killed.

James E. Gierach, Palos Park

Fake outrage over Critical Race Theory

It is a term of derision now to describe somebody as “woke.” Perhaps that’s because it’s easier to manipulate people who are slumbering and clueless than those who are informed and aware.

For example, many Americans should have experienced a “woke” moment when former Trump strategist Steve Bannon recently revealed the true motivation for the right-wing media-generated “outrage” over the teaching of Critical Race Theory. In a homage to the despicable tactics of the McCarthy Era, Bannon expressed the belief that if Republican politicians continue to demonize CRT, the party could gain up to 50 House seats in the 2022 elections.

Regardless of whether parents support or oppose the teaching of CRT, there is something extremely abhorrent about politicians who feign concern about something so essential to America’s future as a child’s education, when their true goal is nothing more than crass, demagogic and self-serving political gain.

David R. Hoffman, South Bend

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A man died a week after a shooting in Ashburn that also killed a 25-year-old woman. A child traveling in their vehicle was left unharmed.

Corey Dgaines, 29, of West Englewood died Friday evening of complications from gunshot wounds during the June 18 attack, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Dgaines and the other victim, Ciera Jones, were shot by someone in a burgundy Dodge Durango who pulled up along side them and opened fire around 3 p.m. in the 2800 block of West 79th Street, Chicago police said.

Jones was struck in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.

Dgaines suffered gunshot wounds to the back and hand and a graze wound to the head, and was Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said.

The child was not injured, police said. No arrest was reported.

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Six people were killed and 71 others were wounded in weekend shootings in Chicago as the city reaches the halfway point of what could be one of its most violent years in decades.

Four of the attacks were mass shootings with four or more people wounded. The attacks accounted for about a third of all the shooting victims between Friday evening and early Monday morning.

Chicago has seen at least 331 homicides so far this year, compared to 319 at this point last year and 247 in 2019. That’s an almost 4 percent increase over last year and a 34 percent increase compared to 2019.

There have been at least 1,842 shootings this year, compared to 1,625 at this time in 2020 and 1,171 in 2019. This year has seen a more than 13 percent increase compared to 2020, and 57 percent compared to 2019.

City Hall and police officials have stressed that the increase in violence from last year to this year has been slowing, with this June seeing fewer homicides and shootings than last June. Still, last year was one of the worst for gun violence since the mid-1990s, and this year is on track for even more shootings and homicides.

Over the weekend, people were shot in 17 of the city’s 22 police districts. The most violent was the Grand Crossing district on the South Side, where six were shot in one attack, four in another and a 14-year-old boy was shot in a third attack.

The most serious attack in the district was in the South Shore neighborhood, where a gunman in a black SUV sprayed bullets at a group of people around 8:45 p.m. Sunday, killing one woman and wounding five other people, according to Chicago police.

Hours later, a woman was killed and at least 10 people were shot in Marquette Park when gunmen stepped from an alley, police said. The neighborhood is in the Chicago Lawn police district which surrounds Midway Airport.

No one was in custody in either shooting. There have been at least eight other mass shootings in Chicago this month.

West Pullman homicide

Early Sunday, a man was fatally shot in West Pullman on the Far South Side. Officers responded to a Shot Spotter alert and found the 24-year-old in the 11700 block of South Laflin Street, police said.

He suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. His name was not released and no arrest was reported.

Englewood murder

Before dawn on Saturday, a 54-year-old man was shot and killed in Englewood on the South Side. Darryl Griffin was standing outside around 3 a.m. in the 600 block of West 61st Place when someone inside a passing SUV opened fire, police said. Griffin was shot in his torso and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he died, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Police reported no arrests.

Humboldt Park homicide

Early Saturday, 25-year-old Niko Davis was shot and killed around 4:35 a.m. in the 2600 block of West Thomas Street in Humboldt Park, Chicago police said. Shot in his chest, he was taken to Stroger Hospital and pronounced dead.

Man killed, 3 wounded in West Rogers Park

An hour later, a man was killed and three others wounded after getting into an argument in West Rogers Park on the North Side.

About 5:30 a.m., the group was in the 6100 block of North McCormick Boulevard when they got into an argument with a man who pulled out a gun and began firing shots, police said.

Joseph Darnell Johnson, 35, was shot in his chest and leg, and died at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Three other wounded men were hospitalized with injuries that weren’t life-threatening, police said.

Other shootings

• A woman was wounded Friday in Austin on the West Side. She was walking about 9:10 p.m. in the 200 block of South Cicero Avenue when someone opened fire, striking her in the leg, police said. The 56-year-old was taken to Stroger Hospital, where her condition was stabilized.
• Another woman was wounded in a shooting late Friday in Bridgeport on the South Side. The 28-year-old was traveling in a vehicle as a passenger about 11:25 p.m. in the 2800 block of South Wallace Avenue when three males who were standing outside fired shots at the vehicle, police said. A bullet struck her in the elbow, and she was taken to Mercy Hospital in good condition, police said.
• Minutes later, four people were hurt, two critically, in a shooting in Park Manor on the South Side. A group was standing outside about 11:50 p.m. when a person drove past in a red moped and fired shots in the 7000 block of South Indiana Avenue, police said.

  One woman was shot three times on the body and was taken in critical condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. The other was struck in the thigh and was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where her condition was stable.

  One man was also critically hurt with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said. The other man was shot in the thigh and taken to the same hospital, where his condition was stable.

At least 46 other people were wounded in shootings in Chicago between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday.

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Experience mattered to USA Basketball when putting together a roster for the Tokyo Olympics.

The Americans formally revealed their roster Monday, one that will be third-oldest U.S. men’s team in Olympic history for the Tokyo Games. The 12-man list includes five players — Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, Jrue Holiday, Damian Lillard and Draymond Green — already in their 30s.

In addition to those five players, the U.S. also has gotten commitments from Bam Adebayo, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Jerami Grant, Zach LaVine, Khris Middleton and Jayson Tatum to play on the team. All those commitments became known in recent weeks; USA Basketball, which is seeking a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal, merely made it official Monday with the announcement.

“USA Basketball selects players to represent our country in international competition with the skills, character, experience, and desire to win,” said retired Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of USA Basketball’s Board of Directors. “We build teams that are versatile and resilient in the short, intense competitions we face. We’re fortunate that this group of elite athletes has volunteered to represent us in Tokyo this summer.”

Love is the oldest, at 32. Tatum, at 22, is the youngest. The average age — calculated by USA Basketball to be 28.2 at the end of the Tokyo Games if this roster doesn’t change — ranks behind only the 1996 team (29.4) and the original Dream Team in 1992 (29.0) as the oldest groups that the U.S. has sent to an Olympics.

Durant is on the Olympic team for the third time, making him the fourth U.S. player to have at least that many selections; Carmelo Anthony was on each of the last four teams, while LeBron James and David Robinson are the other three-time selections.

Durant was part of the gold-medal-winning squads in 2012 and 2016. Love was also on the 2012 team, Green was on the 2016 team. The other nine players on the U.S. roster will be appearing in the Olympics for the first time.

“I’m happy for the selected players and looking forward to having the opportunity to work with this wonderful group when practice gets underway on July 6 in Las Vegas,” U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said. “I’m excited to represent the United States in our quest to earn a gold medal in Tokyo.”

Popovich will be assisted by Steve Kerr, Lloyd Pierce and Jay Wright. Jerry Colangelo is again the team’s managing director, serving in that role for the final time before Grant Hill assumes the job when these Olympics are complete.

“Our roster features players who are experienced in the international game, and this team has outstanding athleticism, versatility and balance,” Colangelo said. “We also believe we have excellent leadership which is a necessity in order to develop the needed chemistry. We still have a lot of challenges in front of us, but I believe these players will become a team that all Americans will be proud of.”

The team will be formally nominated to the Tokyo Games by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee next month.

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What’s the best way to store cannabis?

For flower, the simplest and cheapest method is also the most reliable: Mason jars. They provide a cool and airtight environment, which preserves the quality. Keep your jars in a dark place, since light degrades the terpenes (a.k.a. the flavor), and maintain a relative humidity of 55 to 65 percent. For those of us without a green thumb, drop in a humidity pack, about the size of a sugar packet, which will do the job for you.

If you want to up your storage game, there’s Cannador (from $149), a wooden box that’s like a humidor for cannabis. Or look to the $220 Stori, an inconspicuous shoebox-size white plastic container. It bills itself as airtight, smell-proof, and child resistant, and it includes a dozen smaller color-coded containers — aluminum tubes and jar-like “pods” that come with a humidity pack. An associated app lets you track your stash, so no more weed roulette.

Have a question for our budtender? E-mail [email protected].

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When it comes to dining out, vegans and vegetarians often feel left out with very limited options. Over the last few years, Chicago restaurants have embraced the plant-powered lifestyle and have expanded their menus to include our plant-lovers. From comfort food classics to elevated plant-forward menus, to international dishes without a piece of meat in sight, these 5 vegan and vegetarian restaurants know what they’re talking about. 

700 N Michigan Ave 7th floor, Chicago, IL 60611

Located on the 7th floor of Saks Fifth Ave, Althea offers an elevated plant-forward menu. With floor-to-ceiling windows, you truly feel like you’re part of nature. The menu, crafted by renowned chef Matthew Kenney, includes various interpretations of international cuisines using fresh, organic ingredients. Some of their dishes include the “barbacoa” tacos made with maitake and oyster mushrooms, pepita cream, avocado puree, and toasted pepitas, the zucchini lasagna, consisting of sun-dried tomato marinara, basil pistachio pesto, macadamia ricotta, and herb oil, and the sweet pea flatbread made with green goddess, leeks, macadamia ricotta, picked radish and pistachio. And if you’re a Gluten-Free guy or gal, most of their menu is also catered to you so you won’t feel left out. 

Make reservations here.

2311 W North Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

The mantra at Handlebar is “food, booze, and good times” — and it delivers on all three. The menu at this bustling Wicker Park spot reads like a typical tavern menu (think nachos, buffalo chicken wrap, grilled cheese, and sloppy joes), but everything is made-from-scratch vegan or vegetarian. The food is made with farm-fresh, locally sourced ingredients, there’s a full-service bar and beer garden, and the regular crowd of locals keeps the good times going. Keep in mind that as of right now, their indoor dining is not open, but their patio is available on a first-come-first-serve basis. 

5812 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60660

Alice & Friends’ was founded by Alice Lee in 2001. Their lifestyle flows out of sincere respect for all living things and a desire to make as little impact as possible on the ecosystem. Their goal is to create a wonderland for vegans and those who want to adopt a plant-based diet. They want everyone to be able to enjoy flavorful, healthy, 100% vegan dishes. Choose from an extensive list of entrees, including miso ramen, chow mein, bibimbap with smoked tofu, chana masala poke bowl, and so much more. House-made desserts, like zucchini bread and soy ice cream, make a sweet end to the meal.

See their full menu for takeout here. 

519 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654

Beatrix is a neighborhood coffeehouse, restaurant, and meeting place in Chicago’s River North, Streeterville, Fulton Market, and Oak Brook neighborhoods. The restaurant is the brainchild of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises’ Founder Rich Melman, Executive Partner, and Divisional President Marc Jacobs and Chef Partners John Chiakulas, Rita Dever, and Susan Weaver. The menu features healthy meets delicious options and is known for its iconic coffee and bakery counter, including signature cookies and in-house pastry favorites. You’ll find plenty of options where vegetables are the star of the show, like the asparagus and pea risotto made with farro or the eggplant steak.

Make reservations for the River North location here.

Make reservations for the Streeterville location here.

Make reservations for the Fulton Market location here.

2333 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60647 

The Chicago Diner offers an atmosphere as American as mini-malls by decorating the place with vintage ads and neon lights and serving up heaping helpings of comfort food, but without the meat. “Instead of burgers, we have veggie burgers,” “instead of french fries we serve home fries.” They also offer vegan milkshakes, a Radical Reuben with homemade seitan in place of corned beef, biscuits & vegetarian gravy, and Chick’n Fingers for the kids. And guys, you really need to try their vegan milkshakes, not only are they delicious, but they are vegan, and some even Gluten Free!

Featured Image Credit: Pexels

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The Blackhawks have initiated an investigation of the sexual assault allegations against former video coach Bradley Aldrich and into the internal handling of those allegations.

After weeks of silence, the team — via an internal memo from CEO Danny Wirtz, obtained by the Sun-Times — announced Monday they hired the law firm Jenner & Block LLP to lead an “independent review” of the allegations. Reid Schar, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and now the law firm’s Litigation Department Co-Chair, will lead the investigation.

“Much has recently been said and written regarding the two lawsuits filed against the organization stemming from alleged events that occurred in 2010,” Wirtz said in the memo. “We want to reiterate to you that we take the allegations described in these lawsuits very seriously. They in no way reflect this organization’s culture or values.

“Mr. Schar and his firm have significant experience conducting independent investigative reviews, have no previous ties to the Blackhawks organization, and have been directed to follow the facts wherever they lead.”

The Blackhawks are currently facing a lawsuit from a former player — identified under the pseudonym “John Doe” in the lawsuit — who claims he and another player were sexually assaulted by Aldrich in May 2010, one month before the team won the Stanley Cup.

Aldrich ”sent . . . inappropriate text messages,” ”turned on porn and began to masturbate in front of [Doe] . . . without his consent” and ”threatened to injure [Doe] . . . physically, financially and emotionally if [Doe] . . . did not engage in sexual activity,” according to the lawsuit filed May 7.

Three players from the 2010 team — including defensemen Brent Sopel and Nick Boynton — came forth last week, saying Aldrich’s assaults were widely known among the team.

Former video coach Paul Vincent told TSN that he informed then-president John McDonough, general manager Stan Bowman, executive Al MacIsaac and skills coach James Gary about Aldrich’s alleged assault at a meeting in 2010, but that the group of Hawks executives rejected his request to report the incident to the police. Former assistant coach John Torchetti recently confirmed Vincent’s account to TSN.

Aldrich sexually assaulted a 16-year-old Michigan boy while volunteering for a high school team in 2013 after his Hawks tenure, and that victim is now also suing the Hawks for allegedly providing “positive references to future employers for Bradley Aldrich despite having knowledge of his sexual assaults.”

In Monday’s internal memo, Wirtz said the Hawks will not comment further on the allegations — “out of respect for the ongoing legal proceedings and the independent review” — until both processes have ended. The Hawks had denied wrongdoing in a statement last month, shortly after the lawsuit was filed.

The Hawks have motioned to dismiss the ex-player’s lawsuit, arguing in court documents that the statute of limitations expired and the player did not exhaust all other remedy methods for workplace sexual assault before suing.

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Chicago Cubs Rumors: 5 trades to make for starting pitcher at deadline by Ryan Heckman

It is officially that time. The Stanley Cup Final will get underway tonight between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning. It is a unique Final this year as two Eastern Conference teams are playing for Lord Stanley’s Cup due to the division realignment cause by COVID-19 protocol. The Chicago Blackhawks have been watching from home so you have to wonder who the fanbase should be rooting for.

It is certainly going to be fun to watch these two teams duke it out to end the 2020-21 season. The Tampa Bay Lightning played the regular season without Nikita Kucherov. They had him back for the playoffs which have really helped them get this far. They have used situations like that to manipulate the salary cap to their advantage. They are almost 20 million dollars over the cap in the playoffs where the cap goes away.

A lot of people in the hockey world are upset at the Lightning for being cap geniuses. However, nobody cared when the Hawks did the exact same thing in 2015 when they brought back Patrick Kane for the playoffs after being busy at the trade deadline in his absence. If teams don’t like it, they should collectively bargain a new rule next time the agreement is up.

The Chicago Blackhawks fans might have a rooting interest in the Stanley Cup Final.

With that said, it feels like a good idea for Blackhawks fans to root for the Montreal Canadiens. They haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1993 and the Lightning won it in 2020. If they repeat, they could go on to win more and outdo the dynasty that the Hawks put together from 2010-2015.

The Habs are also just a really cool story right now. They backed into the playoffs because of some injuries and then they got healthy right in time. They also came back from being down 3-1 in the first round to the Toronto Maple Leafs all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. It has been a fantastic story for them up to this point.

Montreal also has a player that the Hawks should be rooting for in this series. Stan Bowman traded away Phillip Danault to the Canadiens a few years ago in a very bad deal for his team. Now, Danault is one of the best two-way forwards in the league. If he continues to play well, it makes Bowman look worse which is good news for Blackhawks fans. As a fan of good hockey, it is nice to see him play this well.

Related Story: There is one reason to be extremely excited about the Blackhawks

Of course, everyone is entitled to root for whoever they want but there are some reasons to point to Montreal as the easy team to root for. The “underdog” feel combined with the dynasty stuff makes it feel right to root for them.

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