Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson hasn’t seemed too concerned about it, but the Hawks’ preseason results were undeniably ugly.

A 6-0 blowout loss Saturday to the Blues concluded a six-game slate during which the Hawks won just once, and that was in Detroit with a lineup composed of mostly prospects and fringe players.

Very few of the players the Hawks will count on to be top contributors this season showed semblances of life. Jonathan Toews’ effort seemed low on several uncharacteristic opponent goals after he committed defensive-zone turnovers. Patrick Kane couldn’t find much chemistry with anyone who rotated through the first line, including new additions Andreas Athanasiou and Max Domi. The Hawks were cumulatively outscored 22-6.

Richardson said Friday, after a 4-1 loss Thursday against the Wild but before Saturday’s massacre, he believed a few critical breakdowns were marring otherwise respectable performances.

“We’ve been happy with the execution and effort,” he said. “It’s just [that] the big opportunities [our opponents] get are really big. They’re bad.

“The mistakes are just too big. We have to start cleaning those up. Hockey’s never going to be perfect, because it’s too fast a game and there are 10 guys moving at 30 miles per hour out there. It’s tough to be perfect. But we have to just be solid and we have a ways to go.”

The Hawks will hope for better results when the regular season starts and the games actually start counting, although that optimism might be misplaced given the roster construction. They’ll travel to Denver on Monday for two high-altitude practices before the season opener Wednesday against the Avalanche.

Roos contract complexity

When the Hawks signed defenseman Filip Roos in May as a European free agent, Roos’ Swedish team –Skelleftea AIK –technically retained his rights.

If the Hawks try to send Roos down to the AHL, Skelleftea will have the option to bring him back to Sweden rather than let him go to Rockford, Roos said Friday –even though he personally would prefer to stay in America and keep fighting for an NHL opportunity.

“It’s up to them,” Roos said. “I’m just trying to stay focused on this and do my best here, so hopefully it goes well. If that comes up, we’ll take it from there.”

That contract complication could influence how the Hawks manage their defensive roster decisions, with Roos currently sitting on the bubble.

“He’s calm and he moves the puck well on the power play,” Richardson said Friday. “I’ve seen some progress. Also in his first time in North America on the smaller rink, he’s adjusting fast, which is a good sign.”

Lafferty adjusting to center

Sam Lafferty has spent much of camp transitioning from wing to center.

It’s not a drastic change for him–Lafferty played some center while coming up with the Penguins’ AHL affiliate in 2018-19–but has required some adjustments, particularly when it comes to making reads in the defensive zone.

He centered Athanasiou and Jujhar Khaira on Saturday. Richardson likes the idea of Lafferty and Athanasiou, the Hawks’ two fastest skaters, playing together, and also thinks Lafferty’s speed will help him at center.

“He’s bright, and even if he’s off-key a little bit on positioning out there, he has the ability to react quick and get back into position,” Richardson said. “Center ice is a great fit for him.”

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It was a very easy conversation for Billy Donovan to have.

The Bulls coach recalled that he simply pulled Patrick Williams aside, informed him that Javonte Green would be starting in his place on Friday night, and went about his day.

No resistance from the former No. 4 overall draft pick over the decision, no fight.

“Passive Pat” on the court, and now off of it.

“I didn’t really think too much into it,” Williams said of the discussion with his coach. “When [Donovan] told me, I was all for it. I really think Javonte is a really good player, plays with a lot of energy. And I kind of saw where he was coming from in terms of him bringing energy to that first group. And I think it worked. We won.”

That the Bulls did, man-handling a short-handed Denver Nuggets team, and doing so in impressive fashion in the 131-113 victory.

But in the game of player development for Williams?

Call it yet another loss.

Since being selected in the 2020 draft, a lot has gone against the Florida State product, starting with the fact that his NBA life began in the midst of a pandemic.

No doubt Williams gets a pass for that.

Then last season, he had an unbelievably productive summer, only to be slowed in camp with a bum ankle and then watch his luck go from very little to bad when he suffered a severe wrist injury just five games into the regular season.

Again, another pass of understanding.

After Friday, however, the pass cup is empty.

It’s way too early to label Williams a bust, but it’s not too early to be concerned that he’s heading down that path. Or at least turning into a player that has All-Star potential, but more content with sitting in the backseat and being a passenger.

“My job is to be productive and use my talents to try to help the team win,” Williams said, discussing the move to the bench.

For many NBA players, that’s correct.

But for No. 4 draft picks there is a different expectation. At least an expectation the organization hopes to see. The Bulls want – and need to see – dominant moments.

There haven’t been enough with Williams. At least enough when he’s starting alongside the likes of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic.

He’s seemingly intimidated to flash his ability when they are on the floor with him, and the power forward all but admitted that.

“A lot of times with the first unit, Zach and DeMar are All-Stars,” Williams said. “I feel like and the team feels like the best shot is for the ball to be in their hands. And we’re trying to set screens for them and try to get them open.”

And that’s how a starting spot is lost. That kind of mentality.

Did guard Anthony Edwards worry about stepping on toes when he arrived in Minnesota? Has LaMelo Ball backed away from being the face of the Charlotte franchise? Is Tyrese Haliburton flinching from doing his job? Does Tyrese Maxey play like he’s intimidated from taking shots away from Joel Embiid in Philadelphia?

All were 2020 draft picks, and all are making the Williams’ selection shrink.

The good news is it’s not too late for Williams, still only 21. Maybe playing with the second unit is the push he needs to be more aggressive, void of All-Star intimidation alongside of him.

Maybe it will spark something, anything.

It doesn’t speak well of Williams’ make-up in Year 3, but it’s worthy of yet another free pass.

If only he had any left.

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Other than Patrick Kane, most of the Blackhawks’ high-value assets have already been sold off to ignite the rebuild.

General manager Kyle Davidson has essentially converted Brandon Hagel into two first-round picks, Marc-Andre Fleury into a second-round pick, Alex DeBrincat into first-, second- and third-round picks and Kirby Dach into first- and third-round picks.

But now those guys are gone, and Kane is expected to soon follow, at least some time before next summer. Once that blockbuster goes down, Davidson will need to find a way to keep accumulating picks (and prospects) without being able to dangle star players in return.

The under-the-radar, late-night deal he made Friday–swapping depth defenseman Riley Stillman for depth forward Jason Dickinson and receiving a 2024 second-round pick from the Canucks in the process–exemplifies how he can do it.

Salary-cap space is more valuable than ever in the NHL right now, with 27 of the league’s 32 teams within $5 million of the $82.5 million upper limit (per Capfriendly) and 16 teams actually exceeding it with long-term injured reserve gymnastics. Fitting in new players, be it voluntarily via trade acquisitions or necessarily due to injuries, will be a real challenge for half the league this season.

The Hawks, meanwhile, are one of only five teams with substantial space. They have roughly $7.1 million available, a number exceeded by only the Red Wings ($8.2 million), Ducks ($15.7 million), Coyotes ($19.5 million) and Sabres ($20.4 million).

And come next season, after Kane and Jonathan Toews’ contracts come off the books and Duncan Keith’s early-retirement recapture penalty decreases, the Hawks will have even more space. They currently have only $39.9 million in committed salary for 2023-24, second-lowest in the league (only the Ducks, at $39.8 million, have less).

The Canucks are in far worse shape, financial flexibility-wise. They’re currently exceeding the cap by $700,000 with Micheal Ferland on LTIR. They have $67.6 million in salary committed for next season–including nine players making over $4.7 million–and will need to fit in notable new contracts for Bo Horvat and Nils Hoglander.

That tight outlook evidently made Canucks GM Patrik Allvin willing to surrender a decent pick to save a relatively meager $1.3 million, the difference in cap hits between Stillman ($1.35 million) and Dickinson ($2.65 million). The Hawks now own two first-, two second- and two third-round selections in each of the next two drafts.

Allvin won’t be the only GM in that boat this season, and his fellow sailors are the men Davidson will need to call on a weekly basis.

Furthermore, few current Hawks will still be in Chicago when the franchise starts trying to contend again. Some are mere placeholders, employed to fill out the team for a year or two of non-contention. Others are investments, players the Hawks would like to see succeed so they can be traded later. A decent number are leftovers from ex-GM Stan Bowman’s era, and Davidson has shown a refreshing lack of loyalty to Bowman’s failed experiments.

In any case, most are the equivalent of deck chairs that the Hawks can freely move around in whatever way most benefits the rebuild.

Stillman and Dickinson both fall in that deck-chair category. Stillman is a capable defensive third-pairing defenseman, and he’s only 24, but he wasn’t going to be a long-term building block. There are many dozens of other defensemen just like him around the NHL, including a few now competing for his job (Alec Regula, Isaak Phillips and Filip Roos).

Dickinson, similarly, is a capable 27-year-old, defense-focused, bottom-six forward, but realistically it’s unlikely he remains with the Hawks past the expiration of his contract in 2024.

More clever trades involving guys like them should be able to keep the Hawks’ stream of asset accumulation flowing steadily. Davidson set an encouraging precedent Friday.

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Prospect Brennen Davis of the Cubs anticipates the upcoming season after fully recovering from back surgery.

Despite of using 64 players throughout their 88-loss campaign, the Cubs did not make Brennen Davis their top prospect this season. Together, 25 rookies played in more than 700 games for the Cubs this season, with 17 players making their major-league debut. There is no doubt that the Cubs will include  Brennen Davis on their 40-man roster next month after he had a stellar final month of the last campaign at Triple-A Iowa. A prospect orientation program at Wrigley Field served as the call-up in September.

In Mesa’s 12-5 defeat, Brennen Davis registered just one hit, but it was a huge one. In the third inning of his debut AFL game, Chicago’s second-ranked prospect drove a two-run home run off the second pitch of the at-bat to center field. The 22-year-old, who only played in 53 regular-season games this year due to a back ailment, is hoping to gain some momentum with a solid AFL campaign.

Per MLB Pipeline, next up could be making his first big-league Opening Day roster. There certainly could be that opportunity for the Cubs’ No. 2 prospect with playing time potentially available in center field at first glance.

Brennen Davis has a demonstrated ability and athleticism to make up for the missed time and advance significantly in his growth. He was a sophomore at Basha High School in Arizona and participated on the JV baseball team partly because basketball was his primary emphasis at the time. He went from being a second-round draft pick in 2018 to being named the organization’s minor league player of the year in 2019, the MVP of last year’s All-Star Futures Game, and Keith Law’s No. 28 prospect in the whole sport entering into this season in just 167 professional games.

“It’s hard because you have expectations for yourself,” Davis said. “But at the end of the day, it’s about a career, not a year. And I’m happy. I was really happy watching all my friends get opportunities this year, and I wish I was there with them. But I’m sure I will be in the future.”

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T

here haven’t been many positives to come out of the Fire season, but one was apparent during their 3-2 win Saturday at FC Cincinnati.

Jhon Duran, 18, scored twice and Brian Gutierrez, 19, added a goal and two assists. The two teenagers’ development has a been bright spot for the Fire, whose finale is Sunday in Bridgeview against the New England Revolution.

Neither are finished products — Duran needs to hone his immense physical gifts and get better with his right foot, and Gutierrez must get stronger on the ball and see plays faster — but both showed their promise this year, and Saturday was another example of their growth.

“I’ve said this from the beginning, they both have very, very high ceilings,” coach Ezra Hendrickson said.

Whether Duran’s development continues with the Fire or elsewhere in 2023 is another question.

Reportedly, Duran is on the radar of English giants Liverpool and Chelsea. Both teams have American ownership and Chelsea already has bought Fire goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina, so neither club should have negative views of MLS talent.

Duran, who has made it clear he sees himself eventually jumping to Europe, could follow Slonina to the Premier League or another prestigious circuit on the other side of the Atlantic. Hendrickson, who wasn’t shocked by the reported interest, hopes Duran is still with the Fire next year after carrying the team’s goal-scoring in 2022.

“He’s here, he’s our player,” Hendrickson said, “but I can see why teams are very interested.”

Already coveted when the Fire signed him in 2021, Duran did nothing to hurt his stock this year, earning his first two appearances for the Colombian national team. Entering Sunday, Duran has eight goals and three assists over 1,274 minutes and has noticeably improved as the season wore on. He bought into the team concept, became more disciplined and mature and overtook veteran Kacper Przybylko for the starting striker spot.

Over the last four Fire games, Duran has five goals.

“It’s just putting in the work,” Duran said through a translator. “The hard work of the team also helps me but mostly it’s wanting to do the right things and to keep working hard so that you can keep doing the right things. And also, it’s listening to people around you. There are people that are very important around you who are always trying to help you, so you have to listen to them as well.”

There wasn’t the same hype around Gutierrez when he signed as a homegrown player in 2020, but his trajectory is also encouraging. In his third MLS season, Gutierrez has two goals and seven assists and was given a new contract that runs through 2026 with a 2027 team option.

He also has put himself in consideration to be a full-time member of the first 11 in 2023 after starting 19 times this year in the midfield. His production has added to his confidence, which should be beneficial next spring when Gutierrez faces higher expectations.

“It makes me play free,” Gutierrez said. “It tells me that I can do it.”

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This particular Saturday afternoon in September had all the makings of a high school gridiron classic.

The clouds eased across a sun-soaked blue sky, with a light breeze wafting the distinct smell of a freshly cut football field. As the players and coaches did their pregame walk-throughs, bees lingered a little too close, holding on to their final days before the remaining warmth of summer departs, taking them with it. Kids ran through the open field next to the bleachers while the adults grabbed their seats.

Noticeably missing from the Westinghouse football field was the sound of helmets and shoulder pads colliding and the notion that football is a sport reserved for men.

On the field, soft helmets covered the heads of the Westinghouse and Young girls’ flag football teams, and yellow flags hung from their belts to their knees.

“This isn’t just for fun,” Westinghouse junior quarterback LaMonica Bryant said. “It’s a serious sport.”

Chicago Public Schools launched the first girls’ flag football league in Illinois in 2021 with 22 teams participating in its inaugural season. This year participation has extended to the suburbs and more than doubled with 50 CPS teams, eight teams in the Rockford league and six in the Western Suburban Conference. As a whole, there are over 1,200 girls participating in high school flag football this year.

The goal for all of them is to become an IHSA varsity sport with arguably the biggest hurdle being participation. To take a sport from emerging to varsity-level, leagues need to have 10% of IHSA member high schools participating, which equates to about 80 schools. The IHSA Board also considers other factors like officiating, facilities and support from participating schools’ athletic directors.

For a sport like girls’ flag football, there’s an expectation that officials could be pulled from the 11-player game. But in Illinois, there’s already a need for more football officials which could prove to be a hindrance for this emerging sport down the road.

Currently, girls’ flag football is a sanctioned varsity sport in Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia and Nevada. In New York, California and Arizona, similar to Illinois, it still is considered an emerging sport because the state has not yet sanctioned the sport.

Nike provided $100,000 to support the CPS league and the Bears, through Bears Care, provided another $140,000 for necessary equipment like soft helmets, cleats and belts. It costs about $2,500 per school to start a girls’ flag football team.

CPS senior manager of elementary sports Juliana Zavala has been working with the Bears and NFL Flag since 2020 to help get the sport off the ground in Illinois. They were intentional about the league beginning first in Chicago with the goal of building the sport on accessibility and inclusivity.

Zavala expects to hit the 10% required mark for varsity consideration by 2023 and hopes that girls’ flag football will be an IHSA varsity sport by the fall of 2024. By comparison, the IHSA was licensing officials in lacrosse in 2005 before it officially became a varsity sport. In 2009 the IHSA had different athletic groups make a case for the sport to become a varsity sport in Illinois. That same year the IHSA Board determined it would establish lacrosse as a varsity sport when the state had 65 boys’ teams and 40 girls’ teams.

That didn’t happen until 2017-18. So while girls’ flag football has participation on its side, there are other factors that contribute to it becoming a varsity sport.

Beyond their financial contribution, the Bears’ role in the success of girls’ flag football in Illinois includes hosting a coaches clinic and jamboree which took place in August. Halas Hall also will host the state championship on October 29. Playoffs for the CPS league began this week. On Nov. 19, Halas Hall will host a college combine for all interested players that will feature NAIA schools offering scholarships and junior colleges interested in establishing girls’ flag football as a sport.

Westinghouse and Young, both completing their inaugural season, had matching records (5-1) coming into their final regular-season game last Saturday. On each sideline, teammates could be heard whispering how good the opponent was.

In the opening minutes of the game, Young quarterback Sonali Angus put the Dolphins up early with a 10-yard touchdown pass. On the next drive, Bryant led her team downfield for their own.

Bryant was a force on the field all game, finishing with two rushing touchdowns and connecting with receiver Nina Israel for two touchdowns passing en route to a 33-28 win.

The three-sport athlete who is part of the basketball and track-and-field teams has a list of colleges she is interested in on the notes app on her phone. She said each school listed is based on her academics and her times in track and field. When considering where she’ll attend college, Bryant is focused on which school will best serve her.

Bryant said she isn’t considering flag football as a means of attaining an athletic scholarship. She’s just focused on the joy it brings her.

But the point is that flag football is available as an opportunity for girls in Illinois. It’s up to them whether or not they want to participate and exactly how far they want to take it.

“Football runs in my family,” Bryant said. “It’s just another sport that brings peace to me.”

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One Chicago baseball team won 81 games. The other won 74. Naturally, the team with more wins earns the higher grade for its performance in 2022.

Right?

Of course not.

In this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter, we asked voters to grade the 81-81 White Sox and the 74-88 Cubs. Seemingly, “F” must stand for “five-hundred record.” The underachieving Sox — not the low-expectation Cubs — got hammered with failing marks.

“Who is giving them anything but an F?” @crhode1 asked.

Add an F “for the fans who really thought this was a World Series team,” @Robovinnie23 wrote.

The Cubs, on the other hand, skated by without a whole lot of criticism.

“The Cubs had a successful second half,” @newenhuyse offered. “Many nice surprises. Big props to [manager] David Ross.”

“I give the Cubs credit,” @ShawnaP79 commented. “They played much harder than my Sox.”

Finally, we asked voters which of these powerhouse teams — the Astros, Yankees, Braves and Dodgers — has the best shot to win the World Series. On to the polls:

Poll No. 1: All things considered, give the White Sox (81-81) a grade for 2022.

Upshot: The Sox didn’t hit the long ball as expected, didn’t play good defense, didn’t get strong seasons from a couple of key members of the rotation, screwed up too often on the bases, brought inconsistent energy to the ballpark and were terrible — and we mean terrible — at Guaranteed Rate Field. Other than that, everything was wonderful.

Poll No. 2: All things considered, give the Cubs (74-88) a grade for 2022.

Upshot: It’s hard to blame the players for a losing record when half of them could stroll the streets of Wrigleyville without being stopped for an autograph or a photo or even recognized. The outmanned Cubs hung in there, played a lot of close games and showed a decent amount of promise in regard to this rebuild. Then again, it’s all in the wording, isn’t it? A grade for ownership or the front office probably would have been less generous.

Poll No. 3: Which 1 or 2 seed in the MLB playoffs has the best shot to win the World Series?

Upshot: @JBIRD1268 sees a Braves repeat coming, but the National League’s top-seeded Dodgers received far more support among voters. Given their embarrassment of riches, it’s no surprise. How about the puny number of votes for the Yankees? There was a time early on when they were the betting favorite to win the whole thing. Here, they’re not getting much respect at all.

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