The Blackhawks will not be an offensive juggernaut next season. But at least after Wednesday, they’re on track to ice a full and roughly NHL-caliber roster of forwards.

For starters, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews appear increasingly likely to stick around.

Their agent, Pat Brisson, told TSN’s Pierre LeBrun on Wednesday that “while they’re not necessarily in agreement with the direction the team is taking, they will let the dust settle first and then patiently make the best decisions…[for] their respective careers.”

Toews was practicing in high spirits Wednesday morning at Fifth Third Arena with Hawks skills coaches, Connor Murphy, MacKenzie Entwistle and several other Chicago-based NHL players.

And finally, very few teams are still flush in salary cap space after Wednesday’s activity. That reality means Kane and Toews’ contracts will be difficult to move this offseason even if they do eventually request trades.

In-season next year, most likely at the trade deadline, now appears to be the most plausible time for their Chicago departures.

So pencil Kane and Toews into the first line of a theoretical depth chart. On their wing, the Hawks could either deploy either Domi or Athanasiou, who have both shown upper-end scoring potential in years past, or top rookie Lukas Reichel.

Reichel presents an interesting decision. The Hawks won’t want their top forward prospect toiling away with inadequate wingers on an awful team. He’ll develop best either playing wing alongside Toews and Kane or starring at center in the AHL for yet another season.

Tyler Johnson and Blackwell will be the Hawks’ second- and third-line centers, which will be one of many major weaknesses in this depth chart.

Domi, Athanasiou, Taylor Raddysh, Sam Lafferty and –once he’s re-signed — Philipp Kurashev will presumably rotate around Johnson and Blackwell’s wings. The Hawks would love to see Raddysh and Lafferty maintain the momentum from their encouraging March and April performances.

On the fourth line, Entwistle and Boris Katchouk are fairly sure bets, while Mike Hardman, Reese Johnson and Josiah Slavin will compete for playing time.

Prospect updates

Despite the off-ice buzz, Hawks development camp continued as normal Wednesday, with the prospects participating in on-ice testing drills.

Among the Hawks’ stacked group of defensemen, Ethan Del Mastro and Louis Crevier have flown somewhat under the radar, but they’re worth keeping eyes on.

Both have already signed entry-level contracts, defying the odds for players in their draft positions: Crevier was taken in the seventh round in 2020, Del Mastro in the fourth round in 2021.

Both also have tremendous size: Crevier measured in at 6-8, 219 pounds — and he’s hoping to eventually bulk up to around 235 –while Del Mastro measured in at 6-4, 209 pounds, and said that’ll be roughly his permanent weight.

Del Mastro, in particular, is developing at an exciting rate. After tallying seven points in 57 games for the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads in 2019-20, then not playing in 2020-21 due to COVID-19, he exploded for 48 points in 68 games as Mississauga’s captain this past year. He’ll return next season as one of the OHL’s top defensemen.

“I showcased a little more offense and poise with the puck, for sure,” he said. “It’s something I’ve always had in my game. It’s just been about showing it.”

Added Mark Eaton, who’s running the camp for the Hawks: “[Ethan is] filling out, getting stronger and learning how to use that size and reach to his advantage. The sky’s the limit.”

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The Bears have hired Mike Wiley, Jr. as director of player development and mental skills, the Bears announced Wednesday. He will report directly to new general manager Ryan Poles.

Wiley most recently a mental performance coach at Courtex Performance from 2019-22. He has worked as a mental performance coach for Loyola University’s track and field team (2015), Indiana State and Lincoln Memorial University’s men’s basketball teams and the Lipscomb University women’s basketball team.

Wiley is the latest adjustment to the Bears’ football operations staff under Poles, Previously, LaMar “Soup” Campbell was unexpectedly fired as vice president of player engagement around July 1. Campbell was part of the five-person committee that conducted the general manager search and hired Poles.

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Spending more time at home has certainly made life easier for some Illinoisans.

Less gasoline used, as prices soar at the pump. No more need to worry about office-appropriate outfits. Additional hours with loved ones.

But for those who have been stuck inside with an abusive family member, the “new normal” brought by the pandemic has only exacerbated the attacks. Across Illinois, the problem is getting worse.

Calls to domestic violence hotlines increased in Chicago and the state last year, according to a report released this week by the advocacy organization The Network. Even more grim: Murders and shootings tied to domestic violence incidents in the city increased nearly two-thirds in 2021 from 2020, the “Measuring Safety: Gender-based Violence in Illinois” study revealed.

What makes an already-frightening situation even worse is that limited social interaction — a byproduct of precautionary measures against COVID-19 — and an unpredictable economy have created more obstacles for domestic violence victims to get help, as the Sun-Times’ Andy Grimm recently reported.

Victims deserve to be taken seriously. In many cases, their life may be at stake. Yet in some cases, they simply feel as if police are dismissive of their complaints.

A major step that law enforcement officials can do to gain some of that needed trust is to ensure that firearms are taken out of the homes where domestic violence has taken place — and could occur again.

A domestic violence victim is five times more likely to be killed when their abusive partner can get his or her hands on a gun, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

So not surprisingly, domestic violence is the most common reason for an Illinois gun owner to have his or her FOID (firearm owner’s identification) card revoked.

That’s just a first step. Unless a weapon is surrendered, potential victims are still at risk — and it happens far too often. While Illinois State Police rescinded more than 11,000 FOID cards in 2021, in only about 4,200 of those cases did gun owners surrender their weapons to authorities, The Network found.

That is unacceptable.

When residents have their FOID card revoked, they are supposed to surrender their card to the local police, get rid of their weapons and complete a Firearm Disposition Record form within a 48-hour time period.

But those prone to violence may not be inclined to transfer their firearms elsewhere — which means it’s up to law enforcement authorities to make sure others are safe from those who can no longer legally own a weapon.

Law enforcement agencies where the FOID card revocations take place must be diligent about conducting the necessary follow-up checks and coordinate their data with state police officials. State police only started tracking who actually got rid of their guns in 2015, after they were questioned about revoked FOID card protocol by the Sun-Times.

Routinely failing to confiscate guns from people who have had theirFOIDcards revoked has potentially deadly consequences.

Nearly a decade ago, Sheriff Tom Dart, frustrated by this inaction, put together a unit to seize guns from residents whoseFOIDcards were revoked in suburbs and unincorporated areas in Cook County.

Last year, this team retrieved 168 weapons and handled nearly 800 FOID revocation cases, making sure that both the card and the weapons were no longer in the possession of the person who had his or her card revoked. So far in 2022, the sheriff’s department seized 75 guns and completed 426 revocation cases.

Dart, in 2013, said he had hoped to “eliminate tragedies” by creating the team that seizes weapons from residents who had their FOID cards revoked.

More of these deadly scenarios can easily be avoided if police in other jurisdictions and state police keep communicating, and make it a priority to take guns away from those who shouldn’t have them.

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