🎬HIGHLIGHTS

1. Bears hired offensive and defensive coordinators!

2. Blackhawks enter the All-Star break on a historically bad run

3. Cubs signed reliever Hector Neris

💎THE FRANCHISES

In-Season

🏒Chicago Blackhawks

TROPHY TRACKER 1-❌-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-🏆

L - Canucks 2, Blackhawks 0

Nick Foligno returned and Alex Vlasic shined…but the Hawks couldn’t get any offense going in Vancouver.

• Petr Mrazek again kept the Hawks in the game…but there is no offense on this shorthanded roster

• The Hawks came up empty on 5 power plays, including one late in the 3rd period

L - Kraken 6, Blackhawks 2

Another brutal loss in Seattle for the Blackhawks. They outshot the Kraken (34-28) but couldn’t stay in the game.

• This was hopefully going to be a redemption game for Arvid Soderblom after losing 7-1 in Seattle back in December…unfortunately, Soderblom followed up his recent solid outings with another dud.

• Joey Anderson and Nick Foligno scored goals

L - Oilers 3, Blackhawks 0

Connor McDavid (2g/1a) skated circles around the Blackhawks as they got shutout AGAIN. You guessed right…another decent team effort with absolutely zero offense.

• Petr Mrazek saved 31 of 33 shots

• Lukas Reichel was back in the lineup but didn’t make much of an impact

• MacKenzie Entwistle got stopped on a penalty shot in the 2nd period

L - Flames 1, Blackhawks 0

Two whole games without a goal…even though the Hawks played a really solid game and had a TON of breakaway attempts.

• Outshot the Flames 32-31

• Kevin Korchinski saved a goal in the 1st period

• Lukas Reichel seemed to have a step back. Maybe..

Week Record: 0-4 👎

Season Record: 14-34-2

Star of the Week: Petr Mrazek

Maybe this is getting old, but a historically bad offensive team doesn’t have many options on a nightly basis. Mrazek was very good again this week. He saved 88 of 93 shots for a .946% save percentage.

He just had to deal with 0 goal support in his 3 games this week. No, actually, he had ZERO goals scored for him this week.

Play of the Week: Kevin Korchinski playing goalie!

News & Notes:

1. Petr Mrazek signed a 2 year extension at $4.25M AAV - a third veteran signed on for the next 2 years!! Another solid player to keep on the team as more young guys transition to the pros. Mrazek has improved a ton this year and been very consistent for the Hawks.

2. Connor Murphy was placed on IR

3. No Blackhawks will be represented in the All-Star Game as the NHL opted not to replace Bedard with another Blackhawks player.

4. Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus put together another helpful piece looking at potential futures for Blackhawks free agents - interestingly enough, only Colin Blackwell and Tyler Johnson are listed as possible trade pieces

The Blackhawks are headed into the All-Star break. I thought this was a perfect summary of where they are at going into the Break:

🏀Chicago Bulls

TROPHY TRACKER ❌-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-🏆

L - Suns 115, Bulls 113

What a thriller! Kevin Durant shut the door on the Bulls with two ridiculous shots in clutch time, and DeMar’s last second attempt rimmed out.

• The Bulls dominated the first half (66-49) but let the Suns shoot their way back into the game in the 3rd quarter.

• KD put up 43 points 😮

• Coby White came close to a triple double (26p/10r/9a)

L - Lakers 141, Bulls 132

The in-season tournament champion Lakers outpaced the Bulls in an offensive shootout in LA. D’Angelo Russell sank 8 3s to lead the attack.

• The Bulls gave up season highs in points, shooting percentage, and field goals made

• The Lakers had a 73 point first half

• DeMar had 32 points and 10 assists

W - Bulls 104, Blazers 96

Important bounceback win for the Bulls. An awful shooting night kept it close, but the defense clamped down in the 4th, DeMar took over, and Ayo hit the dagger 3!

• Bulls only shot 8-32 (25.0%) from 3, but luckily the Blazers shot an even worse 6-33 (18.2%) from 3

• Coby, Ayo, and Caruso were all in the starting lineup with Patrick Williams and Zach Lavine out

• Julian Phillips got 23 minutes of playing time and put up 11 points. He keeps looking like an impact player when he gets looks!

Week Record: 1-2

Season Record: 22-25

Star of the Week: DeMar DeRozan

DeMar can still take over games, and the Bulls need him in big moments.

After scoring 21 points against the Suns and putting up a huge double-double (32p/10a) against the Lakers, DeMar sank 12 of his 20 points against the Blazers in the 4th quarter.

Play of the Week: Julian Phillips spike block

News & Notes:

1. Phil Jackson spoke to the team this week, and the players raved about the opportunity to hear from him

2. Zach Lavine to the Pistons rumors were circulating…

3. Alex Caruso was selected as a part of the 2024 USA National Team player pool

Off-Season

🏈Chicago Bears

TROPHY TRACKER 1-2-3-❌-5-6-7-8-9-🏆

News & Notes:

1. Shane Waldron is the new offensive coordinator!

   ➡I like this hire! Waldron has previous success as an OC and has worked under big names like Sean McVay. Somehow, he helped Geno Smith achieve a career year in 2022 with the Seahawks, so he has a history of improving quarterback play.

   ➡The Bears interviewed 9 candidates and ultimately settled on the highly sought-after Waldron before another team could get him.

2. Eric Washington is the new defensive coordinator!

   ➡On paper, the Bears made two impressive hires at coordinator. Washington was the DL Coach and Assistant Head Coach for the Bills and previously worked for the Bears in 2008-2010.

   ➡He has a history of developing defensive linemen, and bringing in a coach specializing in the trenches seems like a great compliment to Matt Eberflus who was a linebacker and also seems to get the most out of his DBs.

   ➡Former Bear Corey Wootton has been all over Twitter raving about the Washington hire after playing for him in multiple places.

3. Tight Ends Coach Jim Dray will coach the offensive linemen in the Senior Bowl, Assistant Defensive Line Coach Justin Hinds will coach the D-Line, Coaching Assistant Kenny Norton will coach the DBs

4. Former OC Luke Getsy interviewed for the Raiders offensive coordinator position and will also interview with the Patriots

⚾Chicago Cubs

TROPHY TRACKER 1-2-3-4-5-❌-7-8-9-🏆

News & Notes:

1. Signed RP Hector Neris to a 1 year $9M deal!

   ➡The Cubs first reliever addition of the offseason is a VERY good one. Neris had a 1.71 ERA and 10.1 K/9 for the Astros last season in 68.1 innings.

   ➡Neris had stepped in as a closer during his long stint with the Phillies and immediately joins the late-inning mix for the Cubs.

2. Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg announced that he has metastatic prostate cancer. 🙏 Prayers for Ryno and his whole family.

3. Sammy Sosa will make an appearance in Chicago!! He will be at the Chicago Sports Spectacular convention in Rosemont on March 16-17. Hopefully this is the first of many future appearances 👀

4. World Series Champion Carl Edwards Jr. signed a minor league deal to return to the Cubs!

📣SAY WHAT?

😎GOOD ONE ALERT

Jason Heyward

Didn’t expect a Dodger to show up here, huh?

J-Hey hosted a youth camp at his Baseball Academy in Chicago this week, and I was reminded of the impact he still has on the community here.

His academy opened about a year ago to serve kids in the community and give them an opportunity to learn the game of baseball and grow as people.

He posted this on Instagram this week: “Baseball has given me LIFE. It has been a catalyst for opportunity and now, baseball is giving me the opportunity to create that life for the next generation.”

J-Hey is a great example of an athlete who uses his platform and resources to serve people. Props to him for all of his efforts 🙏

🔥MILD TAKE❄

I still hope the Cubs are trading for a star this offseason.

At Cubs Convention, Jed Hoyer said they were in the 4th or 5th inning of their offseason. This is believable based on how slow the market has been. I’ve liked their moves so far, but I’m still expecting a lot more to be done.

The roster is full of good players, and they have a ton of promising prospects in the pipeline. But how many prospects will turn into stars? The odds are low for any of them. They need to keep adding talent to this roster now - but more specifically, the Cubs need stars.

With very good “baseball guys” like Nico and Dansby, Ian and Seiya, and you can keep listing current players, the team can win games. But if this is the core for the next few years with the addition of young players being promoted to the big leagues, the talent needs to be supplemented with stars.

Shohei is off the board. Yamamoto is off the board. Soto went to the Yankees. The best available free agent is a former MVP with scary underlying hitting metrics who was already on the team last year. Re-signing Bellinger will only get them to (at best) where they were last year.

I don’t know who is available. Dreams of plugging in a stud 3B to round out this group of hitters is probably dwindling. I doubt Rafael Devers or José Ramírez are available for any kind of prospect package.

But Jed moves in silence. And I hope there’s a trade none of us are expecting.